- Based on 270 Jobtrees users who were an Art Director in their career, on average, they have 3.03 years of experience and 3 jobs prior to this one. They have spent a significant amount of time in this job before moving on 5.0 years on average and earn $72K per year on average in this more senior role.
- 17% of Jobtrees users moved to another job with this same title in their next career step. The most common career steps after Art Director are Artist, Senior Designer and Designer. While Artist is from the same job family, Artist, there are other common opportunities outside this discipline that Jobtrees users are taking as shown by Senior Designer, also being a common career path from Art Director.
- If you are looking for more ideas on potential career paths from this job, you should also consider Art Director Intern, Creative Director and Senior Art Director as they commonly lead to Art Director as well. Find more insights below about this specific career path based on our Jobtrees users' experience.
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The roles above are the most common next steps in our users’ career paths.
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The roles below are the most common previous steps in our users’ career paths.
Use the + button and watch the ‘roots grow’. It adds another level of potential previous career steps based on the most common paths taken by Jobtrees’ users.Read insights on these paths here
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How can I become a
- The most common career steps to get to Art Director are Designer, Graphic Designer and Creative Director based on actual career paths reported to Jobtrees.
- While Designer is the most common, there is no specific role leading to Art Director that is an overwhelmingly common path.
- Another characteristic of the Art Director career path is that experience within the same job family as this role isn't common and as a result likely not necessary.
- This shows there are many potential paths to becoming an Art Director so focusing on translatable skills is likely more important than a specific role.
- This is a Senior role meaning if you don’t have significant work experience and likely also experience in a closely related field, you need to start more than one or two steps away from this role in planning your path. Consider designer or graphic designer as these are the most popular career starting points for Jobtrees users that led to art director. For a quicker path to this senior role title, consider looking at smaller companies as they have less layers to get to these more senior titles. The scope of the role and likely the pay though will still likely compare more similarly to a less experienced role title at a larger company. This is partly why you see some unexpected experience level titles leading to this role.
- While Designer isn't from the same job family as Art Director, Artist, it can help to have direct experience in this discipline shown by Graphic Designer also being a common career path to Art Director.
- If you are looking for more potential career paths to Art Director, you should also consider Senior Graphic Designer and Senior Art Director as they commonly lead to Art Director as well.
What should I know about the career path
- The most common degrees or certifications earned by Jobtrees users on the path to become Art Director are Bachelor Degree In Fine Art, Bachelor Degree In Graphic Design, and Bachelor Degree In Advertising. There may be other specific certification requirements to land a job with this role, so please make sure to check local regulations as well.
- Career paths aren't linear with people often returning to a prior role which is what you see with Designer being on the path to and from Art Director. This is common when people move companies where the title is the same as a past one but the scope may be different but also is commonly driven by them choosing to return to a function they fit well with.
- Art Director is part of the Artist job family which has a limited number of unique role types (32) within that discipline. Choosing to pursue a role within this family likely will mean that you will need to look outside of your discipline to find new roles and so should focus on related skills as part of that search.
- Other common titles that have similar job requirements and career paths as Art Director are Freelance Art Director, Jr. Art Director.