“The Education of an Art Director”, by Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne, is an interesting book discussing how art directors should be trained, how they are most often introduced to the job, how they cope, and much more. The 200 pages full of content is composed of discussions between professionals, designers, art directors, editors, photographers, etc, about how art direction works and any advice they can give.

It’s a pretty useful book with lovely discussions but after a while, each discussion becomes a repeat and you kind of know what to expect from it. If the book had been about 150 pages, it would have been lovely. I certainly did find the book helpful though. I studied Design & Art Direction in the UK, have managed several teams, self-managed countless projects, hired sub contractors and employees, etc, but there’s no amount of training I think that could prepare you for being thrown into a career of direction. This book covers those things we can’t possibly learn beforehand and since it comes directly from those professionals, we get detailed and informative advice on how to cope.

So what does it take to become a successful art director?

To me… an art director needs a certain personality, a personality akin to those like managers in general. They must have a good deal of emotional intelligence, confidence, and the ability to be calm. They must be able to walk in the room and own it, to have people want to hear what they have to say and the ability to be cordial to everyone, even the worst of employees or liaisons. Most importantly, to me, they must be able to recognize good employees from bad employees, have the ability to tutor and be able to master a wide-array of disciplines within design including both the commercial and artistic.

I took note of the some of the most important advice and stories from the book as I read along, here are some of those:

Pages 6-8 covers an essay by Roger Black and his “Ten Rules of Design: Eyetracking Guidelines”. Indeed, most directors within the book specify solid design skills, especially in the use of typography. Here’s what Mr. Black has to say about it:

Put content on every page. Corollary to rule on: no one reads anything.
The first color is white.
The second color is black.
The third color is red.
Never letterspace lowercase.
Never set a lot of text type in small caps.
A cover should be a poster.
Use only one or two typefaces.
Make something big.
Get Lumpy! (Make some surprises in your layout once in a while.)

Dimitri Jeurissen, (Art Director/Partner, BASE, Brussels, Barcelona, New York), on pages 75-78 had a lovely discussion with Vienne about direction. Here’s what Jeurissen has to say about it:

A graphic designer designs with type and does layouts. An art director is someone who puts together teams of photographers, graphic designers, stylists, etc., in order to convey the right message. An art director is like an orchestra conductor.

Art direction is between creation and commerce. To succeed in this position, you need to have a lot of energy. You can’t be lazy. You also need to be somewhat charismatic in order to lead a team. I became an art director because I was entrepreneurial….

Be open. Look around, that’s the most important thing. Go to exhibitions, to plays, to gallery openings, to magazine parties, whatever. You have to absorb a lot of things. And not just things having to do with the art scene. … In contrast, art directors must look around beyond what’s in front of them.

Yes, you need people skills and you need to be curious and adaptable. Being an art director is a very social function.

In all, the book is a very good read and will certainly be helpful to absorb.