Art Direction
Project & Team management, roadmap, strategy, mood boarding, creative & Trend research
In the two years as the Art Director for all multi-product designs and target customers, I experienced so many new challenges, established a multitude of new processes, and was privileged to lead the best team of contract designers. This is a short walkthrough of my approach.
Define
the Ask
First, identify your goals and purpose to establish a game plan. This may come in the form of yearly products to design broken down by quarter, establishing design cycles based on budget, designer availability, seasonality and marketing campaign schedules. It can also mean implementing a project management software to track projects, shifting from a monthly design schedule to quarterly to enhance forward design planning or creating room for regular creative brainstorm sessions with designers and non designers alike to connect and explore trends.
Define your Target
Never assume you know. Research is the foundation of good design. This can be through leveraging customer personas, defining the objective in each product design assignment, or exploring the use case of every proposed idea. Does it ultimately support the company's defining objective? Will the addition expand the product market fit? Does it achieve inclusion or diversity? Will it help empower someone to be creative or connect deeply with their loved ones?
Delegate & Design
With the course set, it's time to get building. The next step is to create the mood board, assign the appropriate designer, and review to ensure there's clear communication. A leader is only as strong as their team. Through consistent communication, honest, clear and constructive feedback, the team is able to develop trust, engage in healthy discussions, pose questions to drive the design further.
make it, then make it better
iterations, iterations, iterations. My resourceful approach adjusts preexisting artwork to create new products. Some examples of this can include products targeted for mom and dad being expanded to grandparents, aunts, uncles. etc. As a result, it casts a wider net and creates a "something for everyone" customer experience. By reusing existing artwork and recoloring, presenting it in a new and different way, it's a cost effective way to drive new revenue. To top it all off, it's also another opportunity to celebrate the beauty of the designs again.
