Subject Name: Art Direction Principles

Audience: Aspiring Art Directors

Year: 2006

Pre-Requisites:
Candidates must have basic knowledge of art and design, gained
either through formal training eg in graphic design, drawing, print,
or relevant work experience.

You will be asked to present some of your work in week one.

(You need to show some indication as to your visual aptitude and
interest in visual arts. This could be anything that has relevance:
photography, painting, graphics, drawing etc. A ‘portfolio’ as such
is not essential.)

It is recommended that students complete the AFA AdSchool

course ‘Understanding the Creative Process’ or ‘Copywriting’
before enrolling into this course.

Year/Semester: 2005

General Description
This course is designed to provide aspiring art directors within the advertising and
related industries with an understanding of the principles of art direction and layout. It
will explore how the sales and marketing functions of an advertising campaign
operate through a framework of visual communication and theories of visual context.

Students will learn techniques for visualising ideas, working alone or with a
copywriter, creating and structuring the emotional appeals and intellectual disciplines
used by art directors and how to analyse and respond to the creative brief. Students
are expected to create a portfolio during the duration of the course, and also to
maintain a workbook including their notes, sketches, and ideas for the assignments
to demonstrate their thought processes and idea development.

At the end of the course, students will have the basis of a portfolio to present to
current or potential employers.

Course Objectives

1. To introduce aspiring or new art directors to the basic principles of advertising

and selling through visual communication.
2. To explore the communication processes involved in visual communication in
advertising and marketing.
3. To demonstrate the principles of graphic design, layout and production of
advertisements for the various media.

2005 Faculty Board Final Submission  AFA AdSchool - Art Direction Principles 1
 4. To gain an awareness of the importance of cost control in art direction.
5. To learn the disciplines involved in editing, judging and assessing the quality of
their work.
6. To effectively present their work.

Course Content

Week 1 What is Art Direction?

Historical and current overview of the fields of art direction.
Basic Principles of Visual Communications.
The Creative Team - roles of writers, artists, designers, photographers and art
directors.
Developing Creative Concepts from briefs

Week 2 The Basics

What everyone does in the advertising agency.
Where the art director sits in the mix and how the art director works.
Areas of art responsibility and the ‘direction’ part.
How your work can be compromised on its way through the process, and how to
prevent it occurring.
The role of branding and brand visualising.
How the art director contributes to the visual identity of the brand.
Assisting the concept through the planning and research stages.

Week 3 The Team: Copywriters and Art Directors

Writers’ and Art Directors’ relationships and methods of working.
The team’s relative responsibilities.
Being briefed.
Supervision and quality control.
Having fun on the journey.

Week 4 Developing Ideas

Ways of thinking.
Novelty, originality, and keeping focused.
Insights and objectives.
The creative gymnasium.

Week 5 The Tools - Craft & Techniques

Design Fundamentals.
The art director’s tools.
Learning from experience.
Photography and illustration.

Week 6 The Visual - Priorities

Formatting your elements - priorities.
How to choose and brief artists and photographers.
Print production, from layout to final art. Briefing and supervision.
Costing and budget blow-outs.

Week 7 Typography
The importance of type

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Readability
Typography and design elements
The new typography - shock factors.
Print production: execution and quality control.

Week 8 Television Production - The Art Director’s role

From the script to the storyboard.
From the storyboard to the final film.
Directors, cinematographers and producers. Their roles.

Week 9 The Portfolio.

Presentation to panel for assessment

Week 10 Review and feedback

Review of portfolios
Discussion of panel feedback
Your Future – How to sell your Portfolio to a creative director.

Teaching & Learning Strategies

Each lecture is accompanied by individual and group creative work involving exercises
in the development and execution of creative concepts. Industry specialists will address
specific topics. As these guest lecturers have a heavy schedule of commitments,
replacements may occur at short notice.

Assessments

Assessment Item 1: 6 class assignments over the duration of the course

Assessment Value: 60%
Briefs will be given on weeks 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 & 9.
Responses required on weeks 2, 3, 5, 7 & 9.
(Week 10: Review of course portfolios and feedback)
Work in class will be on weeks 2, 4 & 6.

Work will be reviewed in class with the group and also marked during the subsequent
week by the lecturer.
The ’student workbook’ will be used as a record of the students thinking and
development process. At the finish of the course, the workbook will be marked in
conjunction with the portfolio of the finished pieces.

Assessment Evaluation Criteria

Each assignment is given a mark out of 10. The final mark will reflect the best 3 of the
six assignments submitted by each student. The assessment criteria are:

Originality
Relevance (understanding of the brief)
Engagement
Impact (cut through)
Craftsmanship
Clarity/cohesiveness
Presentation

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Assessment Item 2: Graphic Campaign & Class Presentation
Assessment Value: 40%
Due Date: Week 9

The major project work will involve the creation of a graphic campaign for a global
non-English speaking audience. You will demonstrate your idea across all appropriate
media. You may choose to team up with another course member and present a
combined assignment, or you can present solo work. All students will receive the
same brief and information.

Students will present their work to the class and a judging panel and present a hard
copy to the lecturer. (The student workbooks will also be handed in at this stage for
marking).

Assessment Evaluation Criteria

Students’ major assignment will be assessed on the following criteria:

Originality
Relevance
Engagement
Cut-through
Craftsmanship
Clarity/Cohesiveness
Presentation

Grading
This is a graded course. All assessment tasks must be completed and submitted and a
satisfactory level overall must be achieved to pass.

High-Distinction Work of outstanding quality on all objectives of the subject,

which may be demonstrated by means of criticism, logical
argument, interpretation of materials or use of
methodology. This grade may also be given to recognise
particular creativity or originality
Distinction Work of superior quality on all objectives, demonstrating a
sound grasp of content, together with efficient organisation
and selectivity.
Credit Work of good quality, showing more than satisfactory
achievement on all subject objectives, or work of superior
quality on most of the objectives.
Pass Satisfactory achievement on the overall objectives of the
subject.
Fail Unsatisfactory performance in one or more course
objectives.

Fail (less than 50%), Pass (50%-64%), Credit (65%-74%), Distinction (75%-84%), High
Distinction (85% and over)

Minimum Course Requirements

Students must attend a minimum of 7 out of 10 classes and notify the lecturer of any
absences.

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Recommended Reading:
Arden, P. 2003, It’s not how good you are, It’s how good you want to be, Phaidon.

Book, A. and Schick, D. 1997, Fundamentals of Copy and Layout, Lincolnwood,

Illinois, USA, National Textbook Co.

Further References
Designers and Art Directors Association 1999, The Art Book, RotoVision, S.A.
[& any other D&AD publications (UK)]. Available from Two de Force or Foliograph
Books.

Australian Writers and Art Directors Association, 2004 AWARD Annual [& any other
AWARD annuals]. Available from Two de Force or Foliograph Books.

One Club for Art & Copy (NY), The One Show, [Annual of advertising’s best print,
radio, TV].

Barnard, M. 1998, Art, Design and Visual Culture: An Introduction, St. Martins Press,
NY.

Cornwell, S. (ed.) 2000, Ripe: New Design in Australia, Craftsman house, Sydney.
(Ch 4 on Advertising Design)

Fricoll, F. et al (eds.) 1998, Typography: when, where, why, who? Kolh, Konemann.

Jewler, A.J. and Drewniary B.L. 2004, Creative Strategy in Advertising, Belmont,
Calif., USA. Wadsworth.

Land, R. 2004, Advertising by Design: Creating Visual Communications with Graphic

Images, Wiley.

Poynor, R. 1999, Design without Boundaries: Visual Communication in Transition,

Pricken, M. 2004, Visual Creativity, Thames & Hudson.

Soyneman, M.R. 1997, Beyond Words: a guide to drawing out ideas, Ten Speed
Press, Berkeley, Calif.

Swann, A. 1987, Basic Design and Layout, Oxford, Phaidon.

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