A
creative director is a position often found within the
graphic design,
film,
fashion,
advertising,
media or
entertainment industries, but may be useful in other creative organizations such as
web development and
software development firms as well. The job entails overseeing all aspects of product design.
In advertising, this means
branding and advertising for a client and ensuring that the new branding and advertising fits in with the client's requirements and the image they wish to promote for their company or product. The main aspects of this role are to interface with the client and interpret their communications
strategy and then develop proposed creative approaches and treatments that align with that strategy. Creative directors initiate and stimulate creative ideas for and from those involved in the creative process.
In other industries, such as
videogames, a creative director is responsible for the design, vision and direction of the product, which is a different role to that of a producer or
project manager. Creative directors are sometimes also called a lead designer or
chief creative officer depending on the specific company in question. Some larger corporations may have several creative directors working under one
chief creative officer. In this case the
chief creative officer would be responsible for overseeing all branches of design and each branch would have its own creative director.
A creative director is ultimately responsible for the quality of the final creative work. For this reason, they get the lion's share of acclaim when their team's efforts win awards, but conversely, the creative director shoulders the negativity (and the blame) when a project goes wrong, response falls short of expectations, or an important individual on the client's side dislikes or vetos an idea.
