The advertising art director. 80 years after his birth

Abstract

In the 1920s a new figure appeared in the advertising agency: the art director. From then until now, this professional has undergone a constant evolution, which broke down in the mid-1980s with the entry of desktop publishing into the advertising agency. From that moment on, the art director began to acquire increasing importance in the profession.

This work consists of explaining what this "new" figure is like, what his or her work consists of today and how production structures have changed since he or she acquired "power" in the creative process. The article is based on a qualitative study, which consisted of personal interviews with art directors from different advertising agencies in Barcelona. The reason for carrying out this study is the scarcity of biographies on this subject.