Art Directors

People in this career often have these skills:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.

• Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
• Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.

People in this career often know a lot about:

• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

• Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

People in this career often have talent in:

• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Visualization - The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Visual Color Discrimination - The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

People in this career often do these activities:

• Determine technical requirements of productions or projects.
• Design layout of art or product exhibits, displays, or promotional materials.
• Manage operations of artistic or entertainment departments or organizations.
• Coordinate artistic activities.
• Design layouts for print publications.
• Write informational material.

• Present work to clients for approval.
• Review art or design materials.
• Develop artistic or design concepts for decoration, exhibition, or commercial purposes.
• Collaborate with others to develop or refine designs.
• Prepare production storyboards.
• Draw detailed or technical illustrations.
• Confer with clients to determine needs.
• Negotiate for services.
• Research new technologies.
• Train others on work processes.
• Coordinate design activities.
• Select staff, team members, or performers.

• Advertising and Promotions Managers

• Special Effects Artists and Animators

• Fashion Designers

• Graphic Designers

• Interior Designers

• Producers and Directors

• Media Programming Directors

• Writers and Authors

• Film and Video Editors