art director
Americannoun
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Movies, Television. the person who determines the staging requirements for a production and often designs the sets or supervises their building and dressing.
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Also called art editor. a person who is responsible for the selection, execution, production, etc., of graphic art for a publication, advertising agency, or the like.
noun
Etymology
Origin of art director
First recorded in 1930–35
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“There’s a lot of anxiety around technology and the way we engage with it,” said Joseph Alessio, a designer and art director in Oakland, Calif.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025
We’d met the summer before on his first feature film, Dementia 13, where I had assisted the art director.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 11, 2025
Before breaking into the entertainment industry in 1964 with the short film “A Texas Romance, 1909,” Benton moved to New York and was an art director for Esquire magazine.
From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2025
The brand's former art director revealed least year he had amyloidosis, a rare incurable condition that affects the body's vital organs and nerves.
From BBC • Jan. 13, 2025
Anne Leigh, the art director, laid out visually sumptuous pages.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.