"Fight harder and don't lose faith": three art directors on the evolution of the industry

The creative world never stands still and the moment that a technology or technique has become established, it seems it is superseded by a new evolution. This, coupled with the relentless impact of wider global influences and changing aesthetic considerations makes life as an art director an ever-changing and unique career. Mastered has just announced that its 2017 Accelerator programs for the new breed of image-maker are open for application. Over 10 months, art directors, photographers, stylists, makeup artists, hair stylists and accessories designers will be tasked, challenged, taught and coached by the best, in order to develop skills they need to succeed – whether it is working independently or collaboratively.

Mastered’s accelerator programmes, including Art Direction: Mastered, which features French director, art director and magazine editor Fabien Baron, will launch in early 2017 and you can learn more here. Ahead of the launch we spoke to three art directors – Mirko Borsche, Studio AKFB and Jonathan Wiggins about what changes and challenges they see in the industry and to their role in the future.

Mirko Borsche – Bureau Mirko Borsche
 
The biggest change will be the globalisation in design. Blogs and social media all influence designers worldwide. Certain “local design languages” or terms like “Swiss typography” and “Dutch posters” are going to vanish or assimilate more and more. As a senior designer or creative director it’s going to be very important to keep a studio’s visual language, as a main base. The DNA and the uniqueness of storytelling is going to be the challenge for the future and that’ll affect every kind of media that we are working on and for.
 
 

Studio AKFB – Annahita Kamali and Florian Böhm
 
The mechanisms of applying trends, copying ideas, shortened lifespan and the fast growth of participants in the creative industry feel extremely accelerated and seem to have an inflationary effect on the cultural relevance of design. Through web analytic tools and Facebook likes the effectiveness of design becomes more measurable, but this shouldn’t be the only criterion. For us, good design is usually a result of an uncompromised personal and passionate process. Therefore, we will have to fight harder to not lose faith in what we do, to maintain our belief that design matters and to stay true to ourselves.
 

Jonathan Wiggins – Art Editor, Cedar
 
I think the creative director of the future has to drive new technology by predicting trends and striving to realise the potential of their concepts. We will not be hiring people based on how we can mould them, but looking to create a team based on what varying skills they can introduce. I hope creative teams will be working with first generation products, finding their absolute limit. Early 360 cameras and VR headsets are an example, constantly evolving while we are producing content for them. We have always played catch-up with innovations in technology, but embracing change and developing ideas that can work across various platforms will make work stand out. Additionally, social media has set us a new challenge. We now have to engage within a few seconds, no longer fighting it out on the newsstand but between scrolls on various social platforms. I think creative will be considered parallel with content. With short, immediate turnaround, teams will have to work tighter than ever before to release work that fits a brief while it is still trending.

The Mastered Accelerator programs including the art direction course, will start in early 2017. This autumn Mastered will be on the hunt for 200 of the freshest and most exciting talents from each discipline to join the exclusive program. For art direction, this is either for graphic designers looking to make that leap, or for more junior art directors looking to hone their craft further, or add the fashion string to their bow. To learn more, click the link at the bottom of the page.