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Art Direction Techniques You Can Use — Transcript

by Jason Murray · 3,990 words · 581 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Today we're going to talk about art
0:01direction ingredients. Because one of
0:03the reasons why art direction can be
0:05kind of tough for us to wrap our heads
0:07around is that there's not a clear tool
0:10in the way that a photographer has their
0:12[music] tool. They've got their camera.
0:14A painter has a paintbrush. That's their
0:16tool. Even a graphic designer, you think
0:19about their tool. You think about their
0:20software, maybe Adobe Illustrator, Adobe
0:23Photoshop. But what is the art
0:25director's tool with it being a more
0:28conceptual role? Are there repeatable
0:30tools we can use over and over again?
0:33And I'd say there are. I often like to
0:34compare our direction to visual
0:36orchestration because yes, you are
0:39conducting the visuals and that might
0:42involve multiple team members, but it
0:44can also be a one-man band where you put
0:46on that hat. You become the photographer
0:48or you become the graphic designer as
0:50you're mocking up something. I also like
0:52to compare it to being a chef. The chef
0:54might lead a team in the kitchen, but
0:56they can also assemble these ingredients
0:58themselves. And they have frameworks and
1:01tools and principles they can use over
1:03and over again to put those ingredients
1:05together. That's what we're going to
1:06talk about today. And this video is
1:07sponsored by Musicbed because music is
1:10one of the most important creative
1:11ingredients for my content. I'm going to
1:13share the exact songs I use in my
1:14videos, but more on that later. Now
1:16before we talk about visual ingredients,
1:18I need to kind of ground you in some of
1:21the principles I use for thinking
1:23conceptually. These are timeless
1:25principles that a lot of the best
1:27creative agencies in advertising and
1:30brand marketing utilize and and that's
1:33thinking big, the big idea. I visualize
1:36it as a big idea pyramid. And the reason
1:39why we need to at least have a a brief
1:41understanding the big idea pyramid is
1:44before we get to the ingredients, we
1:46need to understand why or what we're
1:49making. What is the purpose of these
1:51visuals? That's what a big idea is. It's
1:54your overarching creative formula that
1:56tells you what this project or this
1:58campaign is going to do. We start with
2:02an insight. That's a revelation or an
2:06unspoken human truth. If you want to
2:09understand insights more, you can dive
2:10more into some of my other content or
2:12join me for a class or one of my boot
2:14camps. Then the idea is what we do with
2:17that truth. What is our creative formula
2:20that will help our audience experience
2:23that insight for themselves? But once we
2:26have our idea, some people might
2:28consider this the concept. Once we have
2:30our concept, the art director's job is
2:33to bring it to life, to actually execute
2:36it, to guide the execution visually.
2:39This is where art direction ingredients
2:42come in. It's my way of comparing the
2:45different conceptual mechanisms, the
2:48visual devices, the different creatively
2:52visual decisions we are making to bring
2:54this campaign or this project to life.
2:56It's my way of comparing all of that to
3:00ingredients because I like to have a
3:02tool. I want something that feels
3:04concrete. And so imagining execution and
3:08the visual decisions we are making as
3:09ingredients helps me make this a more
3:13repeatable process. So this is an art
3:15direction menu. Like I said, our
3:18direction often involves creative
3:21decision making across a lot of
3:23different disciplines and a lot of
3:25different visual mediums. So, we don't
3:28just have one tool. We have a lot of
3:30ingredients and we might need different
3:33different tools for utilizing those
3:36ingredients. But all of those
3:38ingredients could be used in different
3:40ways and accomplish different tasks.
3:43making the visuals more sweet or salty,
3:46making the visuals more moody, colorful,
3:49etc., etc., depending on what we want to
3:52do for that idea. And I really want to
3:55open your mind to the possibilities of
3:57what sort of visual decisions you could
3:59make as an art director because even
4:02this menu doesn't encompass everything.
4:05This is just to get your brain going
4:07with color and lighting. You know, the
4:09different textures you choose, the
4:10different depth of field might convey a
4:13different message or might have a
4:15different feeling. Even the casting and
4:17talent, who you cast, is there someone
4:20that's familiar that automatically has
4:23associations? Or do you cast someone
4:26with a certain style or a certain look
4:29that conveys a different feeling? And
4:31you might even, you know, look at the
4:33the imagery that you choose and decide
4:35to go photography or illustration over
4:39CGI or or any of those kind of
4:41decisions. But even within those
4:44mediums, there are countless other
4:46decisions you could make. There are
4:48other ingredients within these
4:51categories of ingredients. Now, I really
4:53see a spectrum and how these visual
4:55ingredients can play a role in bringing
4:58your big idea to life. On the left side
5:01of the spectrum, I write visual feeling.
5:04Oftentimes, concepts, they just need
5:06supporting visual ingredients. They need
5:08visual decisions that help support the
5:11message that's already being conveyed.
5:14Uh sometimes certain campaigns, certain
5:16projects have a lot of copy or dialogue
5:20or voice over. The message is being
5:22told, but the visual decisions we we
5:24make help support or serve that concept.
5:28But on the other side of the spectrum,
5:29sometimes it's best to convey that
5:32concept through the visuals themselves.
5:34Our concept might have a message that we
5:36want to get across, but that message
5:38could be seen and read through the
5:42visuals, through the symbols and how
5:44those visuals are communicated versus us
5:48reading or hearing the message and then
5:50the visuals just serving. There is no
5:52right or wrong and I'm going to show you
5:54a couple examples. I go a lot deeper in
5:56my boot camp, but I've pulled out a
5:58bunch of examples that I think
5:59illustrate this the clearest and how
6:01different ingredients might support in
6:04terms of creating the feeling. Sometimes
6:06we call this the look and feel and
6:08create a vibe that helps us understand
6:10this idea. But in other ways, we could
6:13communicate the idea through a visual
6:16device, through a visual solution. One
6:18of my favorite recent examples was from
6:21Polaroid. They released this campaign
6:23that was all about the camera for an
6:25analog life. And if we look at this this
6:29campaign, you'll see that there is
6:31already messaging that is conveying what
6:34the campaign is all about. You read the
6:37headlines and you get what they want you
6:39to understand. You start to feel the
6:41insight of this campaign. AI can't
6:44generate sand between your toes. How
6:47much of your camera roll do you really
6:49remember? Honestly, do we even need the
6:51visuals? We would argue that yes, this
6:53wouldn't land without the visuals. So,
6:55it's a little bit more on that left side
6:56of the spectrum, the visual feeling. But
6:59even though this is copy driven, the
7:01visuals are doing a lot with helping us
7:03feel the concept. So, what are those
7:06ingredients? What are the ingredients
7:07they're using? Well, there's two big
7:09ones that stand out. There's the
7:12photography. it's specifically the
7:15product, the Polaroid photography, and
7:17they're capturing these specific
7:18moments. So, there's a lot of decision-
7:21making about the images they're choosing
7:23and the actual photography. But then
7:24there's one other really important
7:27ingredient here that's helping me feel
7:29this message, and that's the handwritten
7:31ballpoint pen. And I love how you could
7:34imagine this just being, you know,
7:36Helvetica type face or, you know,
7:39whatever other font you want to choose.
7:41And yes, we would get the same message,
7:43but we wouldn't feel it in the same way
7:46as this art direction feels. Another
7:48example from Oatley, they often like to
7:51point out that they are so copydriven,
7:54but a lot of the visual decisions they
7:56use help us feel that copy and help us
8:01recall and remember this brand in a
8:04better way. It creates a feeling and
8:06it's not necessarily the visuals aren't
8:07the solution themselves but as we read
8:10this text with its big blocky font you
8:14almost associate it with Oatley and
8:16associate it with oat milk. This old
8:18diesel campaign enjoy before returning
8:21is interesting because they're
8:22specifically using a certain photography
8:25ingredient that makes you feel the
8:27audience and the target market who buy
8:30their jeans. They're using this flash
8:32photography that almost makes me think
8:34of like the college parties, the college
8:37basement or high school basement parties
8:39that I might have gone to with the old
8:41disposable cameras and all of that. So,
8:44the choice of flash photography is one
8:46ingredient here. The like super
8:49good-looking, not normal models, but
8:51they're in like a normalish high school
8:54setting. There's some contrast there.
8:56You can really feel how these
8:59ingredients work together. You will need
9:01to read the messaging in order to
9:04understand the the complete idea. But
9:07for this campaign, not everyone will
9:09have to read all of the body copy. They
9:11may also just want their product to be
9:13shown and for you to feel what the idea
9:16of this campaign is all about. Now,
9:17music is one of the most important
9:19creative ingredients. And it's not even
9:21visual. I treat my own creative
9:23direction the same way I'd treat a
9:25global brand campaign. I want an insight
9:27behind the content. And I think about my
9:30series and pillars like [music] ad
9:32campaigns. So everything's unified
9:34instead of starting from scratch every
9:36post. But the topic today is what
9:38creative ingredients actually serve the
9:40idea, what helps you feel and experience
9:42the insight for yourself. And nothing
9:45does that better than music. And I'll
9:47tell you the exact songs I use from our
9:49sponsor, Music Bed. I teach timeless art
9:52direction [music] principles. So I look
9:53for timeless music, maybe a little
9:56nostalgic. [music] I'm wanting to
9:58immerse your senses in the world I'm
10:00building, build memory, trigger emotion
10:03because emotion sticks more than [music]
10:05information. And one of the artists on
10:07Musicbed I keep going back to over and
10:09over is Makeup and Vanity Set. They have
10:11that nostalgic, it's maybe [music] '7s
10:14cinematic feel. For example, the song
10:17Solaris is quirky, almost mystical. It
10:20sounds like a question. Plot, on the
10:23other hand, feels a little more urgent.
10:26still has that driving curiosity though.
10:29And then there's dogs has a bit more
10:32oomph like I'm about to get into it. We
10:34need to lock in. And I love how you can
10:37you can hear the grainy noise. There's
10:39obviously different purposes for each
10:42song, but they're kind of pulling from
10:44that same world. And I switched to Music
10:46Bed because I see music as an investment
10:48in my creative direction. I don't want
10:50anything that feels generic or
10:52interchangeable. I want songs from real
10:54artists, real humans who put the same
10:56intention into their craft that I'm
10:58putting into the visuals. If you want to
11:00use these exact songs yourself, check
11:02the link in the description for a 14-day
11:04free trial of Music Bed. Now, that's
11:06ingredients that help support or serve
11:09the message. But sometimes when you pair
11:13the right ingredients together, they can
11:15become the message itself. This is where
11:18I've got examples of some visual
11:20solutions. Sometimes I like to call them
11:22visual devices where the symbols and the
11:26pairing of certain images together
11:29become the message. You don't need any
11:31supporting copy at all. Or if you do
11:32have some supporting copy, it might just
11:35be a tagline or a sort of button, the
11:38punchline to help us ensure they
11:41understand what we want them to
11:42understand. These LEGO ads are one of my
11:44favorite examples of a visual device
11:46that just has endless possibilities.
11:49That's when it feels more like a visual
11:50device to me, when there are endless
11:53subjects you could slot in. And what are
11:55the ingredients we've got here? You've
11:56got the product, which for LEGO is
11:59really great. And you're pairing that
12:01with the shadow of that product and
12:04playing with how the shadows don't
12:06match. And obviously the concept here is
12:09that you know the simplest building
12:12blocks can unlock the the most vivid
12:17imaginations in a child. That might be
12:19the concept or the idea we're trying to
12:22get across. But we don't have to say
12:24that. All we need are just these visual
12:26ingredients. You see the shadow coming
12:28off and you see that oh just these, you
12:30know, two blocks are a boat or those two
12:32blocks are a dinosaur. It's really
12:35powerful visual idea because they've
12:36even evolved it to not just showing the
12:40possibilities of the of the imagination
12:44of a child in the shadow of the product,
12:46but using the product itself, building
12:49the possibilities of, you know, each of
12:51these children as they're building their
12:54own future. Um, with Lego wanting to be
12:57a part of building the future for for
12:59children. This is a really simple visual
13:02device. It's not the most conceptually
13:05big idea, but all they wanted to get
13:07across was that this knife is sharper
13:09than you think. And this is a pretty
13:11powerful visual device because just the
13:13pairing of those two ingredients, the
13:15different vegetables that you want to
13:17put in here. It could be an endless list
13:19of food or different things you want to
13:20cut. And then the fact that it's cutting
13:22through the cutting board. Just those
13:25two things help us understand, oh, this
13:27is a really sharp knife. Now, yes,
13:29they've got some copy at the bottom to
13:31just really drive home the message.
13:33Maybe this intrigues us so much that we
13:35want to read a little bit more, but it's
13:38totally not necessary. Another great
13:39visual device before Twitter was X. They
13:42had this fantastic campaign that didn't
13:44need to say anything because again, the
13:47visuals said all they needed to say. And
13:49what are the two ingredients they've got
13:50here? They've got the hashtag symbol,
13:54which at the time really became
13:56synonymous with the topics of
13:58conversation that were happening in
14:00culture and in society. And all they
14:02needed to do was pair that with whatever
14:06uh icon, person uh image that
14:10represented a subject or a cultural
14:14topic. And immediately from those two
14:16pairings, we understand, oh, Twitter is
14:18where the most important conversations
14:20are happening. Now, you've heard me a
14:22couple times now say they've got like
14:24two, maybe three standout ingredients.
14:29And going back to my chef metaphor, I
14:31like to compare our direction to a chef
14:34a lot because you can think about great
14:37dishes, great food, and even those
14:39ingredients. Yes, there might be a lot
14:42of ingredients to make a dish, but
14:45there's usually like two to three
14:47standout flavors, standout ingredients.
14:50You might notice the saltiness or you
14:52notice the sweetness or, you know,
14:54whatever. I'm not a chef. You need to
14:55have some restraint. Yes, within the
14:58imagery, there's a lot of creative
14:59decision-m being being made in order to
15:02make sure the images are cohesive, but
15:04the standout ingredients are the image
15:07and the symbol. I want to show you a
15:08couple of my students and how much they
15:12were able to learn and apply into their
15:15own spec campaigns from understanding
15:18this concept of ingredients. They'll do
15:19this in in only 30 days. This is Connor
15:21and he wanted to do a campaign for
15:23arterics. Now again, we always start
15:26with an insight and a big idea so that
15:28we've got a guiding creative formula for
15:32all of the different executions. The
15:34insight for for his Arcter's campaign
15:36was as we age we experience more bad
15:38weather but become worse at handling it.
15:42There's a funny contradiction there. So
15:44the more we avoid discomfort the more
15:47sensitive to it we become. So his idea
15:50which I always describe as the verb what
15:53are we going to do with that insight.
15:56Let's reframe the elements. Reframe the
16:00elements or weather as a playdate with
16:04the outside world in our Arcterics
16:06jackets. We'll reclaim the childlike
16:09instinct to jump into puddles instead of
16:11dodging them. That's his goal. That's
16:13his creative formula. We're going to
16:14reframe going out into the elements as
16:17more of a playd date. So, check out his
16:20campaign and what he was able to create.
16:22You've got these awesome ads. playd date
16:25with rain, a play date with wind, a play
16:28date with the mud. The way that Arcterix
16:31makes feeling like you can go out into
16:33the elements and it's more fun. It's
16:35more of a of a you almost have a little
16:37bit more of that childlike joy. I think
16:39he just really crushed this campaign.
16:41Really explored the different elements
16:43and how the photography could play with
16:45that. But notice this ingredients
16:48concept that we're talking about this
16:49principle of using ingredients. What are
16:51the two to three ingredients he's using
16:54in his ads? In terms of that spectrum,
16:56this is more on the visual feeling side
16:58of the spectrum. We still are reading
17:01the message that, you know, with
17:02Arcterics, you get to do a playd date
17:04with the rain, but we really feel it
17:07because of the choice of lettering, the
17:10choice of hand coloring and making it
17:13feel like, you know, the sort of black
17:16and white outlines of a kid's drawing.
17:18But even though it's on the visual
17:20feeling side of the spectrum, he really
17:22helps us feel this message, the playd
17:25date with the rain, because of the
17:27ingredient of using like kids drawings,
17:30the kids coloring templates and
17:32stencils. And there's other ingredients.
17:34There's other visual decisions he's
17:36making. He's like sort of laying out the
17:39the letters so they're not perfect. the
17:41choice of photography. He's using really
17:44closeup imagery so that we can really
17:46see their smiles and it's a little bit
17:49more blurred around because the focus is
17:51on their emotion and their happiness,
17:53the joy in that moment. But despite you
17:56know us having a lot of ingredients to
17:58create this dish, there is one standout
18:01ingredient that is the sort of saltiness
18:04of this dish and that is the way he cut
18:07out those letters and the way it makes
18:09it feel hand put together and like
18:12almost you know collaged together like a
18:14child. You feel that playdateness
18:18of the ad. Really awesome work from
18:20Connor. Yeah, he just put a lot of work
18:22into this and it's crazy how much he was
18:24able to do in just 30 days. And I think
18:27that is just the power of he's got the
18:29skills. He's already a graphic designer,
18:32but understanding this tool. He started
18:35with an insight and an idea in his
18:37review. I remember he mentioned like
18:39that was the most important part for him
18:41was the first two weeks of just really,
18:43you know, internalizing what is the big
18:46idea before executing. But I'd also say
18:50he's just really done a good job of
18:52choosing ingredients to help us feel
18:55that idea. Starting with a novel idea,
18:57but then, you know, making novel
18:59decisions. I'll show you one more
19:00student. Ja is an architect, a designer,
19:05but she's worked in in years as a as an
19:07architect, working in architecture. I
19:10don't know anything about that realm,
19:11but it's so funny. I actually get a lot
19:13of architecture uh students or
19:16architects asking me whether they could
19:18become art directors and maybe there's
19:20something about they've got all the same
19:21visual skills but it's being applied to
19:24buildings and infrastructure and maybe
19:26they want to go more into a a brand or
19:30pop culture route and that feels more
19:31creatively fulfilling. I don't know. So
19:33her concept her campaign is for EF
19:36tours. education first is what I think
19:38is it stands for travel and her insight
19:42is we wait for the perfect time to live
19:44the life we want believing there will
19:47always be more time later we all do this
19:49is a really universal truth and she's
19:51using this insight for travel so her
19:54idea is let's reveal the hidden cost of
19:59waiting by making the passage of time
20:01impossible to ignore that's what she
20:04wants to convey and bring to life in her
20:06campaign So notice how she does that,
20:08how she's bringing that idea to life.
20:10I'd almost say it's somewhere in between
20:13creating the feeling but also the medium
20:16itself. She's using plane tickets or
20:19train tickets, boarding passes as a way
20:23to deliver the message. So she's
20:25replaced the text on it. After I have a
20:27family, that's when we're going to
20:29eventually travel. after I retire. She's
20:32sharing all the excuses we use for, oh,
20:34later we're going to travel. I'm going
20:36to travel when we're ready, when it's a
20:38better time, after I make more money,
20:40once I've found people to go with, I
20:42don't want to travel alone, after I
20:44graduate, etc., etc. And there's really
20:47just one clear ingredient here. She has
20:50decided the best way to convey this
20:52message is what if the message is told
20:54through these travel plane tickets? Our
20:58direction's tough, right? like art
20:59direction has an endless list of
21:02ingredients. There's an endless menu of
21:05visual decisions you could make. But
21:07what I think is just so fascinating
21:08about her project is that when you do
21:11land on the ingredient you want to use
21:15to deliver your message, utilizing the
21:18plane tickets, the boarding passes as
21:20the medium, all of a sudden it feels so
21:23simple. It's like, oh, why didn't why
21:24didn't I come up with that? Maybe others
21:26have come up with something similar, but
21:28I just think it's so novel the way she
21:30used that. And then as an art director,
21:33you're using that same creative formula
21:35from your big idea and you're executing
21:37it across as many touch points as
21:39possible. The same visual ingredients,
21:41how that comes up in maybe a popup in an
21:44activation, whether that's social ads or
21:47billboards, out of home ads, it's all
21:50utilizing the same formula. You'll try
21:52to find an ingredient that can be
21:55threaded across these channels. Ideally,
21:57an ingredient that can live in an out of
22:00home ad and within an actual in-person
22:04IRL popup or some sort of activation.
22:07But anyway, kudos to Ja and Connor for
22:11creating projects, spec campaigns in
22:13their portfolio that I shared it with
22:15some of my friends. I wish I had in my
22:17own portfolio. And some of my friends
22:19said the the same thing like, man, I
22:21wish I had made a campaign like that
22:22when I was a a student of art direction
22:25trying to build my portfolio. Even now,
22:26it's like, I wish I wish I was uh
22:29thinking that creatively. [music] So, I
22:30hope the biggest takeaway of this video
22:32is that you've broadened your idea of
22:35what art direction is and what's
22:37possible with the visual decisions you
22:40make. There are universal principles and
22:43tools that a lot of the best creative
22:45agencies in the world utilize. And there
22:47is also an endless list of visual
22:49ingredients and visual decisions that
22:51you can utilize [music] in your own
22:53work. If you want to dive deeper into
22:55any of these concepts, check out some of
22:57my other videos. I'm more than happy to
23:00welcome you into one of my courses or a
23:03live boot camp, but always [music] want
23:04to make sure there's free content you
23:07can check out first in case you want to
23:09go down this path on your own. Let me
23:11know in the comments if you found this
23:12video helpful or if you have any
23:14questions that you want me to try to
23:16cover in a future

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