Art Director (magazine)

Art Director (magazine)
Title	Art Director
Category	Art and Design
Frequency	Monthly
Firstdate	1930
Finaldate	1978
Country	United States
Based	New York City
Language	English

Art Director (magazine) was an American monthly periodical devoted to commercial art, advertising, illustration, typography, and visual communication that operated primarily in the mid‑20th century. It served as an industry organ and creative showcase, documenting shifts in graphic design, illustration, and advertising practice while connecting major practitioners, agencies, and cultural institutions. The magazine recorded the careers of leading figures in illustration, corporate identity, and magazine art direction during an era that included the Great Depression, World War II, and the postwar advertising boom.

History

Launched in 1930 in New York City, the magazine emerged amid contemporaries such as Art in America, Communication Arts, Print, Graphis, and The Studio. Early editorial direction engaged figures associated with Chrysler Building era commercial commissions and with agencies like J. Walter Thompson and McCann Erickson. During the 1930s and 1940s it covered collaborations between illustrators working for The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, Harper's Bazaar, and advertising clients including General Electric, Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company, and Procter & Gamble. World War II coverage intersected with matters involving United States Office of War Information, poster artists linked to Norman Rockwell, and wartime propaganda efforts connected to Office of Strategic Services. Postwar years saw the magazine document the rise of modernist designers influenced by Bauhaus, émigré practitioners around Gebrauchsgrafik movements, and agencies such as Leo Burnett and Young & Rubicam. By the 1960s and 1970s it responded to cultural shifts alongside publications like Life (magazine), Esquire, Vogue, and the creative revolutions associated with figures at Push Pin Studios and Saul Bass. Declining ad revenues and consolidation in publishing contributed to its cessation in 1978, in a market increasingly dominated by trade journals, academic discourse at Cooper Union, and professional organizations such as the Society of Illustrators and Professional Association for Design.

Editorial Profile and Content

The magazine combined critical essays, portfolio spreads, technical how‑tos, and industry news. Regular departments examined advertising campaigns by agencies like DDB Worldwide and BBDO, craftsman profiles of illustrators associated with Norman Rockwell, J.C. Leyendecker, N.C. Wyeth, and typographers influenced by Jan Tschichold and Herbert Bayer. It ran case studies of corporate identity systems for clients such as IBM, AT&T, United Airlines, and Shell Oil Company, and discussed packaging work undertaken for Kraft Foods, Colgate-Palmolive, and Campbell Soup Company. Editorial pieces engaged with exhibition programs at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. The magazine also provided practical instruction on studio management, color separation techniques, photomechanical processes pioneered by firms like Eastman Kodak Company, and print production practices used by printers such as R.R. Donnelley.

Contributors and Notable Issues

Contributors ranged from celebrated illustrators and designers to agency art directors and critics. Regular bylines included practitioners connected to Milton Glaser, Paul Rand, Alexey Brodovitch, Herb Lubalin, and photographers akin to Ansel Adams and Richard Avedon. Special issues spotlighted themed portfolios: an Illustration Annual featuring artists tied to The New Yorker and Esquire, a Typography Annual showcasing work influenced by Eric Gill and Adrian Frutiger, and Advertising Annuals surveying campaigns for PepsiCo, Johnson & Johnson, and General Motors. The magazine ran interviews with studio heads from Push Pin Studios, profiles of packaging innovators at Crown Cork & Seal, and retrospectives on press work by Century Magazine veterans. Notable issues included wartime poster compilations produced with support from United States Army, midcentury modern retrospectives linked to MOMA exhibitions, and a 1968 special on psychedelic design that referenced work by Hendrix, concert poster designers associated with San Francisco venues, and countercultural publications.

Design and Visual Style

Art Director balanced large‑scale reproductions, tight editorial grids, and typographic experimentation. Layouts frequently cited precedents from Bauhaus, De Stijl, and practitioners such as Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, while also celebrating illustrative traditions rooted in American Regionalism and Ashcan School aesthetics. Photo‑essays used photographers and art directors influenced by Henri Cartier‑Bresson and Dorothea Lange to frame advertising narratives; typography columns discussed the work of foundries like Linotype and designers such as Bodoni revivalists. The magazine's cover art at times commissioned work from notable illustrators connected to Norman Rockwell School alumni and avant‑garde designers aligned with Swiss Style.

Publication and Distribution

Published monthly from its New York offices, the magazine circulated primarily within the United States with limited international subscriptions reaching design centers in London, Paris, Milan, and Tokyo. Distribution channels included newsstands alongside Time (magazine), institutional subscriptions to libraries at Columbia University and Yale University, and direct circulation to ad agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather and corporate creative departments at Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Advertising base drew clients from printing suppliers, art supply manufacturers like Faber‑Castell, and corporate marketing departments of major consumer brands. The periodical's business model reflected the print economics faced by contemporaries like PM Magazine and trade journals serving American Institute of Graphic Arts members.

Impact and Legacy

The magazine influenced generations of art directors, illustrators, and designers by circulating visual trends, technical knowledge, and professional norms. Its archives became reference material for scholars and curators working at institutions such as the Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art, and university special collections at Cooper Union and Rhode Island School of Design. Designers and educators cited its role in bridging commercial practice with museum discourse, shaping curricula at schools like Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design, and Rhode Island School of Design. While publication ceased in 1978, its documented campaigns, portfolios, and critical writing continued to inform historiographies of American graphic design and advertising, echoed in later anthologies produced by Phaidon Press and retrospectives at design festivals in AIGA contexts.

Category:American magazines Category:Design magazines Category:Magazines established in 1930 Category:Magazines disestablished in 1978