WHAT DOES A DESIGN DIRECTOR DO?
Published: Oct 16, 2024 - The Design Director ensured all design work met the highest creative standards while managing and inspiring design teams across multiple studios. Led design critiques, collaborated closely with creative leadership, and presented work to clients and agency partners. Oversaw the seamless transition of art files to production and evolved visual identity systems to maintain consistency across deliverables.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Design Director
1. Design Director Duties
- Strategic Planning: Prepare, develop, and implement mid & long term plans for the division to ensure the completion of goals.
- Action Plan Development: Prepare, develop, and execute the annual design action plan.
- Progress Monitoring: Manage, monitor, and evaluate the progress of the division's plan.
- System Development: Develop an integrated system including design policies, rules, procedures, and project advisory to enhance productivity and ensure legal compliance.
- Data Analysis: Develop an internal system to collect, analyze, and evaluate input data to provide optimum solutions and mitigate arising issues in project master-plan design.
- Budget Management: Develop and control the annual capital plan, budget plan, and cost plan of projects to ensure maximum cost-effectiveness.
- Cross-functional Coordination: Support and coordinate with Legal, R&D, Construction, Project Management, and Sales & Marketing divisions to ensure approval of project documentation, profit margin, and customer satisfaction.
- Stakeholder Relations: Build connections with local authorities and partners in design management, architecture, and the tendering process.
2. Design Director Details
- Design Strategy: Work extremely closely with the Creative Director (Vision Holder) to establish a design strategy that practically and successfully executes the creative vision.
- Craft Excellence: Champion the best practical craft delivery of the creative vision, hitting the highest quality bar.
- Team Management: Directly manage design leads and establish high-performing teams in craft excellence.
- Design Documentation: Produce easily digestible design briefs, pitches, guides, and documentation to align team understanding and direction.
- Upward Communication: Concisely and clearly communicate upward to EP, Senior Directors, VPs, and Executives.
- Best Practices: Define best practices and pipelines with the team in all areas of design, including outsourcing.
- Strategic Planning: Work with production to effectively plan design team delivery and highlight strategic risks.
- Team Growth: Create team growth plans and collaborate with recruitment partners to deliver on them.
- Mentorship: Level up the design team through mentoring, training, and personal development plans.
- Team Motivation: Inspire, motivate, and unleash potential in individuals and teams to deliver beyond expectations.
- Technology Advancement: Keep informed of the latest advancements in technology and techniques specific to design.
- Studio Initiatives: Contribute toward studio initiatives and act as a team and studio ambassador, personifying company values.
- Leadership Strategy: Participate in studio design leadership, shaping the strategy of the department.
3. Design Director Responsibilities
- Brand Leadership: Lead the brand vision and execution for the company, ensuring consistency across all channels and pushing the brand to greater heights.
- UX Design: Deliver code-ready UX design sketches for front-end/engineering teams.
- Stakeholder Feedback: Take feedback from stakeholders and implement it in a timely manner.
- Workflow Management: Manage workflow from initial brainstorming to execution, delegating as necessary to Front-End Developer.
- Ad Design: Design marketing/brand ads as needed, including emails, banners, social media, video assets, print ads, and merchandise.
- Coding Assistance: Occasionally step in and help with front-end coding.
- User Testing: Conduct user testing and A/B tests to continually optimize site performance and conversion.
- Performance Improvement: Stay up to date on UX and code standards and initiate ideas to improve site performance.
- Process Coordination: Coordinate processes and workflow to deliver excellent, efficient products.
- Deadline Management: Responsible for maintaining deadlines.
4. Design Director Job Summary
- Brand Refresh: Drive a visual brand refresh, evolving Brand & Style Guidelines and championing them across the organization to create a consistently recognizable and iconic brand in culture.
- Content Oversight: Oversee all visual content across the organization, ensuring the master brand narrative is delivered with impact and cutting-edge aesthetics to drive users and non-users to action.
- Team Management: Manage a team of graphic designers, illustrators, and production artists, and interact with content, photography, copy, social, and video teams to develop strategies for campaigns.
- Creative Execution: Lead the concept, design, and execution of all branded visual materials for integrated, cross-channel initiatives, then review and provide consistent feedback to ensure high-quality execution.
- Collaboration: Partner closely with the consumer product design team to create a cohesive and intuitive experience across all brand and product touchpoints.
- Mentorship: Provide mentorship, feedback, and education to the full design team, fostering a culture of creativity and growth.
- External Collaboration: Collaborate with external design, creative, social, and video agencies and producers to ensure all brand assets consistently deliver on the brand’s ambitions.
- Product Design Vision: Be a driving contributor to the Growth Opportunities team, representing Product Design Vision.
- User-Centered Design: Shape the data-informed product design vision for user experience, collaborating across the entire product lifecycle and multiple product launches.
- User Listening: Prioritize listening to users, both directly and through the Product Insights team, letting their needs guide the best solutions.
- Team Development: Build, develop, and lead a best-in-class team, prioritizing diversity and inclusion to create an environment for learning and growth.
5. Director of Forest Design Accountabilities
- Design Process Management: Manage design process from site assessment to grand opening, including site layout, design concept, construction document creation & review, permitting, construction administration, and quality control.
- Team Building: Establish an entirely new external team of architects, engineers, and design professionals, and manage efforts through each Development project.
- Budget & Schedule Control: Provide input into the creation and control of the development budgets, development schedules, and overall expansion strategy.
- Leadership & Mentoring: Provide mentoring and leadership to a team of design managers and designers overseeing projects in several states/regions from concept planning through design development and construction documents for permitting agencies.
- Collaboration: Work with Chief Development Officer in collaboration on new concept design and strategic brand initiatives.
- Special Projects Management: Help manage and lead special projects from initial idea to final implementation in new projects.
- Prototype Optimization: Optimize and update the current forest prototype set to ensure consistency in new project execution, scalable growth, and quality control.
- Stakeholder Communication: Communicate effectively across all internal & external stakeholders, including real estate, construction, procurement, operations, consultants, contractors, and service providers, to ensure compliance with evolving company standards.
- Pre-visualization Creation: Create high-quality pre-visualizations of forest design & development concepts for use in Marketing and Sales operations.
6. Design Director Functions
- Creative Excellence: Ensure that all design work meets standards of creative excellence.
- Concept Development: Create and contribute to multiple viable concepts.
- Client Presentation: Clearly, convincingly, and articulately present work to clients and agency partners.
- Team Leadership: Mentor, manage, and inspire all designers in every aspect of design craft.
- Photo Shoot Support: Support product and lifestyle shoots.
- Design Critiques: Lead design critiques and collaborate internally, across all three TD Studios (SF, NY, UK).
- Collaboration: Collaborate closely with Creative and Account Leadership and external agency partners.
- Production Oversight: Oversee seamless transition of art files to the Production team.
- Visual Identity Management: Help define and continuously evolve visual identity systems and guidelines.
- Vendor Resource Management: Maintain a library of resources for world-class vendors.
- Budget Awareness: Be aware of budgets and timing for client deliverables
7. Design Director Job Description
- Creative Strategy: Conceptualize design ideas, develop strategic plans for creative projects and supervise the creative execution of branding, product, packaging, marketing collateral, in-store signage, digital email/banner assets, ecommerce, UX, paid/organic social assets, and photo shoots from conception to completion, on-strategy and on-brand.
- Team Leadership: Manage, mentor, and inspire designers while providing art direction and oversight on projects moving through the studio daily.
- Collaborative Engagement: Collaborate with cross-functional teams and support VP and Creative Director across multiple projects.
- Content Partnership: Partner closely with copywriters and team on content needs.
- Creative Direction: Direct photoshoots and external agencies.
- Market Analysis: Analyze market research, customer insights and reviews, new technologies, and other materials to incorporate findings effectively into designs.
- Proposal Development: Craft proposals for new and existing clients.
- Design Innovation: Iteratively bring ideas to life, from user research to sketching, prototyping, and working with engineering teams to ship experiences that inspire and empower people to take action, whether that’s making a strategic decision or tactical next step.
8. Interior Design Director Overview
- Project Management: Handle a job from beginning to end including schematic design, design development, ordering, installation, and follow-up.
- Sustainable Design: Emphasize and incorporate sustainable design principles into client solutions.
- Client Interaction: Establish a personal image and refine client interaction skills.
- Business Development: Lead the pursuit of new client relationships and projects, selling the company’s ability to produce and manage interior design projects.
- Sales Management: Create sales proposals, pitch, and meet sales quotas for the department.
- Project Briefing: Ensure that clients and team members are adequately briefed on projects throughout the planning process.
- Portfolio Development: Continue to build a substantial portfolio of award-winning projects.
- Target Monitoring: Develop overall project targets and monitor performance to meet or exceed them.
- Concept Translation: Work with designers to translate concepts into comprehensible, convincing terms for clients, designers, and other team members.
- Professional Standards: Maintain the highest standard of image and develop skillful client interaction in professional practice.
- Meeting Leadership: Lead project meetings and presentations.
- Team Collaboration: Follow through with effective decision making and responsible communication to foster good team interaction, motivating staff to raise the quality of designs through collaboration.
- Mentorship: Mentor and develop interior designers' skill sets and other staff members on interior design concepts to create a learning and growing environment.
- Staff Development: Assist in staff development and performance reviews.
- Budget Management: Manage and assist with overall project budgets and schedules in coordination with the project manager.
- Proactive Communication: Communicate proactively with internal and external teams and clients.
- Time Management: Develop time management skills for team members.
9. Design Director Details and Accountabilities
- Strategic Alignment: Ensure the design group is in alignment with strategic goals, vision and brand.
- Innovation Leadership: Work relentlessly to position at the leading edge of product design, quality and performance in the global apparel space.
- Creative Leadership: Provide creative leadership and long-term brand level vision for the Apparel Category working in close collaboration with design leaders in the Equipment group.
- Team Leadership: Lead, manage and mentor Apparel Product Design staff in all aspects of product design.
- Staff Management: Perform general administration of the Product Design Staff including conducting performance and wage reviews, mentoring, and training/professional development activities.
- Resource Coordination: Coordinate and manage design resources (internal and external) in order to integrate market needs defined by Apparel Director and Product Managers.
- Color Integration: Work alongside color coordinator to ensure color palette and application working closely with colleagues in the Equipment group to ensure an integrated and compelling brand level seasonal color story.
- Fit Standardization: Lead, manage, and coordinate apparel fit standards working closely with colleagues in development, product management, external design resources and factory partners to ensure brand accretive fit direction and consistency.
- Development Coordination: Coordinate with Sourcing and Director of Development to evolve multi-season product Design and Development calendars and assure timelines and stage gates are met.
10. Design Director Tasks
- Resource Allocation: Work with the Director of Apparel, Sourcing, and Director of Development to appropriately assign design resources to new design projects.
- Resource Analysis: Analyze resources needed for new and ongoing product design issues, report to, advise, and update the Director of Apparel accordingly.
- Communication: Communicate product design development decisions in seasonal reviews made to Director of Apparel and BD managers.
- Budget Management: Create, adhere to, and track the annual budget for design staff and resources.
- Collaboration: Collaborate closely and regularly with Director of Apparel to communicate the progress of each product during seasonal development.
- Product Testing: Assist in field evaluation and product testing of new products both with athletes and in-house product testers.
- Scheduling: Schedule concept/design/development reviews according to the Calendar.
- Staffing: Ensure the design group is appropriately staffed and work with the Director of Apparel to hire new designers.
- Cross-functional Communication: Work with all counterparts globally (particularly Directory of Apparel, Apparel Product Managers, Category Directors, Director of Sourcing and Development, Director of Supply Chain Management, Director of Quality Assurance) to ensure effective inter- and intra-departmental communication and collaboration.