Art director Resume: Free Example (2026)

Start with a clean header that includes your name, title, phone number, email, and portfolio URL.
Use a readable font and place contact information at the top so hiring managers can reach you quickly.

Avoid including personal details that are not relevant to the job and make sure your portfolio link opens to a curated selection of recent work that matches the roles you are applying for.

Write a two to three sentence professional summary that highlights your design leadership, team size managed, and signature project outcomes.
Focus on measurable outcomes like campaign reach, awards, or improvements in brand consistency to give context to your role.

Keep language direct and relevant to the job posting by matching a few keywords from the description without repeating them unnaturally.

List experience in reverse chronological order with each job entry using 3 to 5 bullet points that show responsibility and impact.
Begin bullets with strong action verbs and include numbers when possible, for example team size, budget, or campaign metrics to show scope.

Describe your role in the design process, your collaboration with copywriters and marketers, and specific outcomes such as increased engagement or on-time campaign delivery.

Each bullet should combine the task, the action you took, and the result where applicable so readers can quickly understand your contribution.
If you led a rebrand, note the scale of the initiative, any measurable improvements, and the teams involved to convey leadership and cross-functional work.

Avoid vague statements about creativity without context and replace them with concise examples of decisions you made and why they mattered.

Link to a curated portfolio that highlights 6 to 10 projects relevant to the role you want and include a short caption for each project in your portfolio describing your role.
Make sure sample projects load fast and show the design process with brief case study points such as objective, your role, solution, and outcome.

If your portfolio uses images, include captions and file names that match the language in your resume to reinforce keywords.

Create a skills section that separates design skills from management skills and lists tooling such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma, and motion tools when relevant.
Prioritize skills that appear in the job posting and demonstrate both creative craft and leadership abilities like creative direction, mentorship, and stakeholder communication.

Keep the list concise so it supports your experience rather than replaces it.

Place education and relevant certifications after experience unless you are a recent graduate and need to highlight academic projects.
Include relevant workshops or certificates such as design leadership programs and note any honors or notable projects if they are directly relevant to the role.

If you completed continuing education in user experience or brand strategy, briefly note how that training changed your approach to projects.

Aim for a one to two page resume depending on experience, using consistent spacing, font sizes, and margins to improve readability.
Use simple visual accents like bold for job titles and italics for company names, and avoid heavy graphical layouts that may not parse well in applicant tracking systems.

Save a clean PDF for applications and keep a plain text version for any systems that require it to prevent formatting issues.

Read the job description and adjust your summary and top bullets to reflect the most relevant skills and accomplishments for that posting.
Emphasize industry-specific experience, such as retail, entertainment, or tech, and swap portfolio samples so the work you show aligns with the employer's needs.

Small, targeted edits increase your relevance without requiring a full rewrite of the document for each application.

Use standard section headings such as Experience, Education, and Skills so applicant tracking systems can parse your resume reliably.
Avoid embedding important information in images or unusual layouts because ATS software may not read those elements and you could lose keyword matches.

If a posting requests specific keywords like brand strategy or cross-functional leadership, ensure those words appear naturally in your bullets or summary.