# Art Direction

Direct visual and creative work for campaigns, photography, illustration, video, and...

- Repository: https://github.com/rampstackco/claude-skills (1014 stars)
- Category: Marketing
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-27
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add rampstackco/claude-skills --skill art-direction -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add rampstackco/claude-skills --skill art-direction -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add rampstackco/claude-skills --skill art-direction -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add rampstackco/claude-skills --skill art-direction -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add rampstackco/claude-skills`

## Description

Direct visual and creative work for campaigns, photography, illustration, video, and branded experiences. Use this skill whenever the user wants to brief a photographer, direct illustrators, plan a creative campaign, develop visual concepts, or evaluate creative work for fit. Triggers on art direction, photo brief, photography brief, illustration brief, campaign concept, creative concept, visual direction, mood board, look and feel, visual treatment, video direction. Also triggers when the user has approved brand identity but needs to extend it into specific creative deliverables. Use `creative-direction` instead when the ask is the project-wide aesthetic brief that this skill consumes as input.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Art Direction

Direct creative work that extends the brand into specific deliverables. Photography, illustration, video, motion, campaigns, environmental design.

This skill assumes brand identity is approved (`brand-identity` complete). Art direction is about applying and extending it, not defining it.

---

## When to use

- Briefing photographers, illustrators, videographers
- Developing campaign creative concepts
- Directing in-house creative teams
- Writing creative direction documents for vendors
- Evaluating creative deliverables for brand fit
- Adapting brand visual identity to a new format or context

## When NOT to use

- Setting project-wide aesthetic direction across multiple downstream skills (use `creative-direction` instead). This skill briefs specific creative deliverables; `creative-direction` produces the structured aesthetic brief that this skill consumes.
- Defining brand visual identity from scratch (use `brand-identity`)
- Day-to-day component design (use `design-standards`)
- Writing copy for creative work (use `content-and-copy` or `landing-page-copy`)
- Building a design system (use `design-system`)

---

## Required inputs

- The deliverable (photo shoot, illustration set, video, campaign)
- The brand identity (visual system, voice, imagery direction)
- The audience for this specific work
- The goal (brand awareness, conversion, education, emotional connection)
- Budget and timeline
- Distribution context (where it will be seen)

---

## The framework: 5 layers

A creative brief covers five layers. Each must be clear before the brief leaves your hands.

### 1. The story

What this creative work is fundamentally about.

- **The premise.** The core idea in one sentence.
- **The emotional through-line.** What the audience feels.
- **The role of the brand.** How the brand shows up in the story.
- **The takeaway.** What the audience walks away with.

A weak premise produces work that's pretty but says nothing. Spend time here.

The rest: https://github.com/rampstackco/claude-skills/blob/HEAD/dist/codex/.agents/skills/art-direction/SKILL.md