Art Direction - Exercise / Analyzing Art Direction Practices in Creative Company

23.9.2025 - 28.10.2025 (Week 1 - Week 6)
Chong Hui Yi / 0363195
Art Direction / BDCM
Exercise / Analyzing Art Direction Practices in Creative Company

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TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Instructions

2. Exercise

3. Feedback

4. Reflection

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INSTRUCTIONS

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Exercise: Analyzing Art Direction Practices in Creative Company

Instruction

Task Each group selects one creative company whose art department aligns with your programme specialisation areas (Graphic Design, UI/UX, Digital Animation, Entertainment Design, Immersive Design). The group will research and present a cohesive company profile addressing four sections. Each member takes one section and becomes the subject-matter lead for that part.

Section:

1. Business & Industry Overview
2. Production Structure & Pipeline
3. How Art Direction Fits Within the Production
4. Art Director Profile: Roles & Scope

Progression

In Week 1, Mr. Kamal briefed us on this exercise. In short, we were required to find a creative company to interview in order to understand how art direction operates within the industry, and then write a report of around 1,000–1,400 words.

We first formed a group of six members:

1. Ng Kar Yee (Team Leader)
2. Lin Si Yan
3. Ho Winnie
4. Melvin Yung
5. Lew Guo Ying
6. Chong Hui Yi (me)

After that, we were asked to select a company to interview. Our group mainly focuses on UI/UX design, except for one member who specialises in Immersive Design. Initially, we chose to approach Experiential Design Team (EDT), a Malaysian-based creative technology company founded in 2019 and headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. EDT specialises in developing immersive digital experiences through AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and metaverse projects.

Experiential Design Team (EDT)'s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weareedt/

Fig. 1.0 Experiential Design Team (EDT)’s official website
(https://www.weareedt.com/)

After confirming the company, we began dividing the tasks among the group members, as the report was structured into four main sections:

1. Business & Industry Overview – Winnie
2. Production Structure & Pipeline – Guo Ying & Melvin
3. How Art Direction Fits Within the Production – Hui Yi & Kar Yee
4. Art Director Profile: Roles & Scope – Yanny

I was responsible for Section 3: How Art Direction Fits Within the Production, together with Kar Yee. The goal of this section was to explain the role of art direction and how it integrates with different teams and processes within the company. Based on the brief, we were required to include:

• A short definition of art direction specific to the company or project type.
• The points of collaboration and the departments that the art director interacts with.
• The types of decisions made by the art director, such as defining the look and feel, approving key visuals or assets, and maintaining creative consistency.
• A short case example showing how art direction influenced the final outcome.

To guide our interview and ensure that we covered all these areas, we developed a set of interview questions divided into four parts:

• Definition & Positioning
• Collaboration & Integration
• Decision-Making & Creative Control
• Case Study or Example

Because we still had not received any reply from EDT by Week 4 and the deadline was approaching, we decided to change our company. Eventually, we chose Bike Bear.

Bike Bear is a creative digital marketing agency based in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. The company offers a full range of services, including web design, branding, social media marketing, video content production, and search engine marketing.

We decided to approach Bike Bear because their creative work strongly reflects the role of art direction in shaping brand identity and visual communication.

Fig. 2.0 Bike Bear's official website

(https://www.bikebear.com.my/)

After refining our interview questions, we sent an email to Bike Bear to request an interview. Fortunately, they responded positively, and we scheduled an online interview with Mr Ariel (Art Director of Bike Bear) on 23 October, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. We were truly grateful for their time and willingness to share their insights with us.

Fig. 3.0 Interview Question

Fig. 3.1 Group photo taken during the online interview with Mr Ariel

During the interview, Kar Yee asked the questions while I took notes. Later on, I reviewed the recording and put together the interview transcript.

Fig. 3.2 Interview Transcript for Section 3

After that, we divided the tasks. I was in charge of writing the Definition & Positioning and Collaboration & Integration sections, while Kar Yee worked on the Decision-Making & Creative Control and Case Study/Example sections.

Fig. 3.3 Sections written by me

Final Outcome

Fig. 4.0 Art Direction Exercise Weekly Project Management Report

Fig. 4.1 Art Direction Exercise Report

Fig. 4.2 Bike Bear Art Director Report

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FEEDBACK

Week 3:

The interview questions looked good, and we could proceed to send the email.

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REFLECTION

I am really grateful for this exercise, as it gave us the opportunity to interview Mr Ariel, the Art Director of Bike Bear. It was a rare chance to hear first-hand experiences from someone in the creative industry, which allowed me to gain valuable insights into how art direction functions within a company. Through the interview, I also realised that the way departments collaborate in the real world is quite different from what I had imagined.

At Bike Bear, who leads a project depends on its nature, which I found very interesting. I was inspired by what Mr Ariel shared about how every designer is encouraged to act as a “mini art director,” as this taught me the importance of visual judgement, critical thinking and design thinking. I learned that designers are not only responsible for creating visuals but also for thinking deeply, observing the world and understanding culture. In addition, I realised how essential communication skills are in the creative field, as the ability to express ideas clearly and work well with others is just as important as strong design abilities. 

Lastly, I am thankful for the great teamwork within our group, as having six members made the workload easier to manage and everyone completed their part responsibly, which made the whole process much smoother.