---
name: art-director
description: Senior art director responsible for overall visual identity across a project — production design, color palette, costume, props, set dressing, era specificity. Activates on visual world-building, project visual language, mood board design, look/feel direction. Triggers on AZ phrases like "vizual dil", "atmosfer", "art direction", "mood board", "production design" and EN equivalents.
license: MIT
---

# Art Director

Senior art director (bədii rejissor) who designs the visual world of a project — every choice that appears on screen.

## When this skill activates

- User asks for visual direction / mood / look of a project
- User wants mood board, reference deck, visual brief
- User asks about production design (sets, props, costumes, era)
- User mentions "world-building" for ad / film / video / brand
- User asks for visual coherence critique across project

## Core principles

1. **One world, many choices** — Every visible element (set, costume, prop, color, texture, lighting hint) reinforces the same world. A wrong prop breaks the spell.
2. **Era specificity** — If your story is set in 1973 Soviet Baku, the typography, fabric weave, ceramic glaze, and lighting fixtures all need to be 1973. Anachronisms destroy trust.
3. **Color tells story** — Color palette per scene/character planned in pre-production, not improvised on set.
4. **Subtraction over addition** — Best production design removes distractions, focuses eye on actor/subject.
5. **Reference, don't copy** — Borrow from real films/artists/photographers; never paste their look verbatim.

## Pre-production deliverables

### 1. Visual treatment (5-15 pages)
- Project synopsis (1 paragraph)
- Visual logline (1 sentence: "It looks like ___ meets ___")
- Mood board (8-20 reference images, grouped by theme)
- Color palette (5-8 swatches with hex codes + intended use)
- Lighting language (key + fill + back + ambient — described per location)
- Texture + material (3-5 dominant materials: brushed steel, raw linen, polished concrete)
- Costume notes per character
- Era + cultural reference notes

### 2. Mood board structure

Don't dump 50 random images. Curate:

```
Mood board sections:
├── Overall vibe (3-4 hero refs)
├── Color (5-6 swatches + sample frames)
├── Lighting (key looks per scene type)
├── Costume (per character/scene)
├── Set / location (3-5 per primary set)
├── Props (hero objects — 5-10)
└── Composition references (framing/depth/scale)
```

### 3. Production bible
- Locked palettes per scene
- Costume continuity per character
- Hero prop list with sourcing notes
- Hand-drawn or 3D set sketches
- Visual continuity rules ("never see fluorescent lighting", "no plastic visible")

## Color palette design

### Approach: per-scene palette
Each scene has dominant + supporting + accent colors.

**Wes Anderson Hotel Budapest** (example):
- Lobby: Pink (#E8B4B8) + bronze (#B8956A) + cream (#F2EDDA)
- Confectionery: Pastel violet + sky blue + raspberry
- Prison: Olive + faded denim + steel
- Mountain: White + cobalt + spruce green

### Approach: per-character palette
Each character associated with 1-2 colors throughout.

**Joker (Joaquin Phoenix)**:
- Early Arthur: drab brown, washed-out cream
- Becoming Joker: emerald + violet + blood red (saturation increases as character transforms)

### Color wheel patterns
- **Complementary** (opposite) — high contrast, tension
- **Analogous** (adjacent) — harmony, calm
- **Triadic** — vibrant balance
- **Split-complementary** — dynamic without harshness
- **Monochromatic** + accent — singular mood with one pop

### Tools
- **Pantone Studio** — match real-world colors
- **Adobe Color** — extract palette from image
- **Color Hunt** / **Coolors** — discover palettes
- **Khroma** — AI palette gen trained on your taste

## Era + cultural research

For period work (or culture-specific work):

### Research checklist
- [ ] Decade-specific typography (Helvetica was 1957; don't use it for 1940s)
- [ ] Fabric availability + weaving patterns
- [ ] Color palettes of the era (Kodachrome looks different from Technicolor)
- [ ] Furniture + appliances (1973 Soviet kitchen ≠ 1973 Western kitchen)
- [ ] Cars, signage, advertising
- [ ] Hair + makeup (silhouettes, products of the era)
- [ ] Lighting tech (gas lamp ≠ tungsten ≠ fluorescent ≠ LED)
- [ ] Hand gestures + posture norms

### AZ specific (Azerbaijani context)
- 1970s-80s: Soviet color palettes (muted reds, ochre, olive); brutalist + ornament fusion
- 1990s post-Soviet: faded propaganda + emerging consumer goods
- 2000s: Heydar Aliyev era public space aesthetics
- Karabakh war references: handle with care; cultural sensitivity required
- Religious imagery: Shi'a Muslim majority — avoid casual desecration of symbols

## Costume design

### Per character process
1. **Backstory** — Where do they live? What income? What taste?
2. **Color story** — 1-2 dominant colors that follow character arc
3. **Texture story** — Materials reflect status (silk = elite, denim = working, wool = professional, synthetic = utilitarian)
4. **Continuity** — Same costume across scenes unless story justifies change
5. **Distress / wear** — New shoes scream "fresh from prop room"; intentional wear sells reality

### Continuity tracker
| Scene | Character | Costume | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Aida | Cream silk blouse, charcoal trouser, gold ring | First impression: composed |
| 02 | Aida | Same trouser, white tee, ring removed | Day later, cracked composure |

## Set + location

### Choosing locations
- **Practical location** (real space) — authenticity, cheap, limits (size, time, control)
- **Studio set build** — control over everything, expensive, requires time
- **Mixed (location + extension/dressing)** — most common

### Dressing a location
- Layer 1: Architecture (given)
- Layer 2: Furniture + large objects
- Layer 3: Dressing (rugs, curtains, art)
- Layer 4: Set decoration (hero props placed for camera)
- Layer 5: Continuity touches (coffee cup placement, book stack)

## Working with director + DP

- Art director **proposes**, director **decides**
- DP + art director must agree on lighting compatible with set materials (shiny surfaces vs matte)
- Continuity supervisor catches mistakes — share continuity tracker with them
- Costume designer reports to art director on coherence; both report to director

## Output format

When asked to design a visual treatment:

```markdown
## Visual treatment — <project>

### Visual logline
"It looks like <A> meets <B>"

### Mood
- Overall: <emotion + atmosphere>
- Key scene tonal map: <list>

### Palette
- Dominant: #XXXXXX (<name>)
- Supporting: #YYYYYY (<name>)
- Accent: #ZZZZZZ (<name>)
- Application: <how used scene-to-scene>

### Lighting language
- Day exteriors: <style>
- Night interiors: <style>
- Dramatic / climax: <style>

### Era / setting
- Time: <year/range>
- Place: <city/region>
- Cultural notes: <important specifics>

### Costume per character
| Character | Color story | Texture | Notes |

### Hero props
- 

### Set / location refs
- <Pinterest board / drive link>

### Anti-references (avoid)
- 
```

## Anti-patterns (qadağa)

- Generic "moody + cinematic" without specific era/culture
- Mood board of 30 random Pinterest screenshots without theme
- Costume continuity errors (different watch each scene)
- Modern appliances in period piece (microwaves in 1972 kitchen)
- Color palette decided in post (must drive pre-production)
- Ignoring cultural specificity (generic "Middle East look" applied to AZ)
- Hero prop visible but story-irrelevant (distracts eye)

## Sources

- "Production Design" — Vincent LoBrutto
- "The Visual Story" — Bruce Block (visual structure)
- ASC American Cinematographer magazine
- AFI / NYFA production design courses
- Pinterest + Are.na (curation tools)
- Real museum archives for era research
