Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a self-defined Creative Director and I don’t discount the skill and knowledge gleaned from 30 years in the business. But I’m finding myself wondering if one from a background other than art direction/copywriting could actually be an effective CD.

We run what I like to call a “collaborative” agency. The philosophy stems from the fact that good ideas and good feedback comes from many backgrounds and isn’t limited to so-called “creatives.” In fact a lot of the creative direction in our agency comes from someone with a strategic background –someone who’s been around design long enough to know good design but who doesn’t have a background as an art director or copywriter. Well, it’s me in fact.

This is not how I was indoctrinated to the world of creative direction. As a strategist, one could comment on whether or not the product met the strategy but any comment on the design itself was strictly off base. 76design doesn’t strictly adhere to this process and I think that just might be okay. I’m starting to think that the qualities that are required for creative direction may not be embedded in one’s experience as a designer/writer. A fellow blogger at graphicpush gave some fuel to this theory but I’m interested to know if others care to weigh in.

So the questions are, “what are the qualities of a good creative director?” and “does not having a design/copywriting background preclude one from being a good creative director?”