Really, what is it? If not long ago I was asking What is design?, now is the time to ask the same about art direction. In all those years I've been an art director, I've never seen a definition concise and clear enough to have it sinked into my brain. Spooky enough, Google finds definitions for art director, but not for art direction or art directing.

A List Apart tries to come at rescue, halfway though, because it analyzes art direction from a web perspective only in Stephen Hay's Art Direction and the Web article.

Other helpful hints come from Jeffrey Zeldman's blog Daily Report, in his Art direction vs. design post. Not much, but it's a starting point.