Production design is the art of creating a film’s aesthetic through its set—and production designers are the architects of a film’s setting. They’re also the overall managers of the art department alongside their second-in-command, the film’s art director.
“The production designer is a key team member who not just translates the vision of the director/writer, but also brings so much of their own into the process, that sometimes it’s hard to say what was in the mind of the production designer and what was in the mind of the director. It’s all kind of alchemy,” explains Inbal Weinberg (“Suspiria,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”), co-founder of the Production Designers Collective and director of the Production Designers Gathering.