Who Designs Visuals for Concerts?

When you attend a pop show, a rock gig, or a major arena tour, it can feel like the production appears out of nowhere. The lights hit, the screens ignite, the stage transforms, and suddenly you are inside a fully realised world that feels as carefully crafted as the music itself.

But who actually designs the visuals for concerts? And how do those visuals come to life?

The reality is that no single person creates a live show. Concert visuals are built by a team of creative specialists, working together long before the first audience member enters the venue.

Where does a concert’s visual world begin?

Usually, the process starts when an artist decides to tour, often alongside the release of a new album. Touring and album campaigns tend to be closely connected, which means the visual language of the record often informs the look of the stage.

At this point, a key creative figure often steps in to help shape the direction of the show.

The creative director

On many large-scale tours, a creative director oversees the broader artistic vision. This can include the live show, album artwork, promotional visuals, styling, and sometimes even social media output.

The creative director’s role is to define the overall identity of an era and ensure that everything feels cohesive. In some cases, the artist themselves takes on this role. In others, the creative director works closely with the artist to translate musical ideas into visual concepts.

Not every tour has a formal creative director, but when they are involved, they help set the tone for the entire project.

The production designer

If the creative director defines the overarching vision, the production designer builds the physical environment of the show.

Production designers are responsible for designing the stage, scenic elements, screen placement, band risers, and the overall spatial layout. They shape the architecture of the performance space and determine how the audience will experience it visually.

Sometimes the production designer works alongside a creative director. Sometimes they take on both roles for the live show. There is no single standard model. Every artist and team structure is different.

The lighting designer

Lighting design is central to how a concert feels. The lighting designer works closely with the production designer, creative director, and crucially, the video designer, to shape the atmosphere of the show.

It is important to say that lighting designers do not operate in isolation. Decisions around colour palette, intensity, rhythm, contrast, and mood are rarely made by one department alone. They are developed through conversation.

Sometimes a visual idea begins with video and lighting responds. Sometimes lighting leads and video follows. Often the most powerful moments come from both departments developing ideas together from the outset.

Lighting can sculpt the stage, define silhouettes, energise a chorus, or strip a moment back to something intimate and minimal. But its true impact comes from how it interacts with the other visual systems on stage.

The video designer

At FRAY, we specialise in concert visuals and video design for live performance. Whenever a stage includes LED screens, projection surfaces, or integrated video elements, a video designer shapes what appears on those canvases.

Our role is to turn music into moving image. We work closely with creative directors, production designers, and lighting designers to create a visual language that supports the emotional arc of the show.

Concert visuals are not just decorative backdrops. They are part of the storytelling. A chorus can feel euphoric because the light and video expand together. A breakdown can feel aggressive because image, texture, and lighting hit in sync. A quiet moment can feel fragile because everything reduces in harmony.

The relationship between lighting and video design is especially important. Colour systems, transitions, pacing, and visual energy are often developed collaboratively. Rather than competing for attention, both departments work to create a unified visual ecosystem.

The goal is coherence. The audience should not see separate departments. They should feel one world.

Who hires the video designer?

In most cases, video designers are brought onto a project by a production designer, creative director, or lighting designer. These relationships are often long-standing and built on trust.

The strongest results usually come from open communication across the team, and ideally with the artist directly when they are deeply engaged in shaping their live show. When dialogue is clear and collaborative, the visuals can more accurately reflect the intent of the music.

It takes a collective vision

There is no single person who designs concert visuals. Live shows are the result of layered collaboration between creative directors, production designers, lighting designers, and video designers, all working toward a shared outcome.

At FRAY, one of the most rewarding aspects of our work is operating within that collective process. We move between conversations with artists, lighting designers, and production teams, absorbing ideas and contributing our own. The work becomes richer because it is shaped by many creative perspectives.

Concert visuals do not appear from nowhere. They are built through dialogue, experimentation, and trust between collaborators. And when that collaboration works, the result feels seamless to the audience, even though it has taken months of design thinking to achieve.