Design agency vs in-house design team
By: Michael Kuhn
Tags: Product Design, Design, Agency, UX, Career Advice

Throughout my design career, I’ve had the pleasure of working on several different design teams — all in varying sizes, working styles, and team dynamics. Some of these teams have included in-house design teams at larger companies, some at start-ups, and most recently a small design agency. In my experience on these various teams, I’ve begun to notice and identify first hand the biggest differences between what some would call “agency life” vs. “in-house.”

For the seasoned product designer that’s worked in both of these work environments, the differences are quite obvious and you may already prefer one over the other. However, for a junior designer who has just begun their career, the differences might not be as clear. This makes it difficult to know which one is the right fit for them. In this article, I’ve compiled a list of some of the major distinctions between working as a product designer at a design agency and on an in-house design team.

Breadth vs. Depth

This may come as no surprise but the first topic up for discussion is the age-old debate of breadth vs. depth. I feel like this is the single biggest difference between these two types of workplaces:

At an agency, the type of work you will be doing is often project-based and can vary depending on the client. One week it could be fleshing out the UI for a fintech mobile app and the next could be a technical user migration flow. The projects, the teams, and the clients are always changing. That being said, a designer can gain a lot of experience very quickly, from the sheer number of projects they get pulled into. Often the knowledge of the actual product or industry is only surface level because next week you may be working on a new project in a completely different industry or sector. Things move quickly at an agency so your portfolio will gain breadth.

Unlike an agency, things move a little slower when you’re part of an in-house design team. An in-house designer working at a product company typically works on only one or two products. So you can take the time to learn and understand the product or solution from a more holistic perspective. Typically within an in-house environment, product designers work with the same team of product managers, business analysts, engineers, etc. The team is all working towards the same goal and gains a strong knowledge of the product as well as the industry you all work in. There is a deeper level of understanding of the market and the solution your product provides, thus the emphasis on depth.

Work process — Ihor Hedz

Product vs. Process

The second key differentiator I’ve identified between working at an agency vs an in-house team is the actual style of work. With a product, you work continuously to improve and refine it, compared to an agency where you can work to improve or create multiple products through a repeated process.

If you work on an in-house design team, you’re most likely working on the particular product or service offered by the company. You have the opportunity to own and become an advocate for improving that single product. This can be truly rewarding as you have a direct hand in the success of your product. To a degree, you drink the Kool-Aid and really feel a responsibility for the potential growth that your product can achieve. While working on a product, you establish a long-term relationship with the product or service that lasts the duration of your time at that particular company. This can result in you becoming an expert within the industry.

To work at a product company you have to love the product. To work at an agency you have to love the process.

To work at an agency, your work is more geared towards helping and assisting your client with their product. Your role becomes less about the long-term success of the product and more focused on how you can help to improve or accomplish what you have been assigned to do for your client. Those who work at agencies have a passion for the process of their work and less of a connection to the actual product.

Steve Jobs gives a brief explanation of the differences between product and consulting (agencies) in this video, as he uses the example of a simple banana. Within the agency or consulting world, he explains that you collect these two-dimensional photos of a bunch of different fruits but you never actually get to taste them. At a product company, you enjoy the fruits of your labor and actually get to taste the banana. Jobs provides an enlightening perspective on the juxtaposition between these two work environments.

Team Dynamics

The people and the teams you work alongside have a huge impact on both the quality and success of the work you do as a product designer. Like every other topic we’ve discussed, there’s also a difference between the teams you would work with on an in-house design team and at a design agency.

Though the core team you work with at an agency (that is those employed by the agency) will stay the same, the clients are a different story. Your clients and anyone you interface with outside the actual agency are always changing. You might find yourself working with a client anywhere from two weeks to several years. It all depends on what the engagement looks like — cost, timeline, etc.

In a contract role like this, a lot of the time you will be working directly with individuals from your client’s internal teams. Examples include working with product owners outlining product requirements, engineers building your designs, or in some cases collaborating with other designers. Other times you could be simply reviewing or pitching to a client after doing the work with your own internal team. Whatever the scenario, the teams and the individuals you work with while at an agency are always changing.

This type of team dynamic has its advantages and disadvantages. One benefit is that you get the chance to work closely with new people all the time which is a great way to learn and grow your network. But a drawback is that you are always forming new relationships and this can be difficult for the less social or introverted designers.

As I previously mentioned, the core product group you typically work with at a product company or in-house team will be the same people you work with daily. In my experience, I had a design team I was a part of but each designer worked on separate products or verticals. These teams included cross-functional roles such as product owners, product managers, business analysts, engineers, and even copywriters. Depending on the project, you’d occasionally work with a representative from sales, marketing, or ops, but the core team remained the same.

An added benefit of working with the same people is that you form strong bonds and relationships with your co-workers. You have the opportunity to learn how they work best. This is a useful advantage and I go into more depth on this topic in another article.

Zoom tips for improved remote communication — Theoni Michael

Meetings

Meetings, meetings, meetings; our workdays are full of them but depending on your workplace environment, they could look very different. Meetings can also vary greatly depending on the size of your company or agency.

While I worked on in-house teams, I rarely interfaced with our clients. This could have been due to my role or position at the company, but for an in-house designer, chances are slim that you will be having regular 1:1s with your clients or customers. But in the context of an agency, designers are always pitching their work directly to the client. Meetings at an agency consist of project kickoffs and regular check-ins with the client. Agency designers have far more opportunities to present and share their work than an in-house designer. Don’t get me wrong, in-house designers still have chances to present their work, but the opportunity is far less.

For in-house designers, meetings consist of design critiques, product team meetings, design team meetings, feature sizing meetings, quarterly planning meetings, engineering demos, etc. The types of meetings at a product company look much different compared to those at an agency. Sometimes it feels like you spend more time in meetings talking about the work than actually getting the work done. That being said, it comes with the territory. Product companies are product companies because they know their product inside and out.

Timelines, Deadlines, & Priorities

After coming to my first agency from a product company, I was so surprised by how quickly things got done! I came from a place where our Q1 OKRs (Objectives and key results) were to define our Q2’s OKRs. Okay, not really but sometimes it felt like that. You know how I said clients are always changing at agencies, well deadlines are always changing at product companies (in-house).

Many factors lead to the changing of priorities at a product company but, almost all of them affect what work a product designer has on their plate. Maybe there are changes in the market that your company must adjust to. Or simply a ton of built-up tech debt that must be consolidated. Whatever the case may be, this can lead to lulls in a product designer's workload.

Some might say, “there is always design work to be done”, and while this may be true, it also depends on how much your company values Design with a capital D. And if the answer is “not really”, well you could be twiddling your thumbs for a little while until that product roadmap says “design” on it again.

If there is one constant at an agency it's that your deadline is always on the horizon. Whether or not the client takes a year to actually implement your work, you still have a date to hand something over. I’ve been lucky in my agency experience but I’ve heard horror stories from fellow designers working late and long hours to meet a client’s deadline. Often this is nothing but an internal mentality forced on by leadership to help produce better work. This is an extremely unhealthy behavior and though sometimes may prosper good results, it almost all of the time will lead to burnout and poor employee retention. Work-life balance is important plain and, simple.

In the end

These two styles of workplaces have their differences, but no one is better than the other. It's all about work preference and where you want to be in your career. These thoughts and observations are purely from my own work experiences so I encourage you to explore both of these environments to form your own opinions. More experience is never a bad thing in the world of design. And if it doesn’t work out, well in the words of Almitra Inocencio, “you can always quit your job” and “you can always get fired.” Nothing is permanent.