For context, an in-house design dept or in-house agency is a company or corporation that has the design team on-site as part of its internal staff. With shifts in the business model due to the pandemic, that may also mean the team working remotely.
While mentoring graduating design students, I have found time and time again there hasn’t been any exposure or mention of in-house design as a career option at their respective universities and art colleges.
Ad Agency Life
Agency life can feel glamorous and exciting! Working alongside mega-talented professionals. Boasting working with big name clients. Killer material for your portfolio. Opportunities a plenty to flex and stretch your creative muscles.
What else? Unlimited coffee, free lunches and cool workspaces with pingpong tables, fuseball, etc. Toys and figurines sprinkled throughout the environment. Bookshelves with visually stimulating reference material found in design books and design periodicals for inspiration. Perhaps, vibrantly colored walls with slick typographical decals. – Anything to get those creative juices flowing!
Life in the agency world is also fast-paced, and you are being entrusted to do the heavy lifting for a client who may not have the ability, team, time, or in-house talent to do so. Expect to work long, hard hours to meet their deadlines. While they’re clocking off at 5; you’re still in the hot seat till late into the evening. Maybe you need to pull an all-nighter or work through the weekend to make that deadline. Sound familiar?
This is where agency life lacks work-life balance. Many burn-out. Many regret years of free time they lost from hours spent in the office or studio, working. And then there are others who live for this lifestyle.
I think agency life is ideal for recent grads and those in their 20’s, even early 30’s, who are eager to ramp up their careers. . . .Maybe it’s also for empty nesters who wish to revisit this work model?
Many agencies are working towards positive changes in their environments to promote work-life balance, claiming they require a very civilized shift of workable hours.
One of the core reasons ad or design agencies are exciting to work for is due to the exposure to diverse clients and brands on a regular basis. No stagnation. Variety. Never a dull moment. Exciting, fulfilling projects!
The Sad Truth
I advise students to carefully consider their choice of employer for a myriad of reasons. Though I want to point out a sad truth about working for agencies: when there’s a downturn in the economy, companies’ advertising budgets are amongst the first to get slashed. Contracts with agencies are not renewed. The agency loses the big account that kept their staff fed. It’s an unfortunate truth, but losing an account or two could be enough for the agency to layoff designers; or worse, to close the agency’s doors for good.
I’ve seen many agencies close after decades worth of business.
Agency Life Pros
- Variety of uber creative projects and brands that will challenge your creative thinking and output – keeping things fresh
- Fast-paced environment, which many designers hunger for
- Work with / collaborate alongside other unbelievably creative individuals
- Cool, trendy environment – inspiration around every corner
- Acquire work experience quickly and build a strong portfolio of projects
Agency Life Cons
- Fast-paced environment with little control over deadlines, little ability to negotiate deadlines
- Long hours, lots of overtime
- Stressful, potential for burnout
- Lose a contract, lose your job
- Tracking billable hours
In-House Life
As an in-house creative, you’ll find yourself immersed in corporate culture and corporate bureaucracy. Be prepared, lots of business processes. Red tape; rules and standards, administrative responsibilities that come along with the role – in effort to keep the organization running well. You are one of many cogs in a wheel. For a creative, some of these other daily tasks may be frustrating; because they take away from, well, the creative.
Cross-team collaboration. In-house designers will often be joined at the hip with marketing. In-house designers will also interface with different teams and groups across the organization (e.g. Human resources, manufacturing, engineering, IT, web development, sales, and what have you). You’ll have a high-level overview and understanding as to company operations, which leads me to my next point . . .
As an in-house professional, you’ll have much closer ties to the company’s products, services and branding. You will have a direct impact on your organization. You become a brand ambassador and can communicate these values and benefits outwardly to any outside agencies. You may need to partner with outside agencies when the workload is beyond what your in-house dept can handle, or there is a specialty skillset / expertise supplied by such an outside agency.
More creative than ever! The level of in-house talent has been blooming for nearly two decades. Designers burnt out from agencies have happily joined in-house groups to make a real contribution. High quality output that gets direct results in lead generation and sales – contributing to the bottom line. Creative Services, is what we call the in-house design department within a business. Many view it as their own internal design agency and run it as such.
Good benefits package. The larger the corporation, the more generous – including but not limited to 401k, profit sharing, excellent medical/dental plan, sick leave, maternity/paternity leave, paid time off, flexible working schedule. Continuous learning and conferences. Solid work-life balance . . . do you need to step out for your child’s doctor appointment, parent-teacher conference, or ball game? Or, maybe an early afternoon hike for yourself?
Another point to hit upon is the job security. Corporations need their in-house designers to produce their communications materials, branded marketing collateral, stationery, websites, blogs, product mechanicals, promotional videos, etc. These services remained relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic, so layoffs were likely not as severe as in the agency world.
In-House “Ups” Include:
- Offering and utilizing a range of skills on the job and being versatile, which can include any of the following: graphic design, web design/web dev, UI/UX, project management, art direction, illustration, photography, video editing, motion graphics, digital strategy, brand development, copy writing, proof reading, etc
- As a strategic partner you have a seat at the decision-making table where you collaborate closely with other teams; you are not seen as an order taker
- Subject matter expert
- Collaborating with teams, company-wide
- Continuous learning encouraged; ability to attend ongoing classes and conferences
- Manage outside partners & vendors
- Job security ! !
In-House “Downs” Typically are:
- Working on the same brand or brands repeatedly, performing repetitive tasks, and, as a designer, not feeling fresh and inspired
- Bureaucracy – internal and external
- Dealing with internal teams who do not follow processes in place for creative briefs
- Directional changes demanded within short turnaround time based on business needs – having to sacrifice on quality
- Smaller teams may experience high volume workload with inadequate deadlines
- Limited budgets – need to get creative to save the organization money; cannot necessarily go full force with your creative solution
To Each His Own
One is not better than the other regarding agency vs. in-house, and you must find the environment and company culture that best suits you. If possible, try your time in both situations to gauge where you prefer and feel more comfortable. Where you are in your professional journey may determine which option is best for both your job satisfaction and lifestyle.
Consider joining a professional designer’s association, such as AIGA, where you can meet and network with professionals and start a conversation about these topics.
Christine volunteers as In-House Chair for AIGA CT Chapter.
