Team structure, great management, and specialization matter most.
Author’s Note: This article will be specific to my personal experience working at an agency. So far, my only full-time role in tech has been on the agency side, so any comparisons I make will be based on my general knowledge.
Before starting my career, I wasn’t sure where I was going to end up. My assumption was a larger tech company or even a mid-size startup. I aspired to be a Product Designer for web-based SaaS products. I thought about applying for work at companies like Calendly and Webflow. That’s not to say I couldn’t thrive doing that type of work, because frankly, I haven’t experienced it to know, but that’s just not what ended up happening.
Since transitioning from an 8-year career in Fashion Design to ‘Designing for the Web’ (UX, UI, Interaction Design, etc) I’ve worked at an agency. Long story short, I enjoy it and I feel like the environment is a good fit for me.
However, not all agencies are the same. Team size, structure, and types of projects vary. I work at an agency that specializes in Data Visualization and Data Storytelling. My team is small — the team is currently 5+ people (we have freelancers and interns that work with us too) and growing, including myself — and we are fully remote-distributed.
I’ve had a great experience, but there have been some challenges as well. I won’t say they were necessarily bad though. I’ve learned from the struggles and come out on the other side stronger.
Let’s break down some of my pros and cons.
Pros:
- Fast project cycles (I get to work on a lot in a short amount of time and grow my skills faster)
- Varied clients and content subject matter (I rarely get bored)
- Highly collaborative team (in the case of my colleagues)
- Autonomy over projects and opportunities to lead design (I attribute this to small team size, you just got to get in there and do the thing)
- A lot of what I work on ships/goes live (minimal busywork)
- Good work-life balance (Note: this is not often true for a lot of agencies so keep that in mind! It’s often the opposite, but I’ll get into that shortly)
Cons:
- Client communication challenges (though most of my experience is overwhelmingly positive)
- Difficulties around scoping work (things can take more time than projected and it’s not always clear-cut)
- Fast project cycles (can also be a con if you want to do deeper more structured design work or if you lack certain skills to get the job done quickly)
On Work-Life Balance
Honestly, I think my agency experience is an atypical one when it comes to work-life balance. Usually, working at an agency requires long hours, 10+ hour days at the worst of times. 😬
Why is this not my experience? I think it has to do with the fact that we work within a niche and don’t take on just any design project. We specialize in data visualization projects.
Some agencies take any project brief and shoehorn themselves into making it work. While this keeps your client base heavy and books full, I believe the success of the agency will likely suffer if you generalize too much. It also leads to ridiculous working hours for everyone and an unsustainable “grind culture.”
I’m in the camp that it doesn’t need to be that way.
A quick aside: I recently listened to this episode of Techincally Speaking by Harrison Wheeler, where he interviews Dan Mall. He touches upon the challenges and realities of agency work in their conversation, and it’s worth a listen.
I don’t have a lot of problems clocking 7–8 working hours a day and leaving it there. It’s rare that I work overtime and if I do it’s not more than an extra hour or two a week, not even every week or every month even. I chalk that up to good time management and a culture that is heavily rooted in teamwork.
More On Teams
I love working on a small team. My current one is the smallest I ever worked on. Everyone has different skills, and they overlap in the right places.
We are split across timezones, which is a dynamic that works great for my lifestyle. I’m in Eastern time while my managers are in Pacific time. I love that I can chunk through a ton of work in my morning and get feedback from them in their morning which is my afternoon.
We are also very balanced when it comes to specialties. We have just the right mix of both design and technical skills to get work out the door effectively.
We also work laterally, iterating in tandem with one another and dividing work where needed. Rarely do I feel siloed, and if I do, asking for help is no problem. Someone is often available to chip in or pass the torch to.
We also cross-pollinate each other's work often. Someone could be designated as the lead on a project, but anyone on the team can easily contribute ideas. Even the non-designers on the team hop into Figma and iterate now and then.
No matter where you work though, agency, startup, or a large established company, a bad team or bad management will make even the best people crash.
I’m very thankful to be working with a great team of folks!
Future Possibilities
Some people see agencies as a stepping stone to bigger non-agency tech firms. Some also look down upon agency designers — once at an agency, always at an agency, they say. I’d argue that one could make a pretty successful long-term career doing solely agency work (and many already have.) Some people even go from working in an agency to starting small firms themselves.
There are also very large agencies with hundreds of employees and multiple teams. As an outsider looking in, I’m unsure if that’s my vibe. I enjoy working on a small team and getting involved in a lot of projects. I feel like I have more impact this way, which is important to me.
I also think about getting an opportunity to work on data-driven products and services. The work I do now is mostly focused on one-off data microsites, graphics, and interactives. They are in a sense “products” but not on a huge scale with tons of users utilizing them for day-today tasks. Data products aren’t what our team focuses on now, but I wonder about them. This would require a lot more capacity of course.
In addition, I’d love to work on interactive data installations for museums or curated experiences blending digital and physical space. Maybe I’ll get that chance where I’m at someday.
Only time will tell where my career will lead me.
Wrap Up
Overall, I enjoy the agency life. I don’t think I would have been able to upskill myself as quickly otherwise. I’ve gained data analytics and visualization skills because of the agency’s specialization, and I believe those skills will continue to be essential in the present and future. The fast-paced environment has also helped me shore up my general design skills quickly. My awesome teammates keep me feeling driven.
Do you work at a design agency? Do you like it, or are you seeking a change? Or do you work at a non-agency firm?
Are you just starting your design career and have questions or thoughts?
Feel free to comment!
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Aria is a Designer and Creative Technologist from New York City. She’s currently working as a Designer at the Data Visualization and Storytelling agency, The DataFace. You can find her on LinkedIn, Twitter, and her Portfolio.
