Talk presented at DesignTrek '19 in San Diego, outlining the main early-career pros and cons of working for design agencies rather than on an in-house enterprise design team.

1. PROS&CONSOFAGENCYVS.
ENTERPRISE
Bennett King
Managing Partner
Konrad+King
@skunkwurx

2. CORPORATE
AMERICA
NCR
ACS
TITANCORP
HEWLETTPACKARD
KYOCERAWIRELESS
QUALCOMMRESEARCH
1995-2019

3. CORPORATE
AMERICA
OFFICETOOL
WINGCAST
MEDIAFLO
1995-2019
STARTUP

4. BIG
BUSINESS
DESIGN
AGENCY
KINGSIZEDESIGN
KONRAD+KING
1995-2019

5. WHICHONEISFORYOU?
DIGITAL
MARKETING
AGENCY
DIGITAL
DESIGN
AGENCY
INTERACTIVE
DESIGN
AGENCY
DESIGN
STRATEGY
AGENCY
PRODUCT
DESIGN
AGENCY

6. SECTION1|CONSSECTION1|CONS

7. DIFFICULTY
CONS

8. IDEO’ST-SHAPEDPEOPLE
DepthofExpertiseinOneArea
Breadth of Knowledge/Skill

9. Depthof
Expertise
inMultiple
Areas
MOREREALISTIC…
Breadth of Knowledge/Skill

10. THEJOBISMUCH
HARDERANDLESS
GLAMOUROUSTHAN
YOUTHINK.
TAKEAWAY

11. MONEY
CONS

12. AGENCIESCAN'T&
SOMETIMESWON'TPAYAS
MUCHASENTERPRISE.*
(*IT’SGETTINGBETTER)
TAKEAWAY

13. VALUE MONEY

14. AMBIGUITY
CONS

17. THISJOBISN’TFOR
EVERYBODY,ANDNOT
EVERYBODYCANDO
THISJOB.
TAKEAWAY

18. INSTABILITY © Glen Friedman
CONS

19. THE NEW REALITY
THEDESIGNAGENCY
ISDEAD…
LONGLIVETHE
DESIGNAGENCY
Jan ‘15

20. GRATUITOUSBARCHART:
NO
MONEY
LOTS OF
MONEY
YEARLY YEARLY YEARLY YEARLY
PROFIT

21. ATEVERYAGENCYTHERE
ISANASSHOLELIKEME
RANKINGYOUONYOUR
VALUETOTHECOMPANY.
TAKEAWAY

22. SECTION2|PROS

23. CLARITY
PROS
© Bob Gruen

24. We’ll conduct 15
Contextual Inquiries
and then run a
Design Studio
workshop.
WTF? We don’t
have the time
or budget for
that.
CLIENTSDON’TCAREABOUTABULLSHIT
DESIGNPROCESS.THEYCAREABOUT
OUTCOME.

25. We’ll give you 7-10
customer-centered
product features and
prioritize the
roadmap.
Oh, sweet baby
Jesus, yes!
CLIENTSDON’TCAREABOUTABULLSHIT
DESIGNPROCESS.THEYCAREABOUT
OUTCOME.

26. YOUWILLGETGOOD
ATWHATYOUDO.
FAST.
TAKEAWAY

27. CONFIDENCE
PROS

28. “
I existed in a constant
state of “growth”,
where I was always
pushed just beyond
my comfort levels, but
never in a state of
panic. I came out of it
feeling like there was
nothing I couldn’t
handle.
KristinaE.

29. EVERYPROBLEMISA
DESIGNPROBLEM.
YOUWILLKNOWHOW
TOFINDSOLUTIONS.
TAKEAWAY

30. FREEDOM
PROS

31. That is not the
way we do
things…
You’ll never get
support for
that…
I don’t know if
we have the
budget…
There is no
time in the
schedule…You need to
follow our
process

32. THEREISATREMENDOUS
BENEFITTOYOURSOUL
THATCOMESFROMSAYING
FUCKTHAT.
TAKEAWAY

33. CULTURE
PROS

35. ENTERPRISECAN
NEVERMATCHAGENCY
CULTURE.EVER.*
(*DOESNOTINCLUDELARGEAGENCIES)
TAKEAWAY

36. THANKYOU.
Bennett King
Managing Partner
Konrad+King
@skunkwurx