Download transcript: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3litewmeryjvpkj/Toi-WWLL_July2015-Transcript.pdf?dl=0 Toi is a global, digital agency—but what the hell really makes an agency different than a "design house," or a "boutique design firm" anyway; and what are the right conditions to be working with one? We're going to talk about misconceptions and best practices for working with an agency, even if it's not us.

1. One of the biggest misconceptions
about my product or service is
______________.
Lunch & Learn • July 29, 2014

2. what the hell is a
creative agency,
anyway?
Lunch & Learn • July 29, 2014

3. Toi is a full-service digital agency,
focused on helping companies
and organizations make a bigger,
more effective impact in their
industry through great design.

4. Los Angeles
San Francisco
Buenos Aires
Austin

5. It’s not just about making sure
companies that are looking for creative
services find the right style in their
partner, but that the job itself is matched
with the right kind of creative partner.

6. One of the biggest misconceptions about the
creative industry is that different kinds of
creative service providers function
the same way.
They don’t.

7. Freelancer
Freelancers are individual team members
for hire. Because they’re only one person,
they’re typically only available for a very
limited amount of work at any given time,
but are much easier to integrate directly
into a team or management structure.
They usually have a very specific skill set
and style, and are less expensive to
employ because you’re contracting an
individual, not a team.

8. Studio
Design (or development, or film, or
whatever) studios are small teams that are
usually very focused on practicing a very
specific set of creative disciplines. They
are usually highly skilled at a certain kind
of creative service, usually require a
pretty high budget, and a longer timeline.

9. Creative Agency
A creative agency is a company that
manages every creative service under one
roof: from strategy, conceptualization,
web, mobile and print design, film, photo,
technology, marketing and advertising.
Budgets are typically on the higher end
(especially compared to, say, a freelancer),
but timelines can be flexible.

10. If your project needs…
1. Tight control over the timeline
2. Flexible deliverables
3. Low-ish budget
You probably need a freelancer.

11. If your project needs…
1. A very specific aesthetic
2. Very specific deliverables
3. And you have a healthy budget
You probably need a design studio.

12. If your project needs…
1. Insights & strategy
2. End-to-end creative services
3. Management infrastructure
You probably need an agency*.
* you should also have a pretty healthy budget for this one too

14. toi.io • twitter.com/toishop • facebook.com/toishop • dribbble.com/toi