Designers looking for the right job situation have plenty of options. You might choose to work for a large corporation, a design agency, or even spend some time freelancing. Whatever you choose, you’ll gain some unique work and career benefits.
From working with (and learning from) talented and inspiring peers, to developing soft skill sets like pitching, public speaking, and managing junior personnel, we walk you through some of the unexpected benefits of working for a design agency.
1. Learning from your peers
At a design agency, you’ll most likely be working with a close knit group of talented and passionate peers who are all invested in your success. Whether it’s collaborating on a particular design, bouncing ideas off of one another, or helping pass along valuable skills that will aid you in your career, interacting with your peers is one of the key benefits of working for a design agency.
2. Practicing soft skills
If you’re working for a design agency, it’s likely that you’ll be interacting directly with clients from time to time. As a result, you’ll have a ton of opportunities to develop critical skill sets like pitching, short-term collaboration, public speaking, and even managing junior personnel. At the same time, you’ll have the chance to form valuable professional connections that can help you out later in your career.
3. Owning projects
There are going to be plenty of learning opportunities in a design agency, but you’ll also be given an important amount of responsibility. Because of the way design agencies tend to work, you’ll probably have the opportunity to work on end-to-end projects a lot sooner than you would in other working situations. Especially if you’re working for a smaller design agency, you’ll experience a high degree of project ownership as well, with a sense of personal investment in a wide variety of projects.
4. Working in a fast-paced environment
Agencies are exciting, fast-paced environments that can help designers think outside of the box and work more creatively. As part of a smaller team, every day at work is going to be a little bit different, with branding, web design, and other projects taking center stage. In other words, you’re never going to be bored. At the same time, design agencies often have more relaxed “off-seasons,” when recurring contracts slow down and the agency shifts to internal work or pitching.
5. Experiencing a wide variety of projects
Working for a design agency, you’ll naturally be exposed to different clients, projects, industries, and external teams, introducing plenty of variety to your work schedule that will help you refine your skills, as well as your career goals. Whether it’s developing point of sale materials for a new beverage, launching a virtual training platform for an e-commerce startup, or setting up a brand identity system, working for an agency will expose you to a unique set of design challenges, and solutions.