In-house or agency: choosing the work you want to do

The categories overlap

The ANA’s 2023 study complicates the familiar choice between an in-house team and an agency. Of its 162 respondents, 82 percent reported an in-house agency, while 92 percent also worked with external agencies. This was a survey of ANA members, not a census of design employers. Still, the overlap is a useful warning: the company category does not tell you who gets to do which work.

We would start a job conversation with the decision-making process. Who writes the brief? Who presents the work? Who has the authority to say that a project is ready? The answers describe the role more clearly than promises of a fast-paced culture.

Ask to follow a project

Choose a recent piece of work from the team’s portfolio and ask the interviewer to walk through it. What did the first brief say? What changed? Which designer stayed involved after launch? You are looking for a sequence of decisions, not confidential client details.

Then ask where your role would have entered that sequence.

An in-house position may offer repeated contact with the same product and the chance to see whether a design works over time. It can also mean a narrow production remit. Agency work may bring varied clients and concentrated critique, but variety means little if your contribution never reaches beyond resizing the approved concept. Neither outcome follows automatically from the employer’s label.

Look for the conditions to improve

A strong next role gives you something specific to practice. Perhaps that is presenting a recommendation, directing photography, working with developers or building a system others can maintain. Name the skill before comparing offers.

Ask who will review your work and how often. Ask what happens when feedback conflicts. Ask how the team chooses between an urgent request and a more important project. These questions reveal whether good design has a repeatable place in the organization.

Listen for examples. “We collaborate closely” leaves almost everything unanswered. A description of a weekly critique, a named decision-maker and a recent change made after user feedback gives you something to evaluate.

Compensation belongs in this conversation, too. Compare the same pay measure, location, responsibilities and expected hours. A headline salary cannot explain workload, development or decision authority on its own.

“Ask where your role would enter a real project.UpCrafted editorial

Write your own comparison

After the interview, make two short lists: what you would own, and what you would learn. Add the people who would help you learn it. If those lists remain vague, ask a follow-up before treating the role as a clear step forward.

Do not choose an employer category in the abstract. Choose the next stretch of work you want to become good at, and ask for evidence that this team will let you do it.