On Oct 17, 2007, at 2:26 PM, Dante Murphy wrote: > [...] The one constant I have encountered is that agencies tend to > be high-throughput while innies tend to be more methodical. So if > you like it fast and furious, go to an agency. If you like to > follow a defined process (almost) every time, go innie.
Well isn't that the truth. [Disclaimer: I run one of those small design research agencies] In my experience, the mid-large sized "agencies" and "design shops" are more focused on high-throughput, less on quality and methodology. In fact, most of these design shops don't really have a methodology they follow–it's all rather ad-hoc. I wouldn't characterize IDEO or Cooper this way, based on what I've read and discussions I've had with people who have worked there, and while I think AP takes a slightly different contextual approach to each project, I do believe they have some underlying methodology they base it on. I'll let the AP folks answer that since they're here. That being said, our company has been called in a number of times by mid-large agencies and design shops to help out, or even outright rescue them on a project. And every time we've come in to help, it's the same story–they got there due to lack of process and methodology. Larger companies tend to have a bit more fat and extra revenue to work with. This gives them more of an opportunity to be flexible and methodical. For smaller agencies, every dollar counts, every minute counts, and so unfortunately, they focus on high-output, which generally leads to less than stellar results. This never really made any sense to me. We are very much process and methodology driven. But we understand that a process is only a means to an end, a way to be more efficient, to create a repeatable, predictable process that allows for flexibility and better results. The idea that methodology and rigor prevent you from being creative and efficient is simply wrong. Cheers! Todd Zaki Warfel President, Design Researcher Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully. ---------------------------------- Contact Info Voice: (215) 825-7423 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AIM: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Blog: http://toddwarfel.com ---------------------------------- In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://gamma.ixda.org/help
