In this article, you can find the advantages of a small UX design agency in San Francisco, and one worth digging into more deeply because, now more than ever, it’s time for marketers to look to small agencies as partners. Why? Well, let’s take a closer look.
Fruitful Partnership
Size is an advantage when it comes to responsiveness and agility. While most agencies, especially the larger ones, have a staff structure that looks like this, SF design agencies have a staff structure that basically includes the best talent available in the niche, no matter the employees’ location. They can even work out of a research station on the South Pole so long as they have access to a stable Internet connection. In a business where it’s all about talent, the talent must work on the business and not just the new business.
A small agency has a structure that simply helps its team members to understand the opportunity the first time, that nuance isn’t lost in translation, and its primary team is always working on the project. Creativity and efficiency are not mutually exclusive, at least for small agencies that know that the right 10 people are more powerful than the wrong 1,000.
Talent Access
A surefire way to work without the accumulated layers and bureaucracy that bedevil large organizations is not to become too large of an organization.
SF agencies have employees that don’t want to work at big companies because they don’t want to get buried under tons of bureaucracy and ultimately get lost in the corporate layers. To be able to build close relationships with clients. To get back to work. The sizes of UX agencies in San Francisco are a pure talent attractor. That is one of the many advantages of a small UX design agency in San Francisco.
Small agency teams often have resumes that would be desired at any large design agency and not just in San Francisco. For example, a creative lead with over 15 years of experience in creative and user experience at top agencies (with several positively recognizable agency names and clients in the list). Such experience gives the employee a perspective on persuading people that is intensely human while still being output focused across advertising, direct, digital platforms, social, and branding.
And this is just an example out of the blue. If you take the time to glance at some of the leading SF design agencies and their employees, you will be astounded at the talent accumulated in every single significant person at an agency.
San Francisco agencies manage to do that by not focusing on having all the team sitting in the same quarters. There are several reasons for this, but one of them is the high real estate cost, whether for purchase or for rent. So, a typical San Francisco agency would normally have a small office with its bosses and as a primary contact hub, but the team is either scattered across the US or even the world. At the same time, it’s not like the agency hires just anybody – it’s focused on finding and hiring top talent, wherever that talent may be.
SF agencies are known to have Silicon Valley-level work ethics and quality standards, which doesn’t leave room for poor services. This cultural, geographical, and professional diversity creates a very fruitful environment that ultimately makes these small agencies, not just tiny companies trying to survive but boutique creative agencies that become innovative industry leaders.
Agility Levels
The marketplace is more competitive than ever, and pressure is coming from every angle. Margins are under pressure. Budgets are under pressure. Careers are under pressure.
Perhaps smaller San Francisco agencies should fully embrace the current “agile” trend because they are small design agencies that can simply adapt quickly. But what matters most is producing high-quality work.
Good work can happen within any structure. It’s just that it’s more likely to happen – and more likely to happen quickly – when a small group of talented people works closely together with clients to create something great.
Size is a critical factor here, as well. Normally, small UX agencies have a single creative director, not a creative director that reports to an executive creative director that ultimately reports to someone at global headquarters. They don’t need these extraneous layers and people that get in the way of conversations, ideas, and decisions. The processes are as optimized as possible to ensure they stay fully focused on doing good work rather than on generating qualitative reports for their superiors.
Balanced Incentives
Small UX agencies in San Francisco make sure their work persuades people – emotional, irrational, human people – to think and do things that move their brands and businesses forward via great design solutions.
Both brands and businesses are critical for small UX agencies. Independent SF design agencies don’t have the insulation that comes from sharing revenue with a global network of subsidiaries. They’re on their own. Small San Francisco design agencies’ mistakes and successes are very real, and they immediately experience them.
That means that they are utterly dependent on understanding – and doing – what really matters for clients, instead of what matters for the holding company. Things like quarterly revenue targets, industry awards, or keeping sister agencies busy aren’t considerations when they are doing work. These agencies’ incentives are completely aligned with their clients in most cases. In other words, they do well only when their clients do well in the first place.
Conclusion
It takes a significant level of bravery to choose a small UX agency in San Francisco over a larger agency for the same reason it takes courage to choose anything that isn’t the status quo. Yet, how many companies are comfortable with the status quo? The market leaders are, sure, but everyone else needs to be looking for advantages that their competitors are overlooking.
A small SF design agency can be one of those advantages. It’s time to take a look at the more responsive, more agile, less bureaucratic, less layered, more principle-driven option and take a look at the small UX agencies in San Francisco.
