Design Agency Business Model
Out of context: Reply #6
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- d_rek0
I am passionate about what I do and don't hate it enough to walk away from it yet. Personally, i'd like to hash out an original IP of some sort and sell it to publishers / entertainment industry for buku bucks.
As for design agency business models... i'm really only familiar with the per-project / retainer based agreements. I think the Involvement and Product-based sound a lot better on paper than they are to turn a buck off of. And you're spot on in your article about the involvement method being kicked around by industry professionals alot but nobody actually implementing that model.
I think as far as what may be the best model largely depends on which one compliments your workflow the best. If you can crank out project work and have it lined up for a good chunk of your future it may not make sense to switch to another model. Or if you have clients who require steady and progressive maintenance (ala web work) then a retainer agreement makes a lot of sense. And so on and so forth.
I guess as far as 'best practices' go it's not that different than other businesses. Customer service is critical. I think a lot of designers / agencies forget this basic tenant of business and go out of their way to create conflict with clientele. Make your clients happy and you will be happy too. Fight with your clients and you might as well shoot yourself in the foot.