Tech Culture

Digital Education is Broken

Ever since I started blogging in the early the naughties, the emails came in. At first in dribs and drabs, one every few months. However by the end of the decade they were one or two a week. Emails from disgruntled students who had spent up to £9k a year on tuition fees, and even more on living expenses, to find themselves languishing on a course that was woefully out of date.

Why do agency account managers exist?

If you've work with a large design agency before, you've probably been assigned an account manager. They tend to be super charismatic people who are good at forming interpersonal relationships, and build a bridge between you and the agency. However you may also wonder what they actually contribute to the project, and why they appear on your bill at the end of the month.

The Death of the Agency Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

If I lived and worked in San Fransisco, the current "death of the agency" debate may have slightly more poignancy than it does in the UK. San Francisco and the wider Bay Area is undoubtedly living through a huge tech bubble, and has been for some time. The slew of new tech businesses quickly hoovered up the local talent, before starting to ship them in from around the country and the rest of the world. This includes dozens of Brits I know who have left these shores for a better life in California.

My Concerns about Value Pricing

While I think the argument for value pricing has a logical constancy, and sounds great in theory, I worry how it will end up being applied in practice. My main concern is the effect this approach will have on the practice of design and our relationship with clients, although I have a number of practical concerns as well.