There was a huge question as to whether independent design firms could really make a go of it anymore, or if the in-house UX and Design Department was the wave of the future.

Over the past year, there’s really been a lot of hand ringing and discussion. I think you did a blog post Dirk, the title of which I think was telling, “UX Agencies, Everything Is Going To Be Alright.” Which you did probably 6 or 7 months ago now.

I think we’ve seen a really interesting shift in the landscape of this UX Agency, independent agency territory and I wanted to dig into that a little bit today.

I think the need for the work has never been greater, and the need for excellent designers has never been greater. I think some of the hand ringing or the tumult that we’ve seen over the past year, has been indicative not of design going away, but design and design agencies evolving into whatever the next phase is.

I can be a little bit more specific about that just based on some of my own experience in that, I’ve seen that design agencies, first off the ones that are covering certain types of industries, are really starting to hone in on those industries. If you’re particularity well suited for a type of design or innovation, for say the financial industry, maybe you’ll start focusing entirely on that industry.

I think it’s worth asking as part of this dissection of what’s happening in the design agency world, what is “User experience” anyway? How do we draw the lines around that industry? I must say that when the web was first starting, I never really considered the design of websites and eCommerce sites, the term “User experience” was never really part of that equation. It came to the fore over the decade, which was the 2000s and really took off. Now we have “User experience” in design with such a broad mandate that also includes communication design, and digital design of all stripes whether it’s eCommerce or the aforementioned marketing.

I feel like that part of communication design is also competing for talent, is also competing for clients, so that when you’re talking about UX and design agencies there’s maybe this increased competition and then maybe some initial lack of differentiation from what communication firms can do. Some of that overlap, I think is creating some additional tension when it comes to UX design firms.

The last thing that I think is really worth talking about a little bit farther, is this move in-house from outside design firms. If you were IBM a year and a half ago, you weren’t really embarking yet on this design initiative that they’ve now started a new design center, they’re hiring 1,000 UX people to come in and enhance all of their enterprise software and it’s really creating an additional draw on industry talent.

Over the past year, I’ve seen endless recruiting adds on LinkedIn, precisely for those kinds of jobs and it really makes you realize that Enterprise UX, which maybe wasn’t quite as dominant of force in previous years, has now started to become something that people are really paying attention to.

On the show we’ve had a couple of different episodes where we’ve discussed the “Bring Your Own Device” movement and Enterprise UX in general. Fundamentally the shift that is happening in Enterprise software, is also causing some pull on the independent UX Agency.

If you look at all those trends together, I think you can see that the need for change, for independent agencies, and the need really for specialization has never been greater. I think there’s light at the end of the tunnel, or I would like to believe that. There’s this sense that we’re still waiting and seeing for what’s going to happen next.

Dirk, what’s your impression of all of that?

For a large segment of us who are intelligently and appropriately adjusting with the times, and with where things are headed, it’s going to be fine. It’s going to be all right. Sometimes these adaptation periods are hot, sometimes they’re not necessary. Sometimes the consolidation is hot, and other times it really isn’t, and we just happen to be in a moment where the consolidation, the in-housing of services, the attempt to pivot away from as much reliance on outside providers, is really at a high point.

It’s during a period of real innovation and change in technology, and in culture, so that is going to really force us as service providers, to be highly adaptive and potentially have a very different market strategy and positioning that we did even just a few years ago.

That’s healthy. That’s the good part of free markets that work. Those who don’t adapt, are going to be left behind. Even some who do adapt will be left behind but in the long now, a decode from now, there’ll be approximately the same amount of outside providers as there are now, as there are always. It’s just a moment.

In the U.S. we look at things so short term. Financials are always quarterly. Other cultures primarily, and particularly eastern cultures, have a much longer time horizon. It’s much healthier, it’s much more correct and as usual we’re just panicking here as relates to short term stuff.

In the long now, things from the stand point of outside, service providers being an augmentation to businesses and corporations, we’re going to be here. External creatives doing our thing as well as ever, just in different ways perhaps.

It is worth remembering that longer term view, especially when it come to dealing with the kinds of alterations that we need to make in order to survive. As you pointed out, the emerging tech industries of the 50’s and 60’s, were all around television and advertising and “Mad Men.” I’m sure that the guys who were writing the radio adds, felt the same way I do now, which is that everything’s changing. The market cycle analysis I think is a pretty good one, and one that I’ll try to keep in mind day to day.

Listeners remember that while you’re listening to the show, you can follow along with the things that we’re mentioning here in real time. Just head over to thedigitalife.com, that’s just one L in the Digital Life, and go to the page for this Episode.

We’ve include links to pretty much everything mentioned by everybody, so it’s a rich information resource to take advantage of while you’re listening or afterward if you’re trying to remember something that you liked.

If you want to follow us outside of the show, you can follow us on Twitter. I’m @jonfollett, J-O-N-F-O-L-L-E-T-T. Of coarse the whole show is brought to you by Involution Studios, which you can check out at goinvo.com, that’s G-O-I-N-V-O.com. Dirk?