In full disclosure, I am tireless and unabashed in my somewhat blind allegiance to the State of Michigan and the City of Detroit.  And certainly, unapologetic for my advocacy of Michigan and Detroit web design and other creative companies. However, if you take the time to move through this article, I think you’ll find my arguments fairly convincing.

“Whether it’s Michigan or Detroit web design, digital marketing, engineering or even cherry growing, it is Michigan’s inexorable desire to find a way to succeed and persevere even in the face of incredible odds that sets the Great Lakes state apart. In Detroit, we do because we have no choice.”

If you’re a Michigan native, there’s little question as to why Michiganders find a way do anything differently and, ultimately, more effectively. Whether it’s web design, digital marketing, engineering or even growing cherries, it is Michigan’s inexorable desire to find a way to succeed and persevere even in the face of incredible odds that sets the Great Lakes state apart. In Detroit, we do because we have no choice.

If you’re not from Michigan, you’re probably wondering where this kind of confidence even stems from, or even if it’s merited. Fair questions, all.

An unlikely source, in the modern era, for creative work of all stripes, Michigan web design and digital creative is growing in their prominence for a lot of reasons, but truth be told the kind of creativity and ingenuity that drives good web design is a part of the Michigan DNA – even if we don’t realize it.

Why Choose Michigan or Detroit for Web Design?

As a business owner or enterprise company decision maker, you have a lot of choices when it comes to web design and development companies. In other articles, I go over a few sure fire ways to get you on the right track to selecting the vendor best suited for you, but here I want to talk about web design in Michigan and Detroit. So why choose Michigan or the “D” over the more likely suspects?

Madison Avenue in Detroit – The Cradle of Modern Advertising

It is worth noting that alongside the vaunted creative personalities of Madison Avenue were those from Detroit. From the 1920’s into the modern era, the automobile industry was one of the largest early adopters of professional creative and advertising and the Motor City was certainly no stranger to the demands and necessities of innovative advertising techniques. Even today, that early foundation has continued to grow as the world’s largest traditional and digital agencies all have offices in Detroit. From small boutique creative agencies like Skidmore Studio, to the larger standard bearers like Lowe Campbell-Ewald, Team Detroit, McCann, Doner and many others, Detroit is still home to some of the U.S.’s most notable creatives.

While you may not have the budget or opportunity to work with one of these giants (and even if you do maybe you shouldn’t), they provide a high standard for which all their smaller counterparts can reach. Nowhere is this more evident than in the emerging culture of startups and creative businesses driving the “Detroit Renaissance”. New companies are popping up, tech startups and agencies alike and old Michigan water carriers are all moving into the city, like Campbell-Ewald and Skidmore Studios, and are finding their stride downtown.  While Kaleidico, a primarily digital and remote workplace, draws talent from across the country and even the globe, we’re proud to be a part of Detroit’s rebirth by supporting start-ups and Fortune 500 companies with innovative and effective web design and development.

Michigan Has Great Talent for Web Design and Like 1,000 Other Things

The Michigan brain drain is nationally notorious. A downward spiral that saw Michigan’s best and brightest, educated in our outstanding Universities, like the University of Michigan, outsourced to other states and cities for lack of greater opportunity here at home. This trend has since reversed. Instead of sending our most talent across the entire country, they are choosing to stay home. Even more, Detroit, Ann Arbor and Michigan at large are attracting a new breed of entrepreneurial pioneers, eager to play their role and ultimately, stake their claim, in the resurgence of one of America’s most storied industrial states.

I was among those who left. You can read this great National Journal piece on the same issue, but the bottom line is that few places in America offer creatives, innovators, entrepreneurs and the newly ambitious such purpose and flexibility than Michigan and Detroit. It’s cool to be from here, even cooler to move here and now some of the most talented minds of a generation are finding a home in “the Mitten.”

A New Culture Joins an Old Ethos

Let’s be honest, Michigan, and Detroit, in particular, have fallen on hard times as of late. The Economic crisis, evolving global marketplaces, significant changes to the U.S. labor market and the struggles of the auto industry pushed our state to the brink of economic extinction. However, after weathering that storm and coming out the other side of the U.S.’s largest municipal bankruptcy in history, Michigan and Detroit have emerged ten times stronger.

Out of this maelstrom emerged a new paradigm in our business culture. Firmly rooted in a historically ingrained ethic of hard work, is now a total commitment to the success of Michigan startups and businesses. This dedication to reinvention has resulted in a Michigan that can bootstrap anything and do it in such a way that it not only works, but works beautifully. We have learned to accomplish the perceivably impossible because we have had no other choice.

It was simple: we evolve or perish.

What this all comes down to is a question every business in search of a web design partner must ask themselves: what kind of company do they want to partner with for their upcoming project. Do they want a partner that rests on its laurels, or do you want a partner that understands what reinvention and innovation truly require? I believe you will find the latter, right here in Michigan.