Some Notes About Graphic Design Contracts
Monday, December 1st, 2008 | graphic design
Contracts are standard in the graphic design industry, and should you begin as a client to work with a graphic designer and they don’t ask you to sign one beware! A contract protects both you and the designer and ensures both parties understand how the project will progress.
There are some standard articles in a contract that you as a client might not understand. Here are some things you should know.
- Partial payment up-front and non-refundable. Why, you ask, would you give money before you’ve seen any work? Just because you haven’t seen any work doesn’t necessarily mean work hasn’t yet begun. A designer will put in hours of work prior to delivering anything to you. Should you cancel the project for any (likely valid reason) the designer is ensured they will get paid for whatever work they have done. This clause also protects a designer from delivering a rough draft and the client then taking that rough draft to a friend who will finish the work for little to no cost. This may happen any way, but at least the designer receives some compensation.
- Payment schedules. The full payment for the project may be split in to multiple payments, due at particular points in the project. Suppose a designer finishes designing a web site and has your approval. Before they begin to build the web site they may require a payment. Or they may require a payment prior to launching your web site. This not only protects the designer’s work but also helps split up for you what might be a large expense. The designer may be willing to work with you on the terms of the payments. It’s worth discussing with them.
- Rights of use. Work created by a designer is their intellectual property, and because it is art it is rather personal. A good designer will know how not to take work for a client too personally, however they will get proprietary when it comes to future work getting done to what is their creation. You will often find a clause stipulating that the designer gets first option to make changes (say to a brochure or to a web site). Another “rights of use” issue concerns how the work created can be used. It may be explicitly stated how an ad could be used (say perhaps in a single issue of a magazine, rather than re-purposed for another type of medium).
- Credits. A designer often leans heavily on referrals and the showcase of their work. Their contract may stipulate they get a credit on the web site they created for you, for instance.
Contracts can be rather lengthy with lots of jargon you may be unfamiliar with. Do not hesitate to ask the designer to clarify a point or two.