Summary

We’ll always do our best to fulfil your needs and meet your expectations, but it’s important to have things written down so that we both know what’s what, who should do what and when, and what will happen if something goes wrong. In this contract you won’t find any complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. We’ve no desire to trick you into signing something that you might later regret. What we do want is what’s best for both parties, now and in the future.

So in short;

You, the Customer, are hiring me, Making Waves Creative Ltd, located at Edgemount, 10 Ascerton Road, Sidmouth, Devon EX10 9BT to deliver design services as outlined in our previous correspondence. Of course it’s a little more complicated, but we’ll get to that.

What do both parties agree to do?

You: You have the authority to enter into this contract on behalf of yourself, your company or your organisation. You’ll give us everything we need to complete the project as and when and in the format we need it. You’ll review our work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner too. Deadlines work two ways, so you’ll also be bound by dates we set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out at the end of this contract.

Me: We have the experience and ability to do everything we’ve agreed with you and we’ll do it all in a professional and timely manner. We’ll endeavour to meet every deadline that’s set and on top of that we’ll maintain the confidentiality of everything you give us.

Design

We create designs reiteratively and design static visuals for both Brand Identity and Web Design. We create mood boards to indicate a look-and-feel direction (colour, texture, typography & layout). We call that ‘Creative Direction’. Our mood boards are an internal process which drives the design route of your project. We don’t present your mood board before we start your design.

We ask you to provide us with visual references such as your own mood board, two-dimensional or digital, before we start your project to help steer the creative direction.

You’ll have time to review our work and provide feedback after the initial proofs. We’ll share a Dropbox link or folder with you when your designs are ready to review and we’ll have regular contact with you thereafter. Approximately 70% of the total value of your Brand Identity project will be spent on the first proofs sent to you. If, at any stage, you’re not happy with the direction our work is taking, you’ll pay us in full for everything we’ve produced until that point and cancel this contract.

Text Content

We’re not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy for either a Brand Identity Design, Web Design or Print Design. If you’d like us to write new content or input text for you, we can provide a separate estimate for that.

Photographs

You should supply graphic files in an editable, vector digital format. You should supply photographs in a high resolution digital format. If you choose to buy stock photographs, we can suggest stock libraries. If you’d like us to search for photographs for you we can provide a separate estimate for that.

Changes and Revisions

We know from experience that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial to you, as they often limit you to your earliest ideas. We don’t want to limit your ability to change your mind. The price quoted in the Proposal we send you is based on the length of time we estimate we’ll need to accomplish everything you’ve told us you want to achieve, but we’re happy to be flexible. If you want to change your mind or add anything new, that won’t be a problem as we’ll provide a separate estimate for that.

Legal Stuff

We can’t guarantee that our work will be error-free and so we can’t be liable to you or any third-party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages, even if you’ve advised us of them. Finally, if any provision of this contract shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this contract and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

Phew!

Copyrights

First, you guarantee that all elements of text, images or other artwork you provide are either owned by your good selves or that you’ve permission to use them. When your final payment has cleared, copyright will be automatically assigned as follows:

You’ll own the visual elements that we create for this project. We’ll give you source files and finished files and you should keep them somewhere safe as we’re not required to keep a copy. You own all elements of text, images and data you provided unless someone else owns them.

We’ll own the unique combination of these elements that constitutes a complete design and we’ll license its use to you, exclusively and in perpetuity for this project only, unless we agree otherwise. We love to show off our work and share what we’ve learned with other people, so we reserve the right to display and link to your project as part of our portfolio and to write about it on websites, in magazine articles and in books.

Where we promote free printouts or downloads from our site, or by any other means and in any other medium or format, you are free to use for branding your own business but you may not sell it, distribute it, copy or repurpose the content in any way. No part of any publication we promote or share may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the us, the Publisher. The moral right of Caroline Harrison of Making Waves Creative Ltd is to be identified as author of such work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyrights, Design and Patents Act 1988.

Payments

We’re sure you understand how important it is as a small business that you pay the invoices we send you promptly. As we’re also sure you’ll want to stay friends, you agree to stick tightly to the following payment schedule:

Basic Terms 50% of the total amount to be settled as a deposit by you before design starts, unless an alternative payment term has been agreed. The deposit will act as a holding fee to secure timeframes set out in the Proposal and is not refundable. The remaining 50% will be due on *project completion and before design files are released to you.

Credit Terms Full payment to be settled by you on the agreed credit terms, (7, 14 or 30 days) starting from the day of *project completion.

*Project Completion This is when everything agreed in the order has been fulfilled and when all design time allowed for the project has been used.

Time Management

We understand that obstacles can sometimes put delay on projects. We aim to complete our design and turn around changes promptly to keep the project fresh and quick-paced. If, due to unforeseen circumstances, you create delay and don’t move your project forwards for no less than 2 months and, by which time, you have received the majority of the design set out in your Proposal, then you’ll respectfully settle the full amount and re-join us when your project becomes ready to finalise.

Where’s all the horrible small print?

Just like a parking ticket, you can’t transfer these terms and conditions to anyone else without our permission. This contract stays in place and need not be renewed. If for some reason one part of these terms and conditions becomes invalid or unenforceable, the remaining parts of it remain in place.

Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and these terms and conditions are a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of English, Welsh and Cornish courts.