Graphic design contract template

Graphic design contract

Starting text for counsel. Replace every bracket. Do not ask anyone to sign until a lawyer has adapted this text to the parties and to the law that will govern it.

This graphic design contract is made on [Effective date] between [Designer legal name], of [Designer address] ("Designer"), and [Client legal name], of [Client address] ("Client"). The Designer will make the design described below. The Client will pay the fee and supply the words and the marks the design must include. Fonts and stock images stay under their own licenses.

1. The design

The Designer will create [Design description] for the use at [Intended use]. The description lists the pieces, such as a mark, a page, or a set of layouts. A piece that is not on the list is outside the fee. The Client supplies words, logos the Client already owns, and examples by [Materials date]. If those materials are late, the delivery date moves by at least the same number of days. The Designer may rely on the accuracy of the Client's words and does not clear those words with a third party unless [Clearance] says that clearance is part of the work. The Designer does not promise that a name is free to register as a trademark.

2. Rounds

The fee includes [Rounds] revision rounds. A round is one set of comments from the Client against the current design, sent within [Comment days] days of a presentation. Comments that ask for a new piece, a new format, or a new product are a change at [Change fee], not a round. The Designer presents the next version within [Next version days] days after a complete set of comments. A comment that arrives in pieces counts as a set only when the Client says the set is complete. If the Client does not send comments within the comment days, the Designer may pause, and the delivery date moves. One meeting to explain a round is included if [Meetings] says so. Further meetings are a change.

3. The fee

The Client pays [Fee] in [Currency]. The price [Tax treatment]. The Client pays [Deposit] before the Designer starts and the rest [Balance timing]. The Designer invoices [Invoice timing], and the Client pays within [Payment days] days. Stock images, fonts, and printing that are not in [Included costs] are expenses the Client approves before they are bought. If a payment is late, the Designer may pause after [Late notice] days' notice and may hold the final files until the undisputed sum is paid. A pause does not erase fees for rounds already presented. The Designer does not keep the Client's money for a third party except a cost the Client has approved and the Designer has paid.

4. Files the Client receives

On full payment of the fees then due, the Designer delivers the files listed at [Final files], in the formats named there, by [Delivery method]. Those files are the exports the Client needs for the intended use. Working files, layered files, and the Designer's internal notes are delivered only if [Working files] says the Client is buying them. A preview shown in a presentation is not the final file. The Client checks the final files within [Check days] days and reports a file that will not open or that misses an approved element. The Designer corrects that fault once at no extra fee. A wish that was not in the approved comments is a new round. The Designer may keep a copy of the files for [Archive period].

5. Fonts, stock, and the Client's marks

A font or a stock image stays under the license the Designer or the Client buys, named at [License holder]. The Designer tells the Client the name of each paid item before buying it, unless it is already inside [Included costs]. The Client does not receive the Designer's private font license unless that license allows a transfer and [Font transfer] says the parties will make it. The Client promises it has the right to give the Designer the logos and the words the Client supplies. The Designer does not use those marks for another client. If a stock license limits print runs or territories, the Designer writes that limit into the delivery note, and the Client's use stays inside it.

6. Who owns the design

Counsel chooses the grant and writes it at [Ownership grant]. On full payment, the Client receives that grant in the final design only. Drafts the Client rejects stay with the Designer. The Designer keeps its preexisting methods, grids, and tools, listed at [Preexisting tools], and the Client may use them only as they appear in the final design. The grant does not include a trademark registration. If the Client wants to apply for a mark, that application is the Client's own step, and the Designer signs a short further paper only if [Further paper] says so and the fee is paid. Until the fee then due is paid, the Client may use a preview only for an internal review, not in public.

7. Credit, cancellation, and portfolio

Credit follows [Credit rule]. The Designer may show the final design in a portfolio after the Client publishes it, or after [Portfolio delay] days from delivery, unless the credit rule forbids that showing. Rejected drafts stay private. If the Client ends the work, it pays for rounds already presented and for expenses already approved, and it does not receive files for a round it did not pay for. If the Designer ends the work for a reason other than the Client's late payment or late comments, the Designer delivers the paid work in its current state and counsel writes any refund of an unearned deposit at [Unearned deposit]. A killed project does not transfer rights in unpaid drafts.

8. Law

The laws of [Governing law] govern this text. The parties name the courts of [Courts]. The Designer's total liability is capped at [Liability cap], except for misuse of the Client's confidential marks or a liability the law does not allow the parties to cap. The cap is not a promise of sales, of search placement, or of a successful trademark filing. The signed PDF is the whole agreement about this design. A change of pieces, rounds, or fee is effective only when both parties sign the note at [Change note]. If one sentence cannot be enforced, the rest stays. This web page does not assign a copyright or a trademark.

Signatures

Designer

Name: [Designer signatory name]

Title: [Designer signatory title]

Signature: ______________________________

Date: [Designer signature date]

Client

Name: [Client signatory name]

Title: [Client signatory title]

Signature: ______________________________

Date: [Client signature date]