Five must-haves for your graphic design service agreement
If you are a graphic designer, you have the incredible skill of being able to take the concepts in people’s minds and turn them into beautiful tangible representations. But what happens if your client dislikes the outcome because they keep changing the brief? What about if the design you created for one item is now being used on a range of products? The answer lies in your graphic design service agreement.
Those that have been in the industry for decades tell me these challenges are ongoing, regardless of how experienced you are. The good news however is that there are ways to manage client’s expectations, save you from extra unnecessary work, and generally avoid client issues and focus on the creative work itself.
Looking for an editable legal template to give clients? Here’s ours for graphic designers:
What you have or do not have in your graphic design service agreement can make all the difference to help regulate some of the issues that can happen day to day. Here are the five types of clients that we know you will relate to.
1. The client that is slow or late to pay
We all want to make sure we get paid for our work. My recommendation is that you get paid upfront. Or, if not upfront, at least insist on a 50% deposit before you schedule the work, with the remaining amount to be paid before you release the final files for the client’s use.
To ensure you can fit a client’s project in, you will likely block out time in your calendar to do their work. If they do not pay in advance or pay a deposit, you do not want to have turned away work because you had time blocked for the non-paying project.
To ensure you get paid in full and on time and to allow you to use your time effectively, it is important to ensure the terms are clearly detailed in your graphic design service agreement. It can also help to mention your payment requirements in your initial conversations with new clients or new projects.
2. The client that wants endless changes made
In your efforts to ensure your client is happy with the work you have produced for them, it is easy to end up in countless rounds of revisions. In the terms of your graphic design service agreement include the number of rounds of revisions you will provide initially. It can also be wise to detail the type of revisions included.
Are these slight changes or are they major revisions?
It is also helpful to include in the terms of your agreement that if additional revisions are requested, you will need to charge an additional fee for those revisions.
You don’t want to find yourself caught out because the client has changed their mind or altered their original design brief. You also want to avoid having to manage a disagreement.
You should also set out what you consider an acceptable minor revision and what is a major revision that needs you to re-scope your agreement. Having this level of detail in your service agreement can prove very helpful when you get a client that keeps pushing for too many changes at your expense.
Finally, you need to be able to wrap up a project in a timely manner and not have a bunch of unfinished work (and unpaid client work) on your plate. For that reason, it is also a good idea to put a time limit on getting back to you about the proofs.
It can be hard to put your headspace back into the context of a client’s project as time goes on and if your final payment is dependent on a final okay from a client, but you are still waiting six months later for sign-off by the client, that is less than ideal for your cash flow.
3. The client that keeps coming back to you looking for image files
Chances are you have had clients come back to you asking for files you have given them a couple of times already. Even if you have given them clear instructions, it is not your responsibility to keep those files, if you have yourself covered in your service agreement.
There are three key considerations to be clear about:
The transfer process
Charges for additional requests for files
How long you will keep the files
Given that you have to pay for the space you use to transfer files (Dropbox, Google Drive, WeTransfer etc), you don’t want a client’s files there for any longer than you need to. So, after the initial download, you don’t want to leave them there indefinitely. In your communications and in your graphic design service agreement, you should be clear about the time limits that apply. It’s a good idea to give your clients 14 or 30 days to download the files and warn them that their files will be removed from the shared file once that timeframe is up.
Given that it takes time to upload files again, in the event a client requests access to download again, it is helpful to set a fee for subsequent requests. You may incur the cost of additional storage space to do this and there is also the time involved in re-uploading to the shared location. While you may have clients who will gladly pay for this fee, if there are terms in your service agreement that outline a fee will be payable, that can make the process far easier if you need to have that difficult conversation.
Similarly, how long do you keep the original artwork in your own files? If you delete past client work after a certain period, this needs to be clear to the client. All of these things need to be thought about and clear in your service agreement.
4. The client that uses your design in other ways than originally intended
It’s one thing to quote a price for a logo as you have clear expectations about how and where it may be used. It's another if you create an illustration that a client uses in a way different to what was originally intended.
For example, you design an illustration for use on a retail wall, and then you learn they have been selling t-shirts, bags and water bottles with your design.
You are likely aware that unless you have provided a transfer of copyright or issued a licence for the work’s use in particular ways, then the client will be in breach of your copyright. While you can definitely take action to do something about it, it’s best to avoid it in the first place.
Being clear in the terms of your agreement, whether you are retaining copyright, transferring copyright ownership or licensing the design for a certain use, needs to be clearly documented in your service agreement. And in addition to the fine print, ensure you are including this detail in your conversations and other communications, so it’s abundantly clear what they’re getting, or not getting.
Finally, the other key piece is to ensure your agreement details that you retain ownership of any concepts that were rejected by the client in the process, and that they are only to get the approved, final design. You may wish to use those concepts for application for other designs, so reserving the right to use those again in some way is wise to mention.
5. The client you wish to part ways with
Sometimes working with some clients just doesn’t work out. Perhaps you are just not on the same page, that they don’t like your concepts, or it’s not really anyone’s fault, and it makes sense to draw a line in the sand.
How much notice do you need to give them?
If you have done half the work, do you retain half the fee and refund the other half?
There is no right or wrong answer in this situation however, you need to have the steps to follow in your graphic design service agreement. If you wish, you can set a mutual right for both you and your client to have the ability to terminate the agreement if it is not working out. Having the terms set out with what each party will get when the relationship ends in this way, must be clear, so there is no doubt as to the steps that both parties are to take.
Manage client expectations & protect yourself
I know that as a graphic designer, you aren’t likely to be a stranger to managing the expectations of clients.
However, we all know what it’s like to have to manage the client that is slow to pay, the client that doesn’t follow your clear instructions to download the files in time, the client that wants ‘just one more little change’ or the client you just can’t get anywhere with…
To ensure you get paid for the extras and reduce the chance of potential friction with your client, it is beyond helpful to be able to refer to the service agreement they signed and be confident that it covers all of these issues.
Share this article with your graphic design colleagues. I trust that you and they will benefit from the experiences of my clients and that this helps make the business side of graphic design less challenging.
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At The Remote Expert, we can review your existing service agreement, or take a look at our Graphic Designer Service Agreement Template. If you think you may need a customised agreement, get in touch with Emma for a free initial consultation by clicking here.
