Terms and Conditions

When you get your design brief, reiterate the scope, reword it, make a quote or estimate (to be discussed in a later blog), you always have to make sure that when the quotation or estimate is presented, you have a space for your client to sign, and to include that they accept your terms and conditions.
These should be attached. Below, for your reference, is the one the studio uses. Yours does not have to be exactly the same, nor do you have to insist on upfront deposits, this is a choice the Kali7 Studio made due to clients that waste inordinate amounts of time, and then take all the ideas to a niece with a computer...

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. Initial Payment. A $500 consult fee, OR 25% deposit (based Kali7 Studio Estimate or Quotation) will be paid upfront PRIOR to the commencement of any work. This amount is non-refundable.
2. Kali7 Studio Payment. All Kali7 Studio invoices are payable in the quotation’s designated currency within 14 days of receipt. A 10% (ten percent) service charge is payable on all overdue balances, and work involving outsourcing will cease until payment is made.
3. Pre-payment for Outsourced Service Providers. All outsourced work including printing, photography, major artworks, other consultations, the purchase of royalty free images and any other extras necessary for the completion of the work assigned and approved by the Client (which is the individual, representative, business or company reponsible for the commission of work), must be paid in advance for work to continue.
4. Default in Payment. The Client shall assume responsibility for all collection of legal fees necessitated by default in payment.
5. Estimates. The fees and expenses shown are minimum estimates only. Final fees and expenses shall be shown when invoice is rendered. The Client’s approval shall be obtained for any increases in fees or expenses that exceed the original estimate by 10% (ten percent) or more.
6. Quotations. When a quotation is offered, the final fee will be as shown in the quotation, with the exception of: extra expenses not clearly stipulated within the Scope of the Design Brief; excessive editing (see point 7); and any outsourcing (see point 3).
7. Edits.The Client shall be responsible for making additional payments for additional changes or edits from those agreed upon in the original estimate or quotation based on the attached Design Brief Scope. However, no additional payment shall be made for changes required to conform to the original assignment description or design brief. The Client shall offer Kali7 Studio Studio the first opportunity to make any changes.
8. Expenses. The Client shall reimburse Kali7 Studio for all expenses arising from this assignment, including the payment of any sales taxes due on this assignment.
9. Cancellation. In the event of cancellation of this assignment, ownership of all copyrights and the original artwork shall be retained by Kali7 Studio, and a cancellation fee for work completed, in addition to the deposit, and based on the contract price and expenses already incurred, shall be paid by the Client.
10. Ownership and Return of Artwork. Kali7 Studio retains ownership of all original artwork (except for major artworks commissioned and already paid in full by the client), whether preliminary or final, and the Client shall return such artwork within 30 (thirty) days of use unless a prior arrangement has been made. Any original artwork created by Kali7 Studio for this assignment used by the Client for any other purpose other than for this assignment will incur additional fees and releases.
11. Royalty Free Images & Artwork. Any royalty free image/s or artwork used by Kali7 Studio, and not specifically purchased by the Client, remains the property of the image library from which it/they were obtained. At no time may the Client use or distribute said images or artworks independently of Kali7 Studio. The Client will accept sole responsibility for any such infringement of international copyright law.
12. Fonts. Any font/s used by Kali7 Studio cannot be redistributed. The Client does not have permission to use any font/s used by Kali7 Studio without first purchasing the required license for said font/s.
13. Release. The Client shall indemnify Kali7 Studio against all claims and expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees, due to uses for which no release was requested in writing or for uses which exceed authority granted by a release.
14. Modifications. Modification of the Agreement must be written, except that the invoice may include, and the Client shall pay, fees or expenses that were orally authorised in order to progress promptly with the work.
15. Code of Fair Practice. The Client and Kali7 Studio agree to comply with the provisions of the Australian Code of Trade Practice, a copy of which can be obtained from www.accc.gov.au or by writing to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, PO Box 1199, Dickson, ACT, 2602, Australia.
16. Warranty of Originality. Kali7 Studio warrants and represents that, to the best of his/her knowledge, the work assigned hereunder is original and has not been previously published, or that consent to use has been obtained on the basis that fulfills the Design Brief Scope; that all work or portions thereof obtained through the undersigned from third parties is original or, if previously published, that consent to use has been obtained on the basis that fulfills the Scope of the Design Brief; that Kali7 Studio has full authority to make this agreement. This warranty does not extend to any uses the Client or others may make of Kali7 Studio’s product which may infringe on the rights of others. Client expressly agrees that it will hold Kali7 Studio harmless for all liability caused by the Client’s used of Kali7 Studio’s product to the extent such use infringes on the rights of others.
17. Limitation of Liability. Client agrees that it shall hold Kali7 Studio or his/her agents or employees liable for any incident, consequential damages which arise from Kali7 Studio’s failure to perform any aspect of the Project in a timely manner, regardless whether such failure was caused by intentional or negligent acts or omissions of Kali7 Studio or third party.
18. Service Providers. Client agrees that it shall not hold Kali7 Studio or his/her agents or employees liable for any incident, consequential damage or imperfect work, resulting from any services provided by a third party or other service provider.
19. Dispute Resolution. The Client shall pay all arbitration and court costs, reasonable attorney’s fees, and legal interest on any award of judgement in favour of Kali7 Studio.
20. Acceptance of Terms. The signature of both parties shall evidence acceptance of these terms.

Research prior to quoting/tendering for work

After receiving the Design Brief, talking to your client, the next step is RESEARCH.

Research

1. If your client is established, research your client's business or company, read their mission statement, find out what they are about. Pay special attention to their existing identity, and how they see themselves. If they have an identity or standards manual, make sure you know it backwards.
   
2. Next (and this is where you jump in if your client's business is new or they are re-vamping their entire identity), research your client's major opposition, and what they are about. Also look into what similar companies are doing and where they succeed.
3. Research the market as a whole, what are the trends? How can you improve your client's situation with the work they want you to do for them. How inventive will that market allow you to be? Speculate. Remember you do not what to present them with brilliant modern works of art, if that will not grab their market, or improve their business. This is often where new designers fall down. They design on the basis of what they consider to be great works of art, and not what the client needs or want.
4. Research your service providers, and get several quotes along with a summation of the pros and cons from each. For example, with print media, which printer provides the most reliable service, what resolution are their machines, are they green friendly with their inks and process and so on, obtain samples. Which paper will you use and why? Again obtain samples. AND do not forget to obtain a range of quotations, this will be included in the client quotation from you. Do you need photography? Who will you use? What do they cost? Will you use an image library and so on... Get prices BEFORE you submit a tender or quote AND MAKE SURE EACH OF YOUR PROVIDERS CAN FIT WITHIN YOUR TIME-FRAME.
5. Research your own work load, start writing down how long each stage of the job will take based on previous experience on similar jobs. DO NOT SELL YOURSELF SHORT. Come up with alternative time lines if Murphy's Law (i.e. everything goes wrong) intervenes. All this will be part of your brief to your client. If you are new to this, ring a few design studios and tell them you are fresh out of college and need to know how long they take to do certain things.

Make sure you take vigorous notes, get copies of samples from everyone, even your client. Start making notes on ideas, and how to go about them, make sketches. Setup a process that you follow every time you apply for new tenders or quotes, and stick to it. Get yourself a folder and throw all these notes and sketches in it. This will also serve as reference material for future work. There is a lot to do before you can start being creative. Also this process allows you to come up with a concept for your client far more simply. Don't forget to add to these notes after the tendering process; what the client liked, disliked, where you went right or wrong... This will be invaluable in the future.

I know some creatives hate the word routine, but that is not only foolish, it is lazy. AND in the long run they create more work for themselves and never can budget their time well... they are always working... Get the routine right and you will have heaps of time.

Where this blog is going

I have kind of started in the middle and working my around the most asked questions. As a colleague pointed out, I really should write something about marketing, goals, identity and so on.
It's a huge topic, and I will get there...

The Design Brief...

The business world works to time schedules and agendas. It doesn't matter that the creative process does not automatically work like clockwork, a designer still needs to be able to produce a workable time-line, needs to explain the pros and cons of alternatives, and be able to produce a quotation based on reality without selling themselves or their clients short.


Design Brief from the client
It all starts with a design brief. If your client doesn't give you one, organise a meeting, take notes, write it up, send it to your client, and get them to sign it. If the client provides you with a bad brief, organise a meeting, fill in the blanks, re-type it, send it to the client, and again get them to sign it. If the client won't play the game, tell them you cannot assure them of a timely product and therefore will charge by the hour.

Every design brief should contain the following:

• SCOPE of the job. This includes the technical details and what they expect you to do in a nutshell. e.g. 1 x Annual report x 2 concepts: with 64-72 pages, colour, designer to organise and direct photography, liase with editor.. or Static web site, 3 levels, approximately 5 pages per level, photogallery, designer to organise and source all images... and so on.
• MARKET. This means the target audience e.g. Annual report to serve as major marketing tool and to be included with prospectus for future investor share portfolio or Web Site to show case information and share options, and serve as a marketing tool... age group 30-50s...
  
• STYLE. This also includes the project theme e.g. Annual report modern, business savvy, innovative, theme to centre around busy city...
  
• BUDGET (which enables you to determine who is going to print/host, and how many 'bells and whistles' you can include, what photographer etc). Some clients will not give you a budget so its up to you to quote for mid and upper range pricing.
• DEADLINE - when do they want the finished job by. Remember that printing may take up to 14 working days if you include varnishes, die shapes etc... And a complicated web site may eat up programming time...
• LIKES AND DISLIKES - The sooner you find this out the better, so why not get your client to include it in your brief. What colours do they like, what images, can they give you examples of reports or websites. All you have to do is then marry what they like, with what they need in terms of market, and you will have a happy client.

What comes next is in the next blog!

The ' book' writing has begun....

Having been a graphic designer forever, a web designer of late, and in training where development is concerned, I have learnt a lot about the service designers provide, how to project manage, art direct, and train and new designers, having even lectured upon occasion both at university and at high school level.

I have also learnt how to provide a great service to clients, how to help new designers get it right, and how to politely tell some clients that perhaps you are not the person they need... because lets face it, we are not all compatible, be we can all be nice and make valued suggestions that help even the difficult client.

So the writing has begun. I welcome anyone who has a problem (either as the client, or the designer) to pose a question. The solution will be in the book, and everybody who gets in the book, gets the book and any future updates for nix. Fair?