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I know there a quite a few Graphic artists on this forum, so I figured I would share this article from www.creativecow.net

If you are new in business or have been at it for years, you will enjoy this hilarious offering that explores points that you should address in your contracts.

While it is a quite funny look at contracts, the points covered are serious ones and if you have been in business any time at all, you will quickly recognize most all of them. After 25 years as a Graphic Designer and Video Editor this fits me to a T

Enjoy

Template contract for typical beginners. Modify to your specific needs.

I, (name here) henceforth to be referred to as "the dummy", will contract to work on your ill-defined project for an unspecified amount of hours, with no limitations on how many times I will re-do the work, until you are satisfied, for a single, fixed, fee, payable by third-party out-of-state check, only once and long after you have been completely satisfied, and after you yourself (henceforth to be known as "the client") have made any and all profit from the use of this work, but not if the project incurs no profits. Profits to be determined by Client's verbal say-so. Client will decide when and if to pay for services rendered on a flexible net-2000 basis, with free extensions.

Delivery date will remain fixed, no matter how scope of project is changed, or how many times it is re-done, but client reserves the right to move up the delivery date sooner without penalty. Or notice. Dummy pays for delivery of finished product to a third party.

Re-editing 90 percent of this project is not to be considered a new project, but a free correction to the original one. All dubs are complimentary.

Client has the right to refuse payment for reasons of changes they thought of but never actually communicated to the dummy. Client has the right to incorrectly spell graphics information without penalty. All mistakes will be corrected by the dummy for free.

"The dummy" also agrees to turn over all assets used in the production of your project, including shot lists, logs, EDL's, project files and the latest copy of Final Cut pro and AfterEfects, in case Client wants to re-edit my work privately at some future date. The Dummy will also teach any staff or relative the Client names how the work was done, at no extra charge, for however many hours it takes to make the Client's people competent at replacing the Dummy.

Dummy holds no rights or ownership of finished product and has no permission to show any or all of it to anyone else, or even to admit the project existed or that s/he worked on it, on pain of lawsuit damages.

Dummy further agrees to a non-compete clause that forbids him/her from making any videos for any other clients, of any sort, for any market, until such time as Client says it is okay.

Dummy is liable for any and all lawsuits and legal actions undertaken against the Client regarding this work specifically and anything else generally. Dummy will pay any fines and penalties against this work for things such as copyright violations.

Client reserves the right to add new conditions and clauses to this agreement unilaterally and at will, with no time limit or expiration date.

Signed in blood, with no option for the Dummy to renegotiate.
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UTC quote
From a Graphic Designer in Chicago-
That is just about right Razz emoticon
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UTC quote
We've been having blast with it at work today.
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oh god, its all true. Particularly the bit about the fixed fee and the endless hours.
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Read the brief and understood the problem.

We need be clear with our clients that all design time is chargeable. Copyright and licensing is chargeable. A computer rendering video, frames, sequences is chargeable.

I work freelance for a few multinational clients and small business. The small ones are the worst. They expect a lot of work for a fixed price. I get round this by using a bit of software called timestamp (records time used). When a machine starts the timer starts. Ie. logo work including, concept, samples, tweaking finished logos. Clients expectation, you only needed a day to create the finished logo, we want to pay a daily rate.

No here´s a breakdown of the complete process. Your 1day logo involved 3 -5 days work. Then there´s the licensing of the copyright. How often does the client intend to use the logo. Would you provide a logo to Coca Cola for the same price as a small business. The small business may use the logo 10,000 times per year. Coca Cola is going to use the logo 10,000,000 times per month.

I transfer sound from mini disc and convert it to aiff files for editing. It doesn´t involve any input from myself. However the machine time is chargeable. The larger clients expect this. The smaller clients don´t want to pay for the time.

I could rant for days over the expectations of small business.

As designers and creatives we need to be more aware of our skills and abilities. My strategy with clients is to determine how much they expect to spend. Then ask what is the equivalent car they could buy with the budget.

Clients don´t expect to walk into a motor dealer with a small budget and haggle a BMW or Jaguar for the price of a Ford Focus. Strangely however they feel more than confident to undervalue the time of a graphic designer.
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UTC quote
As a web dev I do everything from database design to unix admin, css tweaking to photo retouching.
It's unreal to me how many clients think that they can download Contribute or the trial version of Dreamweaver, muck up their site, then ask me to spend "half an hour*" of my time "fixing" this little bit of HTML "code" they don't understand.

*half-hour is all they're willing to pay for, no matter how long it takes.
I'm so "smart," you see, and everything "comes easy" to me.
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UTC quote
Don't forget to have lots of Make My Logo Bigger Cream on hand for those very important clients.
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@astromags avatar
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UTC quote
louispain wrote:
Read the brief and understood the problem.

We need be clear with our clients that all design time is chargeable....
Unfortunately the company I work for sets a dangerous precedent with our clients right off the bat.

I work for a local television station, producing, writing, editing etc, commercials for primarily local businesses. Technically we are not a production house. Our ultimate goal is to create commercials for clients who will in turn spend lots of money for air time. First time production is usually offered to clients free of charge. So, naturally when they come back again for new production, they always balk at the new charges, occasionally leading them to another network for their first-time-buyer free production. Out of desperation, the lowest rated local station in our market, doesn't charge anything for production... ever. Their product is very low quality BTW.

So basically, our whole market is set up to "educate" small businesses to think TV production should be free.

I personally have a problem with allowing myself to produce crap, so I'm always given a hard time for spending too much time on clients spots. They all rave about how nice they are and everyone gets all excited when they/we win Ad club awards, but still no one wants to pay.

It drives me crazy.
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UTC quote
I stopped doing illustration and design work for others some years ago, now I just do 'things' for myself, seems to be working out fairly well.
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UTC quote
I like to explain to first time clients "the rule of three."

They can select between speed, quality, and price. But they can only choose two.

High quality + quick turn-around = not cheap
Quick turn-around + cheap = lousy quality
Cheap + high quality = Sometime when I'm not busy in the next few months. (This last option seems to be the going rate for family and friends.)
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UTC quote
Hi I've only posted once before but as 'Dummy' I wanted to say Hello, it's nice to know I'm not the only one out here with very little blood left to sign with. Thank god I still have some hair to pull out, though with a deadline looming and a client playing hard to get ... goodbye hair!

Thanks astromags Razz emoticon <---- A crazy designer smile because a client drove me nuts
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UTC quote
Intresting....and scary... thanks for telling the future story of my life! Student & starting out freelancer.

shall I just shave all my hair before. So there wouldn't be anything to pull out?? Wha? emoticon
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Quote:
So basically, our whole market is set up to "educate" small businesses to think TV production should be free.
There´s lots of business in the design industry that joined the race to the bottom (lowest price)

Small print shops. Designing leaflets, flyers, business cards and brochures for the cost of the printing.

Website designers producing pages cheap/free to build a portfolio. Then finding out later they lowered the market rate a client is prepared to pay.
Quote:
Contribute or the trial version of Dreamweaver
The client always underestimated the work required to create a viable website that looks good, works properly, performs well and can be found by a search engine. I´ve seen so many websites that attract no business for the client because they missed all the background stuff that the search engines require.
Quote:
vlconception
keep your hair for the time being. If your down in London that´s where most of the work in the UK is. Keep building your portfolio. Do some flyer work for clubs and any paying work you can get. Be prepared to take your skills and diversify.
OP
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@astromags avatar
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UTC quote
louispain wrote:
There´s lots of business in the design industry that joined the race to the bottom (lowest price)
Don't I know it. I worked for 11 years as a Graphic Designer before I found myself in television. I worked for a T-shirt/poster screen printer and art charges were minimal to non existent. I used to design stuff for tee shirts and the next thing you know it becomes someone's official logo. It's on their sign, their trucks, their uniforms, letterhead, coffee mugs etc. As a Graphic Designer I would have charged good money for a logo. As a T-shirt customer they got a new corporate identity for nothing.

Luckily over the years I've built up a good enough reputation for myself to be able to charge decent rates for my freelance work.
OP
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UTC quote
Mrs Norman wrote:
Hi I've only posted once before but as 'Dummy' I wanted to say Hello, it's nice to know I'm not the only one out here with very little blood left to sign with. Thank god I still have some hair to pull out, though with a deadline looming and a client playing hard to get ... goodbye hair!

Thanks astromags Razz emoticon <---- A crazy designer smile because a client drove me nuts
HELLO Mrs Norman! Wha? emoticon Eyelashes emoticon Welcome to MV Razz emoticon
@belkwinith avatar
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@belkwinith avatar
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UTC quote
I'm in publishing in chicago. Design, layout and illustration.

Sometimes I make crap, sometimes it's awesome. It all depends how much influence the client has on the design. I would say, for me, it is 80% crap, 20% good.

The more client influence, the more likely it will become crap. Deadlines don't bother me. It's having a client/boss turn a good design into crap that annoys me. That and sticking frickin' text all over something.
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UTC quote
astromags wrote:
HELLO Mrs Norman! Wha? emoticon Eyelashes emoticon Welcome to MV Razz emoticon
Thanks for the welcome astromags, HELLO back Eyelashes emoticon

viconception: don't shave your hair just yet! Get a cat to kick instead ... it can also be worn on the head to disguise client related alopecia
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UTC quote
Belkwinith wrote:
I'm in publishing in chicago. Design, layout and illustration ... The more client influence, the more likely it will become crap. Deadlines don't bother me. It's having a client/boss turn a good design into crap that annoys me. That and sticking frickin' text all over something.
Hi Belwinith, I'm also in publishing. I recently had an editor suggest I try the font Arial as she felt it read well in emails!!!!!

The worse part, the client was RIGHT! That can also be very annoying
OP
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UTC quote
Mrs Norman wrote:
...I recently had an editor suggest I try the font Arial as she felt it read well in emails!!!!!
I'm a Helvetica man myself.
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UTC quote
You forgot Client promises to turn in purchase order number for payment within 2 years after finished product is delivered!
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Quote:
Client wants to re-edit my work privately at some future date
On the prowl around the Interweb any just found out one of my old clients has done this with a website I produced 3 years ago. Stripped out all the copyright stuff, keywords in the html, changed the colours in the style sheet, added a new banner to the page and killed their Google ranking. Never mind

Astromags
You must have seen some changes to the industry with 25 years experience. Watched the first Macs put on the desktop, complete with Aldus PageMaker and Freehand (split later between Adobe and Macromedia, reunited by Adobe). The birth of print (Neville Brody) The death of print (David Carson) Who is the next Messiah?

Font wise I have a thing for MetaPlus, most things from the FontShop and T42 float my boat. I love fonts made my own for a while, very time consuming. When I started out I was lucky enough to work next to wizened some old bloke that set type with a hot metal press. The old fella knew stuff about typography.
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UTC quote
louispain wrote:
Astromags
You must have seen some changes to the industry with 25 years experience.
Indeed I have. I've worked in screenprinting, print and broadcast television.

We were using amber/ruby lith, Letraset rub down type, and exacto knives with adhesive halftone dots when I first started out in the Screen Printing field. OH, and a big ass vertical stat camera for film.

My first computer was a Mac SE with Adobe Illustrator.

It's been a roller coaster ride ever since.
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UTC quote
Roll forward to 1994. I started in the newspaper advertising business.

There´s a Mac Performa 630 on the table, Photoshop 2 and a photocopier. Sharp knifes and glue are still in popular demand. Everything is stuck to a big board for camera ready art work.

Portable computing is available in the form of a Mac Classic in a duffle bag. Clown emoticon
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astromags wrote:
We were using amber/ruby lith, Letraset rub down type, and exacto knives with adhesive halftone dots when I first started out in the Screen Printing field. OH, and a big ass vertical stat camera for film.
Ah yes! I've cut many a color sep with amber/ruby lith using an Ulano swivel knife.

Did you ever crumple up a wad of waste amber/ruby lith......and light it? amazing stuff, very smelly......but it didn't impress the boss all that much.
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UTC quote
[quote="Scooterdoodler"]
astromags wrote:
Did you ever crumple up a wad of waste amber/ruby lith......and light it? amazing stuff, very smelly......but it didn't impress the boss all that much.
Religiously. Back in the days when people actually smoked in the office, someone flicked an ash into a wad of it that was in the trash can, and smoked out the whole art department. After that we saved the discarded stuff and made clouds of smoke with it in the back parking lot.

We were young.
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astromags wrote:
... Letraset rub down type, and exacto knives with adhesive halftone dots ...
The memory of being a young studio runner, teased endlessly by paste-up artists, has come flooding back! The old studios made you tough. Crying or Very sad emoticon

Actually I still lick and stick, I don't think you can beat a beautifully made mock-up. It always seems to impress the client too. I've never set light to anything though ... must be a boy thing
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UTC quote
Re: [NSR] Attention Graphic Designers, Artists, Video Editor
astromags wrote:
Template contract for typical beginners. Modify to your specific needs.

I, (name here) henceforth to be referred to as "the dummy", will contract to work on your ill-defined project for an unspecified amount of hours, with no limitations on how many times I will re-do the work, until you are satisfied, for a single, fixed, fee, payable by third-party out-of-state check, only once and long after you have been completely satisfied, and after you yourself (henceforth to be known as "the client") have made any and all profit from the use of this work, but not if the project incurs no profits. Profits to be determined by Client's verbal say-so. Client will decide when and if to pay for services rendered on a flexible net-2000 basis, with free extensions.

Delivery date will remain fixed, no matter how scope of project is changed, or how many times it is re-done, but client reserves the right to move up the delivery date sooner without penalty. Or notice. Dummy pays for delivery of finished product to a third party.

Re-editing 90 percent of this project is not to be considered a new project, but a free correction to the original one. All dubs are complimentary.

Client has the right to refuse payment for reasons of changes they thought of but never actually communicated to the dummy. Client has the right to incorrectly spell graphics information without penalty. All mistakes will be corrected by the dummy for free.

"The dummy" also agrees to turn over all assets used in the production of your project, including shot lists, logs, EDL's, project files and the latest copy of Final Cut pro and AfterEfects, in case Client wants to re-edit my work privately at some future date. The Dummy will also teach any staff or relative the Client names how the work was done, at no extra charge, for however many hours it takes to make the Client's people competent at replacing the Dummy.

Dummy holds no rights or ownership of finished product and has no permission to show any or all of it to anyone else, or even to admit the project existed or that s/he worked on it, on pain of lawsuit damages.

Dummy further agrees to a non-compete clause that forbids him/her from making any videos for any other clients, of any sort, for any market, until such time as Client says it is okay.

Dummy is liable for any and all lawsuits and legal actions undertaken against the Client regarding this work specifically and anything else generally. Dummy will pay any fines and penalties against this work for things such as copyright violations.

Client reserves the right to add new conditions and clauses to this agreement unilaterally and at will, with no time limit or expiration date.

Signed in blood, with no option for the Dummy to renegotiate.
Maybe 1 or 2 slight changes and it's a composer's agreement.

dk
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