10 Essential Contract Clauses for Web Designers and Creatives

Without a proper contract, sending final files to clients essentially grants them a non-exclusive licence for 5 years by default. This means they can legally use your design even without paying your invoice! Your only recourse would be court action, during which they can continue using your work.

To avoid this nightmare, I always include a clause stating that the client acquires copyright only upon full payment. Until then, all rights remain with me, and the client cannot legally use the work. This gives me excellent leverage for collecting payments, especially when a client has already started using work they don’t technically own yet!

Moral rights and personal rights cannot be transferred, but you can grant someone permission to exercise them. When pricing your work, consider all potential rights you might transfer to the client.

In my experience, it’s wise to include all possible rights in your initial price, then offer to reduce the scope of rights transferred when negotiating. Always clearly explain what rights are included in your pricing. This approach gives you room to negotiate while maintaining your value.

If you don’t have this clause in your contracts, either you’re incredibly lucky or you’re new to the industry. We’ve all experienced finishing a project, sending the invoice, receiving approval, only to then get a message requesting numerous revisions because “the boss doesn’t like it.”

This wastes my time and money, regardless of whether it happens mid-project or at the end. My contracts always specify who from the client’s side has decision-making authority and is responsible for project approval. I also require that this person participates throughout the entire design process.

With this clause, once specific stages are approved, I have grounds to refuse revisiting them without renegotiating the contract.

My contracts include deadlines and response times, so having an official email address for project delivery is crucial. This prevents issues like “we didn’t receive anything,” “Karen is on holiday,” or “where did you send it?”

I also include my official contact email in the contract to avoid situations like “what about the copy?” – “we sent it a week ago,” but to where exactly? This simple clause eliminates unnecessary confusion and creates a clear paper trail.

Setting clear timeframes for client feedback and my response to their feedback is essential for meeting deadlines and completing projects efficiently. If you want to avoid endless projects, include this in your contract.

I typically set response times between two and three business days. This keeps the project moving forward and helps both parties stay accountable.

Along with response timeframes, this is one of two tools that help me calculate how long a project will take. Since implementing this, clients understand why a project might take 30 business days and recognise that they can influence how quickly we complete the work.

Limiting revision rounds protects me from never-ending projects and watching my hourly rate plummet with each new change request. It also encourages clients to provide comprehensive feedback rather than trickling in changes one at a time.

Why must I ask permission to display work in my portfolio? After all, I’m the creator.

The answer is simple: after selling the copyright, I’m no longer the owner of that work. I need a licence to use it in my portfolio. My contracts include permission to publish the project in my portfolio, on my website, and on social media, along with the necessary licence for this purpose. This allows me to continue building my professional presence even after transferring rights.

Deadlines are an integral part of all contracts. I structure mine to state that the project completion time is 30 business days from when I receive all necessary materials and information needed to complete the project.

I include a list of these required materials in the contract, which motivates clients to provide everything promptly and protects me from absurd scenarios like being expected to complete a project in one day because materials were only provided the day before the deadline.

As a designer, I must fix any flaws to fulfill the contract and ensure the project is completed with due diligence. My contracts specify a timeframe during which the client can report issues.

After this period, if the client hasn’t reported any problems, the work is considered fully accepted. This prevents clients from coming back months later with “issues” that weren’t mentioned during the acceptance period.

I attach the project brief to the contract and include language specifying that anything beyond the brief’s scope constitutes a new project requiring additional pricing. As long as changes stay within the brief’s parameters, they’re considered revisions.

This motivates both parties to create a comprehensive brief from the start and provides clear boundaries for what constitutes a revision versus a new request.