Summary
TIC Digital Marketing will always do our best to fulfil our clients' needs and meet their goals, but sometimes it's best to have a few things written down so that everyone involved knows what's to expect, who should do what and what happens if stuff goes wrong.
In this contract you won't find complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. We prefer simple language and clear terms that outline what's in the best interests of both parties, now and in the future.
Applicability
These terms apply to branding development projects. Some of the terms in this document (such as payment arrangements) may be superseded by other agreements that we will provide to you.
What Do Both Parties Agree To Do?
As our customer, you have the power and ability to enter into this contract on behalf of your company or organization. You agree to provide us with everything that we'll need to complete the project – including text, images and other information (such as user names and passwords) - as and when we need it and in the format we ask for. You agree to review our work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner. Deadlines work two ways and you'll also be bound by any dates that we set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out at the end of this contract.
We have the experience and ability to perform the services you need from us and we will carry them out in a professional and timely manner. Along the way we will endeavor to meet all the deadlines set but we can't be responsible for a missed launch date or a deadline if you have been late in supplying materials or have not approved or signed off our work on-time at any stage. On top of this we'll also maintain the confidentiality of any information that you give us.
Getting Down to the "Nitty Gritty"
DESIGN
We create designs iteratively and use predominantly HTML and CSS so we won't waste time mocking up every template as a static visual. We may use static visuals to indicate a look-and-feel direction (color, texture and typography). This contract includes one main design plus the opportunity for you to make up to two rounds of revisions. If you're not happy with the designs at this stage, you will pay us in full for all of the work that we have produced until that point and you may either cancel this contract or continue to commission us to make further design revisions at our standard design rates.
TEXT CONTENT
We are not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy unless we specified it in the project proposal. We'll be happy to help though; if you need this help, we will charge you at our standard copy writing or content input rate.
PHOTOGRAPHS
You will supply us photographs in digital format. If you choose to buy stock photographs, we can suggest vendors of stock photography. We can also search for and purchase stock photographs on your behalf. Any time we spend searching for appropriate photographs will be charged at our standard discovery rate. Costs for the stock photographs will be added to the final invoice.
CHANGES AND REVISIONS
We know from plenty of experience that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial to you, as they often limit you to your first idea about how something should look, or how it might work. We don't want to limit either your options or your opportunities to change your mind. Revisions are generally minor touch-ups and not major changes like a completely new concept. We will always do our best to please every client, but please try to keep revisions reasonable. We consider any individual request that takes over 3 hours to do a major revision.
The estimate/quotation prices at the beginning of this document are based on the amount of work we estimate we'll need to accomplish everything that you have told us you want to achieve. If you do want to change your mind, add extra designs or templates, that won't be a problem. However, you will be charged accordingly, and these additional costs will need to be agreed to before the extra work commences. This additional work will affect deadlines and they will be moved accordingly. We'll be up front about all of this if and when it happens to make sure we're all on the same page before proceeding. We may also ask you to put requests in writing so we can keep track of changes. If the nature or functions of the project change significantly throughout the process, we reserve the right to deem the current project cancelled. At this point you will pay us in full for all the work we have done and may commission us to complete the new project based on the new requirements. This will require a new quote and contract.
ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES
We believe in the importance of accessibility. However, we do not design and develop to meet accessibility standards by default. So, unless specifically stated within our project agreement, we are not responsible for ensuring that the work we produce are accessible or meet any accessibility standard.
If our project agreement does specifically include accessibility services, we will perform those services following the guidelines provided by the Ability.Net. However, currently no official accessibility standards have been set by any authorized authority, so we cannot guarantee that accessibility-related work we perform will meet all visitors’ needs. We won’t be liable for any damages or losses that may arise from accessibility-related claims or litigation.
COPYRIGHTS
You guarantee to us that any elements of text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks, or other artwork that you provide us for inclusion in the website are either owned by you, or that you have permission to use them.
You guarantee to us that any elements of text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks, or other artwork that you provide us for inclusion in the website are either owned by your good selves, or that you have permission to use them.
When we receive your final payment, copyright is automatically assigned as follows:
- You own the graphics and other visual elements that we create for you for this project.
- We'll give you a copy of all files and you should store them really safely as we are not required to keep them or provide any native source files we used to make them.
- You also own text content, photographs and other data you provided, unless someone else owns them.
- We own the markup, CSS and other code and we license it to you for use on only this project.
We love to show off our work and share what we have learned with other people, so we reserve the right to display and link to your completed project as part of our portfolio and to write about the project on websites, in magazine articles and in other publications.
PAYMENTS
We are sure you understand how important it is as a small business that you pay the invoices that we send you promptly. As we're also sure you'll want to stay friends, you agree to stick tight to the following payment schedule.
- 50% project initiation payment
- 30% installment once functionality and design have been agreed upon
- 20% balance once the application has been tested it is ready to go live.
THE "SMALL PRINT"
You can't transfer this contract to anyone else without our permission. This contract stays in place and need not be renewed. If for some reason one part of this contract becomes invalid or unenforceable, the remaining parts of it remain in place.
Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and this contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of California.
