Graphic design agreement template
Concepts and revisions, final files, usage rights, fonts and stock licences, credit and a kill fee. A sample contract you can read in full, edit in QuoteBill and sign online with a secure link.
Sample — review with a lawyer · Simple electronic signature with an audit trail
Who it is for
For a graphic designer or studio making a logo, brand identity, print or social media graphics for a client, when both want revisions, final files, usage rights and a kill fee agreed first.
What it covers
14 clauses, in this order. Each one is in the sample text below, and you can edit, remove or add clauses before you send.
1. Purpose
What the agreement is for: the Designer creates graphic design work such as a logo, brand identity, print or social media graphics for the Client, and the sides agree how it may be used.
2. Brief and deliverables
A blank where you describe the work. The brief, with audience, formats, sizes and existing brand materials, is agreed before work starts; deliverables not listed are outside the agreement.
3. Concepts and revisions
A set number of initial concepts by a set date. The Client chooses one and gets a set number of revision rounds, each requested in one list; further revisions or new directions are charged at a set rate.
4. Approval and final files
The Client approves the final design and, after payment, receives the final files in the agreed formats. Working files stay with the Designer unless the price schedule includes them; approved proof errors are the Client’s.
5. Fonts and stock licences
Fonts, stock images and other third-party materials are licensed in the Client’s name and at its cost. The Designer names each licence needed, and the Client keeps them up for its own use.
6. Fees and payment schedule
Fees come from the price schedule: a set share on signing and the rest on approval, before the files are delivered. Late payment lets the Designer pause the work after notice.
7. Changes and additional work
Changes to the brief, extra deliverables, formats or adaptations are additional work, quoted with a price and date and started only after the Client approves in writing or electronically.
8. Ownership and usage rights
When the Client has paid in full, the rights in the approved design pass to the Client for the uses you name. Rejected concepts stay the Designer’s, and the Designer does not register trademarks.
9. Credit and portfolio
The Designer may show the design in its portfolio and name the Client once the design is public or after a set number of months, unless the Client objects. No credit is needed on the work itself.
10. Confidentiality
Each side keeps the other’s non-public information, such as unreleased products and brand strategy, private during the agreement and for a set number of years afterwards.
11. Cancellation and kill fee
The Client may cancel at any time, paying for the work done plus a kill fee of a set share of the remaining fee, and may use only concepts paid for in full. Either side may end the agreement after an unremedied serious breach.
12. Liability
The Designer works with care and confirms the design is not knowingly copied, but runs no trademark searches. Liability is limited to the fees, except for intent, gross negligence, personal injury and where the law allows no limit.
13. Independent parties
Both sides are independent businesses; no employment, partnership or agency is created, and the Designer may work for other clients, even in the same industry unless agreed otherwise.
14. Governing law and disputes
The law you name applies. The sides first try to settle a dispute in good faith, and otherwise the courts you name decide.
A price schedule (items, quantities and prices) is part of this contract. It starts empty, in your currency, and the clauses on fees and payment point to it.
The sample text
The whole sample, as QuoteBill starts it. Text in double square brackets, like [[10]], is a blank to fill in or check, and QuoteBill does not let you send a contract while one is left. The clause text is written in English, Korean, Japanese and German; in other languages a contract starts in English for you to translate.
Read the sample text
Graphic Design Agreement
Parties: Designer · Client
1. Purpose
This agreement sets out the terms on which the Designer creates graphic design work for the Client, such as a logo, a brand identity, print materials or social media graphics, and how the results may be used.
2. Brief and deliverables
The Designer will create the following work on the basis of the Client’s brief:
[[Describe the work, e.g. design, development or consulting]]
The brief, including the target audience, formats, sizes and the Client’s existing brand materials, is agreed in writing or in electronic form before work starts. Deliverables not listed here are outside this agreement unless the parties agree on them in writing or in electronic form.
3. Concepts and revisions
The Designer presents [[2]] initial concepts by [[Date]]. The Client chooses one concept and may ask for [[2]] rounds of revisions to it, each requested in one consolidated list within [[5]] business days of receiving the concept. Further revisions, new concepts or a change of direction after a concept has been chosen are charged at [[Hourly or per-round rate]].
4. Approval and final files
The Client approves the final design in writing or in electronic form. After approval and full payment the Designer delivers the final files in the following formats: [[File formats, e.g. vector files, PDF for print and PNG for screen]], in the agreed colour profiles and sizes. The Designer keeps the working files and provides them only if the price schedule says so. The Designer is not responsible for errors the Client approved in a proof, or for the print quality of a printer the Client chose.
5. Fonts and stock licences
Fonts, stock images, illustrations and other third-party materials used in the work are licensed in the Client’s name and at the Client’s cost, unless the price schedule says otherwise. The Designer names the materials used and the licence each needs, and the Client is responsible for keeping those licences for its own use of the work. Where a licence does not allow a use the Client intends, the Designer tells the Client before using the material.
6. Fees and payment schedule
The Client pays the fees shown in the price schedule of this contract: [[50]]% on signing and the balance on approval of the final design, before the final files are delivered, unless the price schedule says otherwise. If a payment is more than [[7]] days late, the Designer may pause the work after notifying the Client.
7. Changes and additional work
Changes to the brief, additional deliverables, further formats or adaptations of the design are additional work. The Designer quotes a price and a delivery date for it, and starts only when the Client has approved them in writing or in electronic form.
8. Ownership and usage rights
When the Client has paid in full, the Designer transfers to the Client the rights in the approved final design or, where the applicable law does not allow a transfer, grants the Client an exclusive, perpetual licence to use it for [[Permitted uses, e.g. all purposes in all media and territories]]. Rejected concepts, sketches and drafts remain the Designer’s and may be reused by the Designer in other work. Third-party materials remain subject to their own licences. The Designer does not register trademarks; the Client decides whether to protect a logo or name and does so itself.
9. Credit and portfolio
The Designer may show the final design in its portfolio, in competitions and on social media and name the Client as a reference, once the Client has made the design public or [[3]] months after delivery, whichever comes first, unless the Client objects in writing or in electronic form. The Client is not required to credit the Designer on the work itself.
10. Confidentiality
Each party keeps the other party’s non-public information confidential, including unreleased products, launch dates and brand strategy, and uses it only for this agreement, during the agreement and for [[2]] years after it ends. This does not apply to information that is public, already lawfully known, independently developed, or that must be disclosed by law.
11. Cancellation and kill fee
The Client may cancel the project at any time by notice in writing or in electronic form. On cancellation the Client pays for the work done until then and a kill fee of [[25]]% of the remaining fee, and may use only concepts it has paid for in full; amounts already paid are credited against these sums. Either party may terminate this agreement by notice in writing or in electronic form if the other party seriously breaches it and does not remedy the breach within [[14]] days of being asked to.
12. Liability
The Designer performs the work with reasonable care and skill and confirms that, to its knowledge, the design does not copy third-party work. The Designer does not check whether a design or name conflicts with third-party trademarks or can be registered; that search is the Client’s responsibility. Except for intent, gross negligence, personal injury or where the law does not allow a limitation, each party’s total liability under this agreement is limited to the fees paid or payable under it.
13. Independent parties
The parties are independent businesses. This agreement does not create an employment, partnership or agency relationship, and the Designer may work for other clients, including clients in the same industry, unless the parties agree otherwise in writing or in electronic form.
14. Governing law and disputes
This agreement is governed by the law stated under Governing law. The parties will first try to settle any dispute in good faith. Otherwise the courts stated under Jurisdiction decide, unless mandatory law provides otherwise.
Payment terms
Payment within [[14]] days of receiving an invoice, by bank transfer to the account stated on the invoice. The final files are delivered once the final payment has been received.
Governing law
[[Country or state whose law applies]]
Jurisdiction
[[Courts that decide disputes, e.g. the courts of your city]]
How to use it
Choose the template
Press the button to use this template. If you are not signed in, you first sign in or sign up for free and then come straight back to it.
Start a draft
The new-contract page opens with this template marked. Press its card to create a draft. Your company details fill in Party A, and you fill in the blanks, the other party and, where the template has one, the price schedule.
Send it for signature
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Next steps
Your client opens the link on any device and needs no account. See what the signing looks like on the E-Contracts page, and read which kind of electronic signature is enough for which document.
Already signed? Make the invoice from the signed contract: the parties and the price lines carry over, in full or for a deposit. The guide on turning a quotation into an invoice shows how to review the new draft, its dates and the PDF.
What it is, and what it is not
QuoteBill creates a simple electronic signature with an audit trail. In the EU, the UK, the US and Korea a signature is not denied legal effect only because it is electronic, and in Japan most contracts need no particular form at all. What a simple electronic signature proves in a dispute depends on the evidence behind it, and some documents need another form.
It is not a qualified or advanced electronic signature, and QuoteBill does not verify who the signers are. It records the use of the link and access code you delivered, so anyone who has both can sign. The signature certificate lists every link issued and, for each action by the sender or a signer, its IP address and browser where they could be read.
Some documents need another form. Wills, many real-estate transfers, guarantees and some employment documents must, in some countries, be handwritten, notarised or signed with a qualified signature. The templates are samples, not legal advice: review them with a lawyer.
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