Client wants all files

[morgancreative]

Hi there,

I designed a brochure for a larger corporation. They will no longer be going outside for design as they now have an internal department for printwork. They have asked me to send them all the files related the the brochure so they can make future changes and print more down the road. They have paid my invoice for designing the brochure. Can I charge them another fee to hand them over the files, knowing that I will not have any future work from them? What is the usual path? Just hand over the files and say thanks and good luck?

Thanks!

Todd

[morea]

what does it say in your contract?

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7422

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6842

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2926

[morgancreative]

Don't have a contract. Have been doing work with this client for some time, always verbal, no agreements and signed contracts. This brochure was basically a quickie job one afternoon for internal office use. They really liked it and it expanded to a 26000 print run across their entire corporate structure. So no contract was ever drawn up.

[morea]

check those threads above... and try to always work with a contract... it protects both you AND the client to have expectations in writing.

There are some sample contracts linked in our frequently discussed topics thread, here:
http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7892

[jlknauff]

If they paid the invoices in full then there is no reason not to hand the files over. The fact that you will not be getting any more business from them is not their problem, and you can not ethically charge them based on that. Besides, doing so will damage your reputation - and you never know - you still may get more business from them. Their in house people may not work out or may get into a time crunch at some time.

[morgancreative]

Couldn't find the contracts??

[morgancreative]

I should have set up a contract, but as we have done business for some time, I didn't charge them what I should have as I just assumed I would still be providing my services.

[PrintDriver]

Charge them an "Archive & Burn" fee to cover your time.

Use contracts in the future.

[PrintDriver]

Also, upon hand-off you may want a document stating that you reserve the right to use similar design on future projects of yours. That you are handing over the usage only on those particular files. If you designed a particular item for the company, like a tag-line or a mascot, etc you may want to mention your are turning that over as well and not use it in future designs.

[morgancreative]

thanks for all the advice!!!!

[morea]

Sample Design Contracts:

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2745
http://graphicdesign.about.com/library/contracts/uccontract1.htm

[morgancreative]

tks!

[morea]

no problem! ;)

[morgancreative]

my apologies, but where are these contracts? i go to your link but end up at about.com and don't have a clue where to go...

[morea]

could be the link has gone bad. Here, I googled this:

http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/graphicdesign-contractsforms.html

http://desktoppub.about.com/od/contracts/

[morgancreative]

beauty! tks again!

[morea]

glad to help.

(For the record, I also updated the links in the FDT section to those posted here.)

[Six]

According to the Supreme Court all designs belong to the creator of the design as copyrighted material, unless it is specified as "work for hire" in a contract, in which case the client owns the designs. At least that is my understanding, FWIW.

That said, do you want a fight over the material? We generally work on a "work for hire" basis with our clients and our suppliers when possible, and if the client wants the designs we turn them over. We do charge to de-archive the art and burn disks at our regular hourly basis plus expenses. We DO NOT release any art or images we purchased for the client that are rights managed or under some contractural agreement. It is the client's responsibility to renegotiate that agreement should they want to use that art beyond what we have negotiated and paid for.

Six

[daSnarf]

could be the link has gone bad. Here, I googled this:

http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/graphicdesign-contractsforms.html

http://desktoppub.about.com/od/contracts/

Maybe Im just an about.com noobie...maybe Im just clueless...but I havent found any samples of contracts for graphic design. :(

All the links just basically reference themselves!

I did find one which looked fairly useful. "How to write a contract for a desktop publishing or Graphic design business", but that just lists what to include in the contract.

Anyone know a site/place to get one already created that I can tweek as needed?

[jlknauff]

What state are you in?

[daSnarf]

What state are you in?

Confusion at the moment! ;)

Actually living in Texas