Nothing is more important to your career as an independent graphic designer than knowing how to create business contracts. Running a business requires promoting your brand and developing a client base. But you also must protect your work to avoid losing significant time and money.
Every creative entrepreneur should know the ins and outs of business contracts. Your graphic design contracts should clearly define the services provided, prices, timeline, and terms. THat’s why ResearcherStore has put together some information and advice for writing top-notch contracts to protect your business!
Acquiring the Tools
First of all, you’ll need to invest in high-quality tools for creating, modifying, and negotiating contracts. Luckily, this doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. In fact, a PDF editor can be found online that will allow you to work with contracts with ease – and best of all, it’s free!
It’s also essential to fully understand your graphic design company‘s financial health when creating and negotiating contracts. Fortunately, digital tools can help you with that as well. For example, you can use invoicing software to organize and manage all your finances on a single platform. You can easily create professional, branded invoices to send to clients immediately or on a recurring basis. And you can use real-time cash flow insights while negotiating contracts.
Getting a Contract Ready
You understand the importance of using your talents to create unique and compelling art to match your clients’ vision. But if you want to build a successful graphic design career, you must know how to prepare contracts that protect you from liability and ensure you get paid fully and on time.
Seek to strike a balance when drafting contracts. While you don’t want a ton of pages, you must ensure the document covers the entire scope of the project. The easiest method is to create a template contract you can easily modify to fit the terms of each project. Every contract should be easily manageable and readable, and you might consider hiring an attorney to guide you through the process.
Filling Out the Details of a Contract
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of creating effective business contracts is ensuring they contain all the information necessary to protect your graphic design company. Remember that contracts protect both you and your clients and help you avoid unnecessary roadblocks to healthy working relationships.
Your graphic design business contracts should contain seven key elements to serve your needs. While you shouldn’t necessarily stop at this information, make sure your contracts:
- Define the overarching structure of a project.
- Lay out your company’s responsibilities to the client.
- Define the specific support you will provide to the client after the project is finished.
- Establish the specific work you will do, including all versions and variations.
- Estimate the number of hours you will spend on specific tasks (and the entire project).
- Establish a timeframe for responding to editing or modifying requests.
- Confirm all agreed-upon deadlines.
Along with confirming your end of the project, be sure to include a section that lays out the client’s responsibilities. Confirming your client has agreed to the outlines and work within the contract is essential.
Also, ensure the client understands the format in which you will deliver the end product (e.g., physical or virtual media). And describe the specific points of time you’ll store digital files before deleting them. Some clients may choose to keep the files longer, and you’ll need to list the fee for doing such in your contract.
And let’s not forget about payment. Your contracts must clearly explain the payment methods you accept and when you expect payments. Some graphic designers ask for 50% down before beginning a project and the remaining balance upon completion. This can help you to maintain cash flow, allowing you to devote more time and energy to working productively instead of stressing out and scrambling for resources.
At each step, remember this: The more specific the contract, the fewer problems you will face down the road.
Wrapping Up
If you’re like many other creatives, creating and negotiating business contracts is not top of mind. But the truth is you must be able to manage contracts if you hope to build a flourishing, long-lasting career.
Remember the tips above as you start creating your first contract. And constantly look for other ways to protect your graphic design business and cultivate your client relationships.
ResearcherStore is dedicated to empowering passionate digital assets creators including researchers, authors, developers, executives, etc. through helping them in monetizing their contributions worldwide. If you have any questions or you’d like to work together, feel free to contact us!
