Terms of Service
GENERAL WORKING AGREEMENT
This document defines the terms and conditions of our working relationship. All projects or services that DESIGNER may be contracted to produce or provide for CLIENT will be subject to the following:
OFFICE HOURS
DESIGNER is available Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (EST). If you need something done within a certain time frame, we will do our best to help you get it done. Additionally, if you have something that is especially time-sensitive, please get it to Storm Graphic Arts as soon as you can. Be sure to express your time constraints clearly and specifically. (Even better, call us as soon as you know about it so we can add it to our schedule.) If you get it to us at the last minute we may not be able to help you. If we can’t handle something for you, we’ll tell you up front so other arrangements can be made.
STATUS
Storm Graphic Arts is an independent business. We pay taxes, work from our own office, use our own equipment, set our own hours, and bill accordingly for our services. We are equals and we work together in collaborative partnership to make your business better.
PAYMENT/FEES/ESTIMATES
Concept revisions, extensive alterations, or a switch in marketing objectives sometimes make it impossible to accurately estimate in advance the total cost of a project. Planning the work cost estimating, and billing in several phases permits DESIGNER or CLIENT to adjust for such revisions or halt work before completion if a project is postponed or canceled. Any canceled project is billed only through phases and/or portions of phases that were actually completed by DESIGNER. For each project, CLIENT will receive a proposal/estimate outlining the project specifications and the proposed scope of services and working/billing phases. Each proposal estimate will contain a project budget, which includes estimated fees for professional services and separate itemized costs for anticipated out-of-pocket expenses.
CLIENT agrees to pay DESIGNER in accordance with the terms specified in each proposal/estimate. CLIENT may be required to pay 50% of the project cost before work can begin.
Unless otherwise specified, all subsequent balances due are payable upon art approval.
Interest on past due balances is 18% per annum or 1.5% per month. DESIGNER reserves the right to refuse completion or delivery of work until past due balances are paid.
Returned checks will be charged a Return Check fee of $25.00.
We will begin work upon CLIENT’S approval of the written estimate. Your approval (written or oral) will constitute an agreement between us.
Hourly fees are subject to increase.
Projects that require working ‘after hours’ (holidays and/or weekends) will be billed at our hourly rate plus 20%. You understand and accept that we may not be available to work after hours and we reserve the right to decline the work accordingly without further explanation.
Estimates are based on a reasonable time schedule and may be revised to take into consideration your “Priority Scheduling” requests requiring overtime and weekends. Knowledge of your deadlines is essential to provide an accurate estimate. In addition, outside suppliers such as service bureaus and printers charge a 100% to 200% markup on overtime after 5:30 p.m. and weekends.
REVISIONS AND ALTERATIONS
New work requested by CLIENT and performed by DESIGNER after a proposal/estimate has been approved is considered a revision or alteration. If the job changes to an extent that substantially alters the specifications described in the original estimate, we will submit a proposal revision memo to you, and a revised additional fee must be agreed to by both parties before further work proceeds.
Author’s alterations and other copy changes requested after layouts or mechanicals are completed are billed at standard hourly rates, plus any other expenses that are incurred from such changes.
OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES
Fees for professional services do not include outside purchases such as, but not limited to, printing, photography, color printouts, laminating, illustrations, separations, shipping and handling or courier service. Expenses are itemized on each invoice.
NATURE OF COPY
CLIENT agrees to exercise due diligence in its direction to DESIGNER regarding preparation of materials and must be able to substantiate all claims and representations. You are responsible for all trademark, service mark, copyright and patent infringement clearances. You are also responsible for arranging, prior to publication, any necessary legal clearance of materials we prepare.
ERRORS AND OMISSIONS
It is the DESIGNER’S responsibility to check proofs carefully for accuracy in all respects, ranging from spelling to technical illustrations. DESIGNER is not liable for errors or omissions. Your signature or that of your authorized representative is required on all mechanicals or artwork prior to release for printing or other implementation.
PLACEMENT OF ADVERTISING
At your request, we will purchase media space on your behalf. Space will be billed to you at current rates plus 15%.
PROPERTY AND SUPPLIER’S PERFORMANCE
DESIGNER will take all reasonable precautions to safeguard the property you entrust to Storm Graphic Arts. In the absence of negligence on our part, however, we are not responsible for loss, destruction or damage, or unauthorized use by others of such property. We will use our best efforts to ensure quality and timely delivery of all printed (offset, silk-screened, embossed or otherwise reproduced) pieces. Although we may use our best efforts to guard against any loss to you through the failure of our vendors, media, or others to perform in accordance with their commitments, we are not responsible for failure on their part. If you select your own vendors, other than those recommended by Storm Graphic Arts, you may request that we coordinate their work. If at all possible, we will attempt to do so, but we cannot in any way be held responsible for quality, price, performance or delivery.
RIGHTS OF OWNERSHIP
Once a project has been delivered by DESIGNER and is fully paid for by CLIENT, DESIGNER will assign the reproduction rights of the design for the use(s) described in the proposal.
According to the Copyright Law of 1976, the rights to all design and art work, including but not limited to photography and/or illustration created by independent photographers or illustrators retained by DESIGNER, or purchased from a stock agency on your behalf, remain with the individual designer, artist, photographer or illustrator. Unless a purchase of “All Rights” (A Buyout) is negotiated with DESIGNER and/or his/her authorized representative, you may not use or reproduce the design or the images therein for a purpose other than the one(s) originally stipulated. If you wish to use the design we have created and/or the images within it for another purpose or project, including a reprint or exhibition, you must contact Storm Graphic Arts to arrange the transfer of rights and any additional fees before proceeding. If printing or other implementation is done through your vendors, you agree to return to Storm Graphic Arts all of the original mechanicals and artwork (slides, prints, drawings, separations, etc.) within two weeks, and to provide Storm Graphic Arts with printed samples of each project.
We reserve the right to photograph and/or distribute or publish for the firm’s promotional and marketing needs any work we create for you, including mock-ups and comprehensive presentations as samples for our portfolio, firm newsletter, brochures, slide presentations and similar media. We agree to store mechanical boards and computer disks for a period of six (6) months beyond the delivery of a job. Thereupon, we reserve the right to discard them.
TERM AND TERMINATION
The term of this agreement will continue for work in progress until terminated by either of us upon thirty (30) days written notice. If you should direct Storm Graphic Arts at any time to cancel, terminate or “put on hold” any previously authorized purchase, we will promptly do so, provided you hold Storm Graphic Arts harmless for any cost incurred as a result.
Upon termination of this agreement, DESIGNER will transfer to CLIENT all your property and materials in our control and for which you have paid. CLIENT will indemnify and hold DESIGNER harmless for any loss or expense (including attorneys’ fees), and agree to defend DESIGNER in any actual suit, claim or action arising in any way from our working relationship. This includes, but is not limited to, ascertains made against CLIENT and any of its products and services arising from the publication of materials that we prepare and you approve before publication.
PRODUCTION SCHEDULES
Production schedules will be established and adhered to by both CLIENT and DESIGNER, provided that neither shall incur any liability, penalty or additional cost due to delays caused by a state of war, riot, civil disorder, fire, labor trouble or strike, accidents, energy failure, equipment breakdown, delays in shipment by suppliers or carriers, action of government or civil authority, or other causes beyond the control of CLIENT or DESIGNER. Where production schedules are not adhered to by CLIENT, final delivery date or dates will be adjusted accordingly.
ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS
The validity and enforceability of this agreement will be interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia applicable to agreements entered into and performed in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This agreement is our entire understanding and may not be modified in any respect except in an executed agreement.
Recent Work
Here are a few projects we’ve completed:
Please visit our portfolio to view more samples of our work.
