Freelance Graphic/Web Designer Contracts

A friend who is in school for graphic design gave me an interview the other day. I'm sure it gave her insight on my line of work, but more importantly, it revealed my pet peeves, loves, and all sorts of thoughts on freelance work and building a business, to myself. One of the things that I realized over the past years when dealing with freelance work is how difficult it becomes to collect money. This is when contracts become your best friend.

When I was in college, my teacher gave me a Graphic Artist's Guild book called Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers. I have held onto it for good measure, figuring I'd probably, someday, need it. But of course, I've never used it and instead, have referred mostly to resources online. I've tried some templates and reworked them to fit my needs. But today, I ran across this blog entry that I have fallen in love with. It definitely takes the cake.

"Contract Killer" on 24ways.org... What makes it different? Well, it basically cuts down the jargon of your typical contract and makes it a bit more fun and entertaining to read. I am all about having fun while working, but I never thought to use this same mentality with contracts. The website gives an example of a "killer contract" and allows you to use it freely, so long as you refer works back to the site, but a word of caution: Make sure you modify it to your needs. Each company, client, designer, contractor, etc., is going to be different. And please, please, please, proofread! In fact, ask someone else to read through and double-check for grammatical and spelling errors.

Now, you're probably wondering how to get them to sign it. Either you need to email it to them so they can fax or scan it back in, right? Sure, if you're in the stone age. There is a site I use to get signatures over the web.

docusign.net... Another free resource. Docusign allows you 5 "envelopes" to send each month. If you're going to send out more than 5 documents a month to be signed, there is an option to upgrade to the Pro or Business plans.

This site has been very helpful and I'm glad that it exists. In combination with the tricks and tips from the "contract killer" blog information, you will have easily given yourself the security you need to make sure you get paid, and in turn, your client gets the job that they are promised.