A design agreement (which is often confused with a design retainer contract) is a contract in which a developer of Internet websites agrees to design, develop, and perhaps maintain a website for a client. Design agreements may also refer to designing and building (”design-build contracts”) houses or other structures; or generically, simply to graphic design services.

In website design agreements, the key articles are scope of work, cost, intellectual property, and sometimes termination.

Scope of work:
• Once nailed down, other provisions flow from it.
• What sort of website does the client desire? The more generic, the less expensive it is; the more    intricate and labor-intensive, the more costly.
• Will the developer simply design and implement the website, or will it maintain the site, as well? If the latter, more fees apply.
• Will the developer host the website or will it be hosted on third party servers?

Cost:
• Often, flat fee for standard design services and basic website.
• Hourly rates for more involved services, in addition to an up-front retainer.
• Other fees for hosting, maintenance.

Intellectual property:
• Who owns the rights, including source code? Most often, the client.
• Developer may retain rights in the event of earlier termination of the agreement (prior to launching of website), subject to confidentiality of information received from client.
• Developer may also retain rights if in a better bargaining position.

Lastly, many design agreements (which are often confused with design retainer contracts)  do not warrant the work product, but if they do, the warranties will be short-30, 60, maybe 90 days, notwithstanding any modifications by the client or anyone else. Design agreements also tend to limit the developer’s liability for any client losses.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com. SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts &  federal courts throughout the country.

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It used to be that if one mentioned a “design agreement,” (often confused with a design retainer contract) the context was relatively clear. The parties were talking about the design and construction of a commercial building or perhaps a private residence. In some cases, the parties might have had in mind graphic design, as in the creation of artwork for a magazine, or perhaps a sculpture. Today, however, with the advent of the digital age, design agreements refer equally often, if not more so, to the design of Internet websites.

In its most recent iteration, a design agreement (which are often confused with design retainer contracts) is a contract between a client and a website developer for the creation of a website for use by the client. Oftentimes, the agreement will cover not only design services but also maintenance, including updates and repairs as needed, of the website. The design is what drives much of the rest of the agreement, for the more extravagant the website, the greater the cost, the more maintenance will likely be required, perhaps the more important the ownership rights, and so forth.

Once the client and developer have hammered out the design, the rest of the agreement flows from there. Price is perhaps the next provision in importance. Those agreements that deal with basic, off-the-shelf designs may incorporate a flat fee, while more intricate sites may call for hourly rates; or a blend of both.

After the developer has designed and created the website, the site must find a home, so to speak, on the Internet. This goes to the question of hosting. Many times, the developer itself will host the website on the developer’s own servers. The agreement, thus, may discuss a hosting fee above and beyond the developer’s design fee. Other times, the client may wish to have the website hosted on a third party server. In the latter case, the client will provide the developer with authorization, for a limited duration, to access this client’s space on this third party server.

Intellectual property is highly germane to design agreements and will remain so as long as technology continues to advance. Ownership of this intellectual property-including, importantly, source code-is central to the design agreement. While agreements fall of both sides of the fence on this issue, it is more common that the client, not the developer, has final ownership of the intellectual property developed for the website. The developer, thus, is an independent contractor producing a work-for-hire. While the work product comes from the developer, it belongs to the client. This is assuming, of course, that the website reaches completion. If the assignment is terminated before completion, then the developer may retain the rights to the intellectual property, subject to confidentiality provisions, of course.

Equally, the developer protects itself with limited warranties. In contrast to car warranties that may go five or even ten years, website design warranties, if they exist at all in the agreement, are more likely to be for 30 or 60 days and state that the website will be bug-free for this time period. All bets are off, however, after this time period ends or if prior to this date, the client begins making its own modifications to the website. The agreement will likewise limit the developer’s liability in the event the client suffers loss due to the website.

Given the complexity of the subject matter, design agreements have the potential to be (and some are) voluminous documents. Most, however, are relatively short contracts, only a few pages in length. This is a good thing. So long as the major terms-design, cost, intellectual property, and perhaps termination-are clear in the minds of the client and the developer, there is little need to weigh down the document with so much legalese.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com. SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts &  federal courts throughout the country.

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A perusal of online job site forums will produce a common thread: a call for design retainer contracts. With the global economy leaning heavily on the Internet, there is a high demand for graphic designers who can make a company’s website easy to navigate and attention grabbing. Often times, a company will want to corner the market on a certain designer’s style and thus have need for a design retainer contract.

But many online companies are small capital operations who do not have a legal department at their command. In these cases, a template for a proper and professional design retainer contract sends them to online job sites in search of sample design retainer contracts.

Online legal document resources, like RealDealDocs.com have filled this need and answered the call for sample design retainer contracts as well as templates for hundreds of other legal documents. With the economy in a slump, these legal document resources help smaller companies save money in legal expenses, as well as helping corporations’ legal departments in cutting drafting time in half.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com.
SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts & federal courts throughout the country.

Popularity: 8% [?]