Design Files...free to client?

[jchristians]

Do you guys freely give your sign design files to your clients? Thanks!

 

[JR's]

no

 

[J Hill Designs]

no

 

[rdm01]

If you charged to compile the design, then yes, they bought the product and should be given proper files to do with as they please.

How would you feel if someone charged you $400 for a logo, but wouldn't give up files for your use?

 

[Marlene]

in the orginal quote. I line item out cost for art files. they are not a free item

 

[J Hill Designs]

If I was hired specifically to design, yes its theirs.
If I was hired to create (and subsequently had to lay it out to create it), then no. They paid for the sign only.

 

[rdm01]

If I was hired specifically to design, yes its theirs.
If I was hired to create (and subsequently had to lay it out to create it), then no. They paid for the sign only.

Makes sense. The first scenario you outlined is typically how we proceed.

 

[Gino]

Regardless of what you call it.......

• sign design files
• layouts
• compositions
• designs
• files
  
• creations

If you took any money to do whatever job it was you just did for them..... they are theirs, unless otherwise specified......... with no strings attached.

 

[J Hill Designs]

Regardless of what you call it.......

• sign design files
• layouts
• compositions
• designs
• files
  
• creations

If you took any money to do whatever job it was you just did for them..... they are theirs, unless otherwise specified......... with no strings attached.

wrong. my jobs are usually for a sign. designing is part of the manufacturing process. They approve, I proceed. Design is mine, sign is theirs.

 

[ExecuPrintGS]

If I was hired specifically to design, yes its theirs.
If I was hired to create (and subsequently had to lay it out to create it), then no. They paid for the sign only.

Exactly what we do.

 

[Gino]

wrong. my jobs are usually for a sign. designing is part of the manufacturing process. They approve, I proceed. Design is mine, sign is theirs.

As I said, unless otherwise specified. You have it specified. Many do not and then hold the files hostage to squeeze more money out of people.

 

[fresh]

nope, no way. not for free.

if they order "logo design", it includes transfer of digital art files. if they order a sign, they get a sign, not my art files. depending on who/what the design entailed, the price would be between $50-$250 to transfer the files.

 

[Brink]

Not the design files. For additional money I'll give them a high quality TIFF, JPG, and PNG package. But I keep the original vector art ALWAYS.

 

[Gino]

nope, no way. not for free.

if they order "logo design", it includes transfer of digital art files. if they order a sign, they get a sign, not my art files. depending on who/what the design entailed, the price would be between $50-$250 to transfer the files.

Again, you..... also have it outlined, so the customer knows ahead of time, and not surprised after the fact.

 

[eahicks]

Heck no. If they want logos for their use (if we created the logo) we'll email them a PDF, EPS and JPG of their logo. That's it. Otherwise, our answer is "our sign artwork is created in a Sign program that no other software will recognize"....which is true.

Anytime someone asks for the files, they are planning to go elsewhere. We just don't have customers that leave like that.

 

[jchristians]

Thanks everyone for the replies. People are CRAZY! That's all.

 

[Billct2]

No
and I don't see any need to specify that my design files are my property.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

If we design a logo for the customer, we charge $300 for the logo in black and white and color in 9 different raster and vector formats on a flash drive. This $300 charge covers up to the first 3 revisions. Any additional revisions are billed by the hour.

If we design a logo for the customer to use on a sign or other product, we charge an art fee that covers whatever amount of time is involved in designing their product and we own and keep all of the art files. The only exception that we will make is if they want to use their logo for advertising and promotional purposes, in which case we will email them a copy of their logo in a 8.5" x 11" jpeg and or png format at 72 dpi, no exceptions.

 

[SignsInTime]

Do you guys freely give your sign design files to your clients? Thanks!

our shop is in a small community and we know most of our neighbors. We generally assume that our sign customers will want to make tshirts and business cards (which we do not do anymore). If we designed and built their sign I'll include a medium resolution jpg for these purposes. I retain the design files. We charge $35 to convert a sign file to a high resolution jpg or pdf. If they want the design files to take to a competitor, that represents a significant labor savings with the competitor, and I charge a reasonable fee...or at least I would. I've never had to charge that fee before

 

[T_K]

This is very similar to another thread I saw on here this morning.

The main issue here seems to be the need to define boundaries. At my last shop, our policy was that if they paid for design work, it was theirs. If they just paid for the sign (no art fee), then the design was ours. Their logo was always their logo, but accompanying layout work was dependent upon how they were billed. Currently, I'm in the print dept. of an ad agency doing mostly work for businesses owned by our company's owner. So it's a moot point there.

My advice is determine what your boundaries are and clearly communicate that to customers, so everyone's on the same page and there's no confusion. The main questions I'd ask myself in determining a policy are:
1) How do I protect my company's interests?
2) How do I protect my customer's interests?
3) How do I protect the relationship between my company and the customer?

I figure if you can find a policy that you're happy with the answers to these 3 questions, then it's one you can live with.