This thread has a nice range of opinions and I tend to agree with all of them, depending on the client and the circumstances.
I have given away design work before for different reasons. To hold on to a client or make him feel appreciated. Or when I knew another part of the job would more than make up for it. Or sometimes, when I didn't clearly make a client understand what I needed from the beginning and so I felt it wasn't their fault that I had to tweak a file.
Four hours is, in my opinion, a big chunk of time to give away. If you have a number of employees carrying overhead, maybe you feel four hours is not that much to bury. But if you're working by yourself, losing four hours can be painful. Jack Wills, a veteran sign guy who has worked a lot by himself, said once, "I gotta meet the payroll. You know what I mean?" He was referring to
his own payroll.
Four hours is the time length for an installation job for many sign projects. Are you willing to throw in installation for free to keep a customer happy? Because the customer didn't know it was not included? Maybe some of us would. Others would not. Maybe it depends on the client and the circumstances.
Who owns production files?
Who really owns production files created by a shop employee on shop equipment? The shop owns them, not the client, even though the client may have paid for the design. Proof of that ownership is the fact that the shop owner has the right to delete the files if he or she wishes. The client has no say in this.
Years ago I lettered trucks for a lawn service. They had trucks of various sizes and regularly replaced or repainted them. They were a steady customer and I made a lot of money off them over the years. I had made three different sized pounce patterns and used them till they were in tatters. I remade one, a big one, out of Tyvek so it would last a long time. It was for their big tankers.
They asked me once to give them "their" patterns. They said they wanted to try lettering a truck themselves. I refused, explaining that the patterns were shop tools that I used to get their work done in a timely manner.
If a carpenter builds your house, he still owns his hammer, right? Would you even ask to borrow his hammer to add a garage yourself? The idea is absurd. The lawn service's shop foreman, a mechanic, understood immediately that their request was not reasonable.
I lost the account, but I probably would have lost it anyway. I knew they could have easily acquired another sign painter at less cost, especially if they enticed him ready-made pounce patterns that I had given. In the end, they used someone else anyway. But he made his own patterns.
Working for free
I just had my oil changed and the manager told me they put in a new drain plug at no charge. It was a small thing. It cost them pennies and no extra labor. But I will use them again because of that.
I give freebies, too. If I create sawdust on the carpet while drilling, I sometimes vacuum their entire lobby. I have been known to take a client's truck to the car wash before lettering the doors. Small things, but they can make a good impression. If I were to tell a client that I "gave" them fours hours of free labor, however, they might be skeptical. If your oil change place told you they flushed and charged your AC system at no charge, how would you react? Your first question might be "Why?" Or, you might even have a hard time believing them.
When I give a client free time, it's usually something small and I always tell them about it. If I give a client design time that is something more than a tweak, I tell them ahead of time, maybe mentioning what it's worth, and explain that I'm doing it to encourage them to give me more of the job. I might even ask if they are pretty confident I will get the rest of the work.
I sometimes explain to a client that I'm even willing to sell my modified design to them in case they end up having someone else do the next phase of the job. Of course, it's not always easy to think about all this ahead of time, especially in the rush of trying to meet a deadline.
Obviously, I did not offer to sell pounce patterns to clients back in the day, but I will do that with files now.
The key, I think, is to talk to the client about the file issue at the beginning.
It's also good to always assume that you may not get the second phase of the job, or even repeat jobs.
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Who owns a graphic design?
On a related note, when we create sign layouts, graphic layouts, are they protected by copyright? Do we really own them as intellectual property? Most of us assume so. But the reality is that much of what we create in the sign business does not meet the US Copyright Office's standards for receiving copyright protection. Sign layouts that consist of nothing more than lettering and simple shapes, even if the letters are stylized or embellished, may not be protected.
Once design work goes out the door, we may still claim ownership, but there may not be much we can do if the client decides to use it without permission. A copyright notice on the drawing of the design may not hold much weight if the design itself is not protectable.
The best course is to not allow design work out of our possession without some kind of payment and to do as little as possible on "speculation."
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Artist/attorney Linda Joy Katwinkel has written on this problem of graphic layouts not qualifying for copyright protection:
Registering Your Copyright in Graphic Design: Fighting Back if the Copyright Office Says No | Graphic Artists Guild
If any on this forum have actually applied for and received copyright registration for sign designs/layouts, it would be a great benefit to post the circumstances here.
Brad in Kansas City
