Customer Wanting Design Files

[Kelsey Adams]

I did a bunch of designs for another small business and they were specifically for cornhole boards. I have decided to cut ties with this company due to reasons that I don't care to explain, but he wants the designs so they can be reproduced later down the line. Is this something you would do? I didn't charge a design fee, I just charged him per pair printed for boards. Thoughts?

 

[victor bogdanov]

It really depends on you in this situation and knowing the reason you cut ties would be needed for an accurate "what would you do"

You can just send the files and finish the cutting ties part and forget about it.

You can send the files for a fee.

or send them a low res jpeg so they leave you alone but when they go to print they wont be able to if you cut ties on bad terms

All depends on what terms you cut ties

 

[Boudica]

If you cut ties, Say no. Or say nothing. They didn't pay for the artwork, you owe them nothing.

 

[MrDav3C]

Unless a job only requires the simple setting of text & images, we always charge for designs & only release them once the customer has paid us a deposit. This way our customers own the designs we create but they have paid for them which shows commitment to us a business & it saves any potential issues occurring like this later down the line. We think we should always charge for designs, its your time, knowledge & expertise as a sign maker / designer that your customers are investing in. I'm sorry if this is slightly off the point of the question but if you charge for your designs then there shouldn't be an issue if the customer ever requests the artwork.

 

[Bobby H]

If the client didn't pay for the design work and ties are being cut (for whatever reason) the client doesn't need to get squat. If he didn't pay for the files he doesn't have any right to them.

Make the next person he hires to print his cornhole boards do like what you had to do: start from scratch.

 

[Gino]

Depends on many levels. First, how did you present the designs and costs ?? Did you tell he/she could not have them unless they paid for them or just never talk about that ?? How long ago did the transaction take place when you did the prints ?? At this point, you can't really hold artwork hostage for money, unless you initially discussed it.

 

[Ldiprinting]

I did a bunch of designs for another small business and they were specifically for cornhole boards. I have decided to cut ties with this company due to reasons that I don't care to explain, but he wants the designs so they can be reproduced later down the line. Is this something you would do? I didn't charge a design fee, I just charged him per pair printed for boards. Thoughts?

If it's taking space up in your mind, send them the files and move on. My first instinct is to stick it to them, but then I realized I don't want to carry the baggage around so give them what they want and they can't say anything bad about you because you are the better person.

 

[DL Signs]

If you did the designs, charged them design fees, and they paid for them, they have the right to them, just like buying anything else, unless you have an agreement or contract stating otherwise. Quickest way to part ways is send them the files, thank them for their business like a professional, and be done.

If the split wasn't on good terms, and you wanna be a pain, send them in AI format only, not PDF, and number all the files, rather than name them what they are. Most customers for stuff like cornhole boards won't have Adobe, won't be able to view them, know which is which, or what to do with them. If they come back for different file formats, it's a one hour minimum design fee for file conversion, up front, per company policy. Thank them for their business like a professional again, and go buy lunch.

 

[somcalmetim]

I did a bunch of designs for another small business and they were specifically for cornhole boards. I have decided to cut ties with this company due to reasons that I don't care to explain, but he wants the designs so they can be reproduced later down the line. Is this something you would do? I didn't charge a design fee, I just charged him per pair printed for boards. Thoughts?

If you didnt charge a design fee, I look at it as they paid for you to print/wrap the cornhole boards...any design files would be like a jig used in wood or metalwork to produce the product but not part of it...
If I wanted to part ways with a customer I would either ghost the file request email and move on to other work OR come up with a price and upload the file as a product on my shopify site and have it available a digital download...that way I send a link and move on, they can pay and download the file or not...

 

[bcxprint420]

If you did the designs, charged them design fees, and they paid for them, they have the right to them, just like buying anything else, unless you have an agreement or contract stating otherwise. Quickest way to part ways is send them the files, thank them for their business like a professional, and be done.

If the split wasn't on good terms, and you wanna be a pain, send them in AI format only, not PDF, and number all the files, rather than name them what they are. Most customers for stuff like cornhole boards won't have Adobe, won't be able to view them, know which is which, or what to do with them. If they come back for different file formats, it's a one hour minimum design fee for file conversion, up front, per company policy. Thank them for their business like a professional again, and go buy lunch.

Actually not exactly correct. By law anyone who creates designs owns those designs until they officially sign over ownership rights in writing. Its a us code on copywrite law.

 

[Gino]

Problem with your theory, bcx is......... if you do not have your poliies in plain view in your shop, website or any other way for someone to know how you want the game played, you are defrauding any and all end-users. You must let the consumer know all the details before exchange of monies is made. If you buy a simple toy for a kid or a flashlight for your toolbox, the pa kaging states upfront, batteries NOT included.

People are so afraid of not getting a job, they hide that fact and rely on holding artwork hostage. That's how reputations are made.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I have it printed at the bottom of every invoice among all the other terms. Art files can be requested for $225/ea.

 

[Bobby H]

Problem with your theory, bcx is......... if you do not have your policies in plain view in your shop, website or any other way for someone to know how you want the game played, you are defrauding any and all end-users.

Customers cannot automatically claim any ownership of a sign company's production files. The original poster said the only thing the customer paid for was print work, not any design fees.

If a customer gave me a design idea (usually in the form of some crappy JPEG image) he would have no right at all to the final vector-based production files unless he paid money for it. The only thing he owns is his original JPEG image. Even if he pays a pixel to vector conversion fee that still doesn't give the client automatic ownership of production files. That fee is really just a set-up fee for production. It does not technically require giving a client art files. The client and sign company have to agree to that. Usually I'll be nice and give them a copy of the finished logo conversion. But I don't have to give them anything else.

If it's taking space up in your mind, send them the files and move on.

If a client leaves on bad terms with me and then calls up demanding production files I'll have another solution: delete the files.

It's not necessary to save and store every project file.

 

[GAC05]

Customers cannot automatically claim any ownership of a sign company's production files. The original poster said the only thing the customer paid for was print work, not any design fees.
........

If a client leaves on bad terms with me and then calls up demanding production files I'll have another solution: delete the files*.

It's not necessary to save and store every project file.

*This was very effective for Hillary.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

*This was very effective for Hillary.

and Trump kept his files... look where that ended him up.

 

[signheremd]

You are a professional, so treat them like you would any other customer. If you have charged anyone before, charge them, if you have given files for free to another customer, give it to them for free. Maybe you want the work back one day, maybe you don't. But protect yourself from potential legal issues and protect your reputation by being fair and consistent.

 

[Bobby H]

This was very effective for Hillary

I'm not running for President. And I wouldn't do anything to make it easier for a bitter not-client to have a rival sign company or someone else working out of his garage to take on the project.

The other guys can start out as close to square one as I did. They'll likely already have something of a head start looking at PDFs of my shop drawings. Clients don't have any hesitation shopping around one sign company's sketches to other shops. But the rivals can do like I almost always have to do: start out working with nothing or working with garbage. Let them convert that client's JPEG "logo" and other stuff. More than ever, customer provided artwork is usually crap in terms of useful quality. The growth of "canva" and all this other online D-I-Y design stuff has added new flavors of P-I-T-A to the process. With all the hoops I have to jump through to get a design ready for production I'm not going to give that leg-work to a competitor for free. I'd rather delete the files instead.

 

[Gino]

Customers cannot automatically claim any ownership of a sign company's production files. The original poster said the only thing the customer paid for was print work, not any design fees.

If a customer gave me a design idea (usually in the form of some crappy JPEG image) he would have no right at all to the final vector-based production files unless he paid money for it. The only thing he owns is his original JPEG image. Even if he pays a pixel to vector conversion fee that still doesn't give the client automatic ownership of production files. That fee is really just a set-up fee for production. It does not technically require giving a client art files. The client and sign company have to agree to that. Usually I'll be nice and give them a copy of the finished logo conversion. But I don't have to give them anything else.

I didn't say anything remotely like that. You're creating a new story or storyline to fit your thinking.

No matter what industry, business or trade you are in, you need to give a quote and in that quote you must tell the end-user what they will and/or will not receive. If you don't upfront tell them how much a design costs, that is on you for holding back pertinent information. Just because you created does not mean later when you decide to drop the client, you can keep their artwork. You never told them that upfront. You led them to believe it was theirs, by purposely ignoring it. Logical aspects such as referencing item(s), implication logical aspects of meanings, such as sense, reference, implication, and logical form and conceptual semantics.

You can't sell a car to someone and later go back and say. Alright, you've owned the car for 3 months, now. You still owe me for the tires, battery and gasoline and oil that was in it.

 

[Boudica]

I still say ghost them.

 

[Abraxas Aguilera]

If they pay for a logo package, those files belong to them. Any artwork we generate in order to produce something is our property. We will sell them those files, for not less than $300, depending on how long it took me to create them.