Terms & Conditions

The following Terms and Conditions of Service apply to all products and services provided by Peter Macdonald (hereinafter referred to as Design Bloke) and in the event of any dispute are governed by the laws of Scotland, England & Wales.

All work is carried out by Design Bloke on the understanding that the client has agreed to our terms and conditions.

Copyright is retained by Design Bloke on all design work including words, pictures, ideas, visuals, illustrations, animations and general graphically designed layout, unless specifically released in writing and after all costs have been settled.

If a choice of designs is presented and one is chosen for your project, only that solution is deemed to be given by us as fulfilling the contract. All other designs remain the property of Design Bloke, unless specifically agreed in writing and costs for retainment of the other choices.

Project Acceptance

A “project” includes any work carried out by Design Bloke on behalf of the client.

At the time of proposal, Design Bloke will provide the customer with a written estimate or quotation by email. These Terms and Conditions can be read at any time on the Design Bloke website.

A copy of the written estimate or quotation is to be signed and dated by the customer to indicate acceptance and should be returned to Design Bloke prior to commencement of any project.

Alternatively, the client may send an official purchase order in reply to the estimate or quotation which binds the client to accept our terms and conditions, or an email acknowledging acceptance of the quotation.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Design Bloke Terms & Conditions are what govern the job, not any conditions on the customer’s purchase order.

Ownership of Source Files

For print work we will supply digital proofs as PDF files that are appropriate for printing. 

For digital work, graphic files as required will be supplied in industry standard formats. This can include .jpg, .gif, .png, .mov, .pdf, .mp4 and other digital formats. Design Bloke can not be held responsible for any client who does not hold the required software required to view or open any of these files.

The release of our copyright design source files remains with Design Bloke unless agreed prior with the client. 

Design and artwork remains the copyright property of Design Bloke and must not be shared with any 3rd party unless agreement between Design Bloke and the client has been arranged. Any artwork passed to a 3rd party will incur charges.

Charges for Other Services

Charges for any additional services requested during the prior agreed project that are over and above the estimated time or out of scope, will become fully payable 30 days from invoice.

Charges & Payments

Unless agreed otherwise with the Client, all Design Bloke services require payment as agreed prior to project commencement. This is generally the end of the month following from date of invoice.

Any work that requires print production, website hosting, domain name registration, requires minimum 50% payment prior to commencement of the work to be carried out. The remaining maximum 50% payment is dues 30 days from date of invoice.

Where project costs exceed the value of £2,000, a 25% non-refundable deposit is required prior to commencement of the project, unless agreed otherwise.

Project work that is agreed as signed off and approved will be invoiced.

Payment should be made into the bank account on the invoice no later than 30 days from the date of invoice delivery.

Any invoice queries must be submitted by email within 14 days of the invoice date.

Accounts which remain outstanding for 30 days after the date of invoice, will incur late payment interest charge at the Bank of England Base Rate plus 10% on the outstanding amount from the date due until the date of payment.

Payments may be made by online transfer, credit card (Visa, Mastercard) or Debit Card.

Publication and/or release of work carried out by Design Bloke on behalf of the client, may not take place before payment has been received.

Default

An account shall be considered default if it remains unpaid for 60 days from the date of invoice, or following a returned cheque. Design Bloke shall be entitled to remove designs and/or the customer’s material from any and all computer and cloud based website systems, until the amount due has been fully paid. This includes any and all unpaid monies due for services, including, but not limited to any graphic design, or other service, that the client has approved Design Bloke to action.

Removal of such materials does not relieve the customer of its obligation to pay the due amount.

Customers whose accounts become default agree to pay all Design Bloke‘s reasonable legal and accounting expenses and third party collection agency fees in the enforcement of the debt and these Terms and Conditions.

Copyrights and Trademarks

By supplying text, images and other data to Design Bloke for inclusion in the customer’s website or other medium, the customer declares that it holds the appropriate copyright and/or trademark permissions. The ownership of such materials will remain with the customer, or rightful copyright or trademark owner.

Any artwork, images, or text supplied and/or designed by Design Bloke on behalf of the customer, will remain the property of Design Bloke and/or its suppliers unless otherwise agreed in writing. A licence for use of the copyright material is granted to the customer solely for the project defined in the scope or request and not for any other purpose. Copyright of any design work carried out by Design Bloke belongs with Design Bloke until such agreement or payment takes place to enable the ownership of any or all project files to handed over.

The customer may request in writing from Design Bloke, the necessary permission to use materials (for which Design Bloke holds the copyright) in forms other than for which it was originally supplied, and Design Bloke may, at its discretion, grant this and may charge for the additional usage. Such permission must be obtained in writing before any of the aforesaid artwork, images, text, or other data is exchanged.

Any software, code, plugin or other third party material used in a web or digital project remains the property of the creator and any ongoing licence fees or fees for upgrades are the responsibility of the client.

By supplying images, text, or any other data to Design Bloke, the client grants permission to use this material freely in the pursuit of the design.

Should Design Bloke, or the customer supply an image, text, audio clip or any other file for use in a website, multimedia presentation, print item, exhibition, advertisement or any other medium believing it to be copyright and royalty free, which subsequently emerges to have such copyright or royalty usage limitations, the customer will agree to allow Design Bloke to either remove or replace the file.

The client agrees to fully indemnify and hold Design Bloke free from harm in any and all claims resulting from the customer in not having obtained all the required copyright, and/or any other necessary permissions.

Alterations

The client agrees that changes required over and above the estimated work, or in addition to the agreed scope, or where the client makes changes to the supplied copy or changes required to be carried out after acceptance of the draft design, will be liable to additional charge.

The customer also agrees that Design Bloke holds no responsibility for any amendments made by any third party, before or after a design is published.

Licensing

All design work – where there is a risk that another party make a claim, should be registered by the client with the appropriate authorities prior to publishing or first use or searches and legal advice sought as to its use.

Design Bloke will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from such claims.

Design Bloke is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss, non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. The customer agrees not to hold Design Bloke responsible for any such loss or damage. Ie. print lost by a courier should be settled and re-supplied at the courier’s expense.

Any claim against Design Bloke shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the customer.

Data Formats

The client agrees to Design Bloke’s definition of acceptable means of supplying data to the company.

Text is to be supplied in electronic format via e-mail or by a secure server or system where required..

Images which are supplied in an electronic format are to be provided in a format as prescribed by Design Bloke via e-mail, wetransfer.com or any other means possible. Images must be of a quality suitable for use without any subsequent image processing, and Design Bloke will not be held responsible for any image quality which the client later deems to be unacceptable.

Additional expenses may be incurred for any necessary action, including, but not limited to, photography and art direction, photography searches, media conversion, digital image processing, or data entry services, colour correction and alteration of images.

Project Duration

Any indication given by Design Bloke of a design project’s duration is to be considered by the customer to be an estimation. Design Bloke cannot be held responsible for any project over-runs, whatever the cause. Estimated project duration should be deemed to be from the date confirmed in writing.

Rights of Access for Website Construction

The client agrees to allow Design Bloke all necessary access to computer systems and other locations, as required, in order to complete a website project. This may include access to passwords and sensitive material.

The customer agrees to supply Design Bloke with all necessary materials, electronic, or otherwise, required to create and complete the project, and to supply them in a timely manner.

Design Project Completion

Design Bloke considers the design project complete upon receipt of the client’s signed approval form or sign off email. Other services such as printing, display panel production, filming work, website uploading, publishing etc either contracted on the client’s behalf constitute a separate project and can be treated as a separate charge.

Creative Partners

Design Bloke has an extensive list of preferred and trusted partners. To provide a complete creative or technical service, Design Bloke will occasionally rely on the teamwork of those partners, and the client will always be informed.

Hosting websites

Design Bloke builds websites using Squarespace and Wordpress. If any bespoke website design work is required, the client agrees to work with a Design Bloke approved partner to completion of the project. 

Associated costs of hosting should be retained by the client, unless a management contract is put in place upon which costs will be agreed prior to project commencement.

Otherwise, any web services, including hosting of websites and registration of domain names, for the client should be paid for in full by the client prior to project commencement. 

Domain Registration

Design Bloke cannot guarantee the availability of any domain name. Where Design Bloke is to register a domain name on behalf of the client it will endeavour to do so but the client should not assume a successful registration.

Search Engine Submission

Due to the infinite number of considerations that search engines use when determining a site’s ranking, Design Bloke cannot guarantee any particular placement. Acceptance by any search engine cannot be guaranteed and when a site is accepted, the time it takes to appear in search results varies from one search engine to another. Rankings will also vary as new sites are added. 

Design Bloke recommends that customers use a professional SEO company and are happy to provide details of such companies, but accept no responsibility for their services.

Design Credits

The client agrees to allow Design Bloke to place websites and other designs, along with a link to the client’s site on Design Bloke’s own website and social media channels for marketing purposes and to use any designs in its own publicity and portfolios.

Rights of Refusal

Design Bloke will not include in its designs, any text, images or other data which it deems to be immoral, offensive, obscene or illegal. Advertising material must conform to all standards laid down by all relevant advertising standards authorities.

Cancellation

Cancellation of orders can be made by telephone, and will always be require to confirm in writing by e-mail. The client will then be invoiced for all work completed to that point. The balance of monies due must be paid within 30 days.

Disclaimer

Design Bloke makes no warranties of any kind, express or implied, for any and all products and/or services that it supplies. Design Bloke will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from products and/or services it supplies. Design Bloke is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss of data, or non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. While we take reasonable steps to investigate the printed materials we recommend, we accept no responsibility for the performance or quality of materials or any consequential loss arising from their failure. The customer agrees not to hold Design Bloke responsible for any such loss or damage. 

Design Bloke reserves the right to use the services of creative partners, agents and suppliers and any work, content, services and usage is bound by their Terms and Conditions. This is to ensure the best possible result and value for the client. Design Bloke will always communicate any partnered work with the client. Design Bloke will not knowingly perform any actions to contravene these and the client also agrees to be so 

Design Bloke and its clients agree to comply with any suppliers (ie. Printers) Terms and Conditions. Design Bloke recommends print order quantities are adjusted upwards by 10% to ensure complete satisfaction and guaranteed printed numbers of any product.

Acceptance of Terms and Conditions and Quotation

The placement of an order for design and any other services offered by Design Bloke, by email, verbally or in writing, is deemed to be acceptance of these terms and conditions, which are freely available at www.designbloke.co.uk.

An estimate validated by the customer’s signature on the estimate or quotation form, or by email, constitutes acceptance of the estimate or quotation and agreement to comply fully with all the Terms and Conditions and forms a Contract for Business between the signatory and Design Bloke.