Illinois Graphic Design Freelance Agreement

ILLINOIS GRAPHIC DESIGN FREELANCE AGREEMENT

Effective date: [__/__/____]

Before you use this: Confirm whether this transaction meets the Illinois Freelance Worker Protection Act's worker, location, $500 compensation, and exclusion tests under 820 ILCS 193/5. Complete the itemized services, payment date, and service-list deadline before signing.

Client: [________________________________], mailing address [________________________________] ("Client")

Designer: [________________________________], mailing address [________________________________] ("Designer")

Client contact (email/phone): [________________________________]

Designer contact (email/phone): [________________________________]

Client and Designer agree as follows.

1. Design brief and deliverables

Designer will create [logo / brand identity / illustrations / layout / other: __________] for [project or campaign: __________]. The audience, format, dimensions, and required brand standards are: [________________________________].

Source files (for example, layered design files) are ☐ included ☐ excluded. If included, deliver them in [format: __________]. Designer will provide [____] initial concepts and up to [____] rounds of revisions to the selected concept. Client will give one consolidated response within [____] days of each submission. Additional concepts, revisions, formats, or uses require a written change order stating price and schedule.

2. Client material and approvals

Client will supply the text, logos, images, brand guide, and other material listed here: [________________________________]. Client authorizes Designer to use that material for this project and will secure permission for material supplied by third parties. Client will review proofs for names, copy, dimensions, and production specifications before approval. Production or printing by a third party is [included / excluded]; if included, identify the vendor and approving party: [________________________________].

3. Fees and delivery

Total fee: $[____]. Deposit due on signing: $[____]. Remaining payments and invoice dates: [________________________________]. Approved outside costs, including stock assets, fonts, and printing, are paid by [Client / Designer] up to $[____] unless a written change order says otherwise. Invoices are due [____] days after receipt. Designer will submit an itemized list of services rendered by [__/__/____] for Client's payment processing. The final payment date or precise method for determining it is [________________________________]. Designer will deliver final files through [method: __________] within [____] days after final approval and payment of amounts then due.

If Client suspends the project for more than [____] days, either party may terminate by written notice. Client will pay for completed work and approved noncancelable costs through termination; Designer will deliver paid-for work in its then-current state.

4. Copyright and third-party assets

The parties select one treatment for the original final designs identified in Section 1 ("Final Designs"):

☐ Assignment. Designer hereby assigns to Client, effective when Designer receives the full project fee, Designer's copyright in the Final Designs created under this Agreement. Designer will sign further reasonable documents confirming that transfer. Until payment, Client may review proofs internally but may not publish or distribute them.

☐ License. Designer retains copyright and grants Client, upon payment of the full project fee, a ☐ nonexclusive ☐ exclusive license to use the Final Designs for [media, territory, duration, and permitted adaptations: __________________________________]. Uses outside that scope require Designer's written permission.

Designer keeps ownership of preexisting tools, templates, sketches not selected, and separately identified material: [________________________________]. To the extent embedded in a paid Final Design, Designer grants Client a nonexclusive license to use that material as part of the Final Design for the uses selected above. Stock images, fonts, and other third-party assets remain subject to their own licenses; list them and who will hold each license: [________________________________]. Neither party purports to assign third-party rights. The parties rely on the signed assignment or license above, rather than assuming that commissioning a design alone makes it a work made for hire.

5. Confidentiality and portfolio

Each party will use the other's nonpublic project information only to perform this Agreement and will limit access to people helping with the project. Information already public, independently developed, or lawfully received without restriction is excluded. Designer may show completed public work in a portfolio ☐ after Client's public launch ☐ only with Client's written consent. Confidentiality continues for [____] years after termination.

6. Working relationship and disputes

Designer controls the means of performing the services, supplies [own equipment / other: __________], and cannot bind Client. This clause records the parties' intended relationship; applicable law governs classification. Each party will give written notice of a claimed breach and [____] days to cure a curable breach. The law of [STATE] governs this Agreement, subject to mandatory law that applies despite this choice. Changes must be in a writing signed by both parties. Notices go to the addresses above or updated addresses supplied in writing.

Illinois freelance-worker terms

For a transaction covered by 820 ILCS 193, Client will furnish Designer a copy of this written Agreement, physically or electronically, and retain it for at least two years (§ 15). The itemized services and values, contact information, Client's mailing address, payment date, and service-list submission date completed above are part of this Agreement. The due date selected above must be no later than 30 days after the applicable products or services are provided (§ 15). If no payment date or mechanism is specified, compensation is due no later than 30 days after completion of the services (§ 10). Nothing in this Agreement requires Designer to accept less than the contracted compensation as a condition of timely payment after work begins (§ 10).

Client signature: __________________________ Date: [__/__/____]

Designer signature: ________________________ Date: [__/__/____]