Hi everyone,
I've recently been asked to do a custom typeface for a company and I'm looking to create a contract/agreement that specifies aspects such as: 1) What the work entails (and what it doesn't entail). 2) Base prices and how prices scale with added styles/interpolations. 3) Exclusivity agreement. 4) How revisions are handled. And possibly a whole lot more that I haven't thought of here.
I'm hoping that some more experienced type designers on this forum would be willing to share any insights as to what an agreement like this should cover? Or even better: Share an actual agreement or agreement-template for those of us with less experience to study (obviously with sensitive information blacked out).
Thanks in advance,
Kasper
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Comments
Following the topic.
I'll follow this topic too
I recommend having a standard agreement that specifies the relationship between the two parties, the general kind of work to be done, terms and liabilities, etc. and a separate Statement of Work for specific projects. This is convenient because if you do more than one project for a client, or if the project gets extended, you don't need a whole new agreement, just another SOW.
You mentioned a base price and price scaling for additional options. This normally wouldn't be included in the contract, but would be in a price quote preceding the contract. Ideally, you want the client to decide which options they want when they agree to the price quote, and then the SOW specifies what they've agreed to. If they want to add more options later, you can create a second SOW.
* And yes, they sometimes bugger off before the project gets contracted. So early in the process I suggest a mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement, so they can't take all the groundwork work I've done and give it to one of my competitors.
** I usually specify that I will, at my discretion, provide a number of extra things at no cost if they come up during the course of the contracted work. So, for example, if I decide that a certain glyph would benefit from having a contextual variant to work better in some situations, I usually wouldn't charge for adding that.
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If you are expecting the project to involve lots of iteration with input from the client, you should also specify time frames for this, so the client knows that they need to be responsive during that process. If the client has never commissioned custom work like this before, they won't have thought through the implications for organising review and feedback from their side. I always try to have one person designated as the responsible project manager on their side, and it is up to that person to coordinate the people in the organisation who may need to review or sign off on the work. In the case of a large organisation, there may be multiple teams or groups with a finger in the font pie.
I would rather we keep the discussion respectful. If we have good legal documents we are able to share, let's do it. I have no less respect for a nicely worded law document than I have for a finely crafted font. Both are symbols of harmony and order IMPO.
(Long ago, I was once the lead person involved in hiring Tiro for a set of projects ... that I think were with at least that long a timeframe. Although I will admit I do not recall the exact timelines.)
In the one rare case where I did agree to a jurisdiction change, because it was necessary for a settlement, I made sure it wasn't home turf for either of us but a third country. I later learned that the reason the client agreed to it was because they erroneously thought that the third jurisdiction would weaken my legal protections. That is, it is a country with a shorter term for copyright law so they thought they could widdle down our perpetual licensing price. Unfortunately for them, they were dealing with one of the few foundries that doesn't depend on copyright law to enforce our contract rights. If we had been one of the other foundries agreeing to the venue change would have weakened us indeed!