Free Freelance Design Contract Template
Freelance design gets a lot easier when everybody knows what they’re agreeing to before the work starts.
A decent contract doesn’t need to be 47 pages of legal sludge. It needs to answer the important questions: What are you making? What does it cost? When does the client pay? How many revisions are included? Who owns what? What happens when the project goes sideways?
I’ve been doing design and web work since 1999. Contracts don’t make difficult projects magically pleasant, but they do eliminate a remarkable number of stupid arguments.
Below you’ll find two ways to get started: build a basic agreement with the Freelance Contract Builder, or download the complete template and fill it out yourself.
This is a general-purpose template, not legal advice. Have an attorney review contracts you intend to rely on professionally.
Build Your Freelance Design Contract
Answer a handful of questions about the job. The machine will assemble a basic freelance design agreement around your answers.
No account. No email address. No legal incantations required.
Well, look at that. You have a contract.
Review it carefully. Fill in the names, dates and any project-specific details before anybody signs anything.
Why Freelance Designers Need a Contract
The biggest reason isn’t lawsuits. It’s ambiguity.
A client thinks “three concepts” means three concepts followed by unlimited exploration. You think it means three concepts.
A client assumes the editable Illustrator files are included. You assumed they were buying the finished logo.
You expect the balance before delivering final files. They expect Net 30.
Nobody necessarily did anything malicious. Nobody agreed on what the hell was happening.
A written agreement settles those questions before there’s money, deadlines and frustration attached to them.
What Your Design Contract Should Cover
At minimum, spell out:
- Scope. What you’re actually making and, just as importantly, what you aren’t.
- Schedule. When the project starts, approximately when it ends, and what happens when the client disappears for three weeks.
- Payment. Total price, deposit, milestones, final payment and what happens when an invoice isn’t paid.
- Revisions. How many are included and when “revision” turns into “new work.”
- Ownership. What the client owns, when ownership transfers and what remains yours.
- Source files. Don’t assume everybody has the same definition of “final files.”
- Third-party materials. Fonts, stock photography, plugins, software and other things neither you nor the client actually owns outright.
- Cancellation. What happens to the work and the money if somebody pulls the plug.
- Portfolio rights. Whether you’re allowed to show the finished work after it’s public.
- Liability. Reasonable limits on what you’re responsible for.
A Contract Doesn’t Replace a Good Scope
This is where freelancers get themselves into trouble.
“Design a logo: $800” is not much of a scope.
How many concepts? How many revisions? What files are delivered? Is there a brand guide? Are fonts included? Who handles trademark research? When is the balance due?
The contract establishes the rules of the relationship. The project scope defines the actual job.
You want both.
Download the Free Freelance Design Contract
I’ve built a clean, general-purpose agreement covering:
scope, schedule, payment, revisions, client responsibilities, preliminary work, ownership, source files, third-party licensing, trademark clearance, portfolio rights, cancellation, liability and signatures.
Download the Freelance Design Contract Template
It’s intentionally generic. Fill in the blanks, remove anything that doesn’t apply, add anything your particular project requires, and have a lawyer look at it if you’re going to make it part of your normal business operation.
One More Thing
A contract isn’t there because you expect your client to screw you.
It’s there so neither of you has to remember what you thought you agreed to six weeks ago.
That’s a much better reason to have one.
