Ryan O. Hicks

Recently I read the article posted by the graphic designer Brian Hoff, “What to Include In Your Design Contracts”. He has some excellent information and I highly recommend you stop by for a visit and read through the article (and subscribe to his RSS feed if you haven’t). I am going to expand on his article a little bit, and his will set the base for what I am about to touch on below.

I would like to give some insight on how I devise my contracts. This will probably be more catered to the photography side in this article, but you can take this and twist this to other areas of the design world. We will be putting together a basic contract for a photo shoot. Now I am making my disclaimer, as I am not a lawyer and I have limited legal knowledge when it comes to offering advice about contracts. I have read books, I have hundreds of copies of different kinds of contracts saved on CDs, and even took a law during my college career. That still does not make me an expert on the subject.

Everyone should seek proper legal advice about his or her contracts if you plan to get serious about freelancing. You cannot hold me liable if you plan to use anything in this article for a contract.

I have pieced together my contracts from numerous sources of information and advice given to me from other individuals. This article will contain everything I usually give to my clients before I start the project. From the description of the assignment with an estimate of the photographer’s fees, terms and conditions, and defined terms.

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