Contractor agreement for a designer

A freelance designer produces work the business will put its name on, and the agreement has to decide when the business comes to own it, what the designer keeps, and how the licences for the fonts, images and assets inside the work reach the business. It also has to limit revisions, set the pay and the position if the project is cancelled, and reflect a self-employed engagement. I draft that agreement, for the business or for the designer, for a fixed fee of £595, delivered in five working days. Each engagement is checked against HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool, and the agreement cannot guarantee how an individual's status will be decided.

Who this is for

Businesses in England and Wales engaging freelance graphic, brand, packaging, product, web and UX designers, and designers who want an agreement they can use with every client.

What matters in a designer's agreement

The brief, deliverables and revisions

The agreement should define each project by a brief and a statement of work: the deliverables and formats, the number of concepts and rounds of revision included, the timetable, the client's responsibilities (content, feedback, approvals by dates) and the rate for revisions and work beyond the brief; unlimited revisions are the commonest cause of unpaid design work, and a stated number with a rate for more is the answer. The designer performs with reasonable care and skill under section 13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.

Intellectual property, moral rights and the assignment

Designs are the designer's copyright under section 11 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 until assigned, and the agreement should assign the IP in the final approved deliverables to the business on payment in full, in writing as section 90 requires, with the designer's unused concepts, sketches and working files retained unless the business pays for them, moral rights under section 77 and following waived so that the business may alter and use the work without attribution, and the designer's methods and templates kept; where the business wants a licence rather than ownership, the scope should be stated.

Fonts, stock and third-party assets

Fonts, stock images, illustrations and templates used in the work are licensed by their owners, usually to the designer, and the agreement should say that the designer will identify them, that the business must obtain its own licences for use beyond what the designer's licence allows (particularly for fonts in the business's own systems and for extended-use stock), and that the designer's IP warranty and indemnity exclude third-party assets and anything the business supplied; a business that ships a product with a font licensed only to its designer has a licensing problem it did not know about.

Portfolio use and credit

The agreement should say that the designer may show the work in their portfolio and on social media after the business has made it public, unless the business objects for confidential projects, and whether the designer is credited; it should also say that the designer may describe the business as a client, and that unreleased work is confidential until launch.

Pay, kill fees and expenses

The agreement should state the fee (fixed per project, by stage, or a day rate), a deposit before work starts, payment on delivery of each stage with interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, expenses and stock purchases at cost with approval, and a kill fee where the business cancels after work has started (a stated proportion of the fee or payment for work done at the day rate), with IP in cancelled work staying with the designer unless paid for.

Status, confidentiality and ending

A designer with several clients, their own equipment and software, control over how the work is done and the right to subcontract parts of it is self-employed, and the agreement should say so, with the off-payroll working rules in Chapter 10 of Part 2 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 noted where the designer works through a company for a medium or large client; the designer keeps the business's plans confidential, either side may end the engagement on notice with payment for work done, and liability is capped at the fee with consequential loss excluded under section 11 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

What it costs

Consultancy or contractor agreement, £595. Drafted for your business. Five working days.

Template set for repeat use, £895. One master agreement plus a short-form schedule you can reuse for every engagement. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the consultancy and contractor agreements page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A clear, express assignment of intellectual property to your business
• Confidentiality provisions that protect your business information
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Clear treatment of status, so the arrangement is not accidentally something else
• Payment, deliverables and termination provisions that match how you work
• A reusable structure, so the next engagement costs you nothing

What is not included

• Employment status determinations and off-payroll working assessments, which need your accountant
• Tax advice
• Disputes with a contractor you have already engaged
• Immigration and right to work compliance

Questions I am often asked

We paid for a logo. Can we change it ourselves?

If the agreement assigns the IP and waives moral rights, yes. Without the waiver the designer can object to derogatory treatment of the work; the agreement includes the waiver so that the business is free to adapt what it owns.

The designer used a font we now cannot use in our app. Whose problem is it?

The business's, unless the agreement required the designer to identify third-party assets and the designer did not. The agreement requires identification and makes the business responsible for its own licences, which is where the law puts it.

We cancelled a project half way. What do we owe?

The kill fee the agreement sets, or payment for work done at the day rate, with the designer keeping the IP in the unfinished work unless it is paid for.

Related guidance and services

• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Employment contracts and handbooks, £595
• Terms and conditions for a freelance graphic designer
• Freelancer agreement for a creative studio

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.