The following Terms and Conditions of Service apply to all artwork, graphic design, print, marketing materials, consultancy, digital marketing and creative services provided by N9 Design Limited. Additionally, the following Terms and Conditions of Service apply to all social media, PR and copywriting services provided by N9 Design Limited.

All design work, supply of print, website development, website hosting and other creative services are carried out or supplied by N9 Design on the understanding that the client has agreed to N9 Design’s terms and conditions.

Copyright of all graphic design work is retained by N9 Design including copy, concepts, ideas, proofs and illustrations (unless specifically released in writing) until after all invoices have been settled. When all invoices are settled in full, the ownership of the project and the copyright associated shall become the property of the client. N9 Design reserves the right to use the client’s work for our own promotion, unless requested not to do so by the client. If multiple design concepts are submitted, only one concept shall be signed over by N9 Design as fulfilling the contract. All other concepts, artwork, creative and designs remain the property of N9 Design, unless agreed in writing.

Project Acceptance

At the time of proposal, N9 Design will provide the client with a written estimate or quotation. Terms and Conditions shall be provided with the written estimate or quotation or can be read on N9 Design’s website at www.n9design.com/legal/terms-conditions.

The written estimate or quotation is to be formally agreed by the client to indicate acceptance of the costs and these terms and conditions, and this should be done in writing or by email. Alternatively, the client may send an official order in reply to the estimate or quotation, which binds the client to accept N9 Design’s terms and conditions. No work on a project will commence until N9 Design has received agreement to proceed.

Project Acceptance and; Fees for New Clients

Clients with whom N9 Design do not have an established trading history shall be invoiced in advance of the first project to be undertaken for at least 25% of the full value of the initial project on acceptance of the written estimate or quotation, unless otherwise agreed. Work on the project will not commence until N9 Design has received payment in full for this amount.

Design, Creative Services & Marketing Material Fees

Fees for design services, social media, PR, creative services and marketing materials to be provided by N9 Design, will be set out in the written estimate or quotation that is provided to the client. The client’s acceptance of the estimate or quotation shall indicate the client’s acceptance of these Terms & Conditions.

Website Design, Website Development and Digital Project Fees

Fees for the design and development of website and other digital technology projects, will be set out in the written estimate or quotation that is provided to the client. At the time of the client’s acceptance of this estimate or quotation, indicating acceptance of the Terms & Conditions, a deposit of a minimum of 25% of the quoted fee will become immediately due for payment. The balance shall be invoiced upon completion of the project via the terms agreed and / or at the time of site launch.

Web Hosting Fees

Fees for the supply of web hosting services to be provided by N9 Design, will be set out in the written estimate or quotation that is provided to the client are issued annually in advance. When being provided as part of a new website, development costs shall be invoiced in full at the acceptance of the costs provided to the client be N9 Design.

Where an invoice for web hosting remains unpaid, contact shall be made with the client to attempt to receive payment, and where the invoice remains unpaid then the service shall be ceased seven days after the due date of the invoice without further notice.

Domain Name Costs & Renewal Policy

Fees for the supply of domain names to be provided by N9 Design, will be set out in the written estimate or quotation that is provided to the client are invoiced for a two-year period, in advance. When being provided as part of a new website development costs shall be invoiced in full at the acceptance of the costs provided to the client by N9 Design. At renewal of domain, an invoice shall be sent to the client in advance of the renewal date to allow cancellation if required. Should the account remain unpaid the service shall be deemed to be cancelled and shall not be renewed.

Where a domain name registration lapses due to the non-payment of an invoice, the client shall accept liability and agrees to fully indemnify and hold N9 Design free from harm in any and all claims resulting from the lapse of the registration of the domain.

Web & Email Hosting Service Agreement

N9 Design provide email and web hosting services, utilising the products and services of leading hosting providers and partners Heart Internet and Webflow. It is the responsibility of the client to back up their own email data in case of data loss and in the event of a requirement for disaster recovery.

Client Services Passwords

With any provided service which requires a password, N9 Design shall provide a password for that service which is considered strong and secure by the current standards (at the time of the delivery of the password). The client shall accept liability and agrees to fully indemnify and hold N9 Design free from harm in any and all claims resulting from the change of a supplied password.

Website Updates

Where no agreement has been made for N9 Design to undertake regular maintenance of a client’s website, the client understands that it is their responsibility to regularly review their website for currency. Where any issue including, but not limited to; hacking, out of date software, out of date website content, a third party accessing the administration panel for a website, arises in relation to a client’s website which is not subject to a maintenance contract, the clients understands that a cost may be applied to correct these issues. Moreover, the client shall accept liability and agrees to fully indemnify and hold N9 Design free from harm in any and all claims resulting from any such, out of contract, issue.

Credit & Invoice Terms

Clients shall receive standard terms of 30 days from the date of invoice, unless other credit terms are agreed between N9 Design and the client. Agreement of credit terms other than the standard will be detailed in writing or by email and will be indicated on all invoices sent out.

N9 Design reserves the right to undertake a full credit check prior to agreeing credit terms; in this instance a credit application form shall be provided to the client for completion. N9 Design reserves the right to cancel credit terms with the client at any time should the agreed terms not be adhered to.

Provision of Purchase Orders

Where the client requires that a purchase order number be appended to an invoice for N9 Design to receive payment, the purchase order number shall be required at the time of the acceptance of the costs provided. No work on a project will commence until N9 Design receives the purchase order number.

Where client project deadlines require the immediate start of an agreed project, N9 Design may agree to undertake the project prior to receiving the required purchase order. Where the invoicing of a completed project is delayed due to the late receipt of a purchase order, N9 Design shall back date the invoice to the date of completion of the project applying the client’s credit terms from the date of invoice.

Payment

Payments may be made by BACS, cash, cheque or previously agreed electronic funds transfer. Where international payment charges are applied to a payment received, the client shall be invoiced for the cost of the charge.

Publication and/or release of work done by N9 Design on behalf of the client, may not take place before funds have cleared.

Returned cheques will incur an additional fee of £50 per returned cheque. N9 Design reserves the right to consider an account to be in default in the event of a returned cheque.

Accounts in Default

An account shall be considered default if it remains unpaid in excess of the client’s agreed credit terms from the date of invoice, or following a returned cheque.

N9 Design shall be considered entitled to remove N9 Design’s and/or the clients’ material from any and all computer systems, until the amount due has been fully paid. This includes any and all unpaid monies due for creative services, including, but not limited to, hosting, domain registration, search engine submission, design and maintenance, sub-contractors, printers, photographers and libraries. Removal of such materials does not relieve the client of their obligation to pay the due amount.

Where physical products have been supplied, N9 Design shall be considered entitled to remove the physical products supplied, until the amount due has been fully paid. Removal of such materials does not relieve the client of their obligation to pay the due amount.

Where contract or subscription services are being supplied, N9 Design shall be considered entitled to suspend the supply of the contract or subscription service, until the amount due has been fully paid. This includes any and all unpaid monies due for including, but not limited to, social media, PR, search engine PPC, mentoring and marketing campaigns. The client shall accept that a suspension of contract due to an account in default shall not terminate an agreed contract or relieve the client of their obligation to make full payment on an agreed contract.

Where an account is considered in default, the client shall accept liability and agrees to fully indemnify and hold N9 Design free from harm in any and all claims resulting from the removal of digital material, removal of physical product or suspension of contract or subscription service.

Collection of Default Accounts

Where payment is not received by the due date of an invoice, N9 Design shall formally request for payment to be made within a seven-day period, where after the debt shall be passed to our debt collection agency, Direct Route Collections, without further notice.

The client accepts liability for all costs associated with any collection procedure due to the late payment on invoices in addition to the value of the initial debt. Where the client does not adhere to the credit terms agreed within N9 Design’s terms and conditions, then N9 Design reserves the right to cancel the credit agreement provided to the client.

Copyrights and Trademarks

By supplying text, images and other data to N9 Design for inclusion in the client’s brochure or other medium, the client declares that it holds the appropriate copyright and/or trademark permissions. The ownership of such materials will remain with the client, or rightful copyright or trademark owner.

N9 Design retains copyright of all creative services (unless specifically released in writing) until all invoices have been settled. This shall apply to copy, concepts, ideas, proofs, illustrations and all other creative services.

Should N9 Design, or the client supply an image, text, audio clip or any other file for use in a website, multimedia presentation, print item, exhibition, advertisement or any other medium believing it to be copyright and royalty free, which subsequently emerges to have such copyright or royalty usage limitations, the client will agree to allow N9 Design to remove and/or replace the file.

The client agrees to fully indemnify and hold N9 Design free from harm in any and all claims resulting from the client not having obtained all the required copyright, and/or any other necessary permission.

Alterations

The client agrees that changes required over and above the estimated work or required to be carried out after acceptance of the draft design will be liable to a separate charge. The client also agrees that N9 Design holds no responsibility for any amendments made by any third party, before or after a design is published.

Contact Reports

Where, following a meeting between representatives of N9 Design and representatives of the client, N9 Design submits a report of the meeting to the client recording decisions, agreements, amendments or other matters discussed. That report shall be deemed to be a true and accurate record of the meeting and of the decisions taken or agreements reached, unless within 48 hours of the date of the report the client notifies N9 Design in writing that it does not accept any part, or parts, of the report as being a true record of the meeting.

Third Parties – Client Appointed Printers

Where a client specifies a third-party producer of any printed materials, including, but not limited to, lithographic print, digital print, offset web print, signage, large format print and exhibition print, N9 Design shall provide print ready artwork supplied to a fully acceptable standard of our established trade suppliers. Where a third-party supplier request changes to print ready artwork delivered, the client agrees to be liable for the costs of any additional work required.

The client shall accept liability for the choice of third-party printer and agrees to fully indemnify and hold N9 Design free from harm in any and all claims resulting from issues arising from the supply of print from the third-party printer, including, but not restricted to, colour variations, quality of media, artwork variations and print plate faults.

Third Parties – Web Hosting

Where a client specifies a third-party web hosting company, N9 Design endeavour to upload the website development to the host suggested. This shall be subject to the required technologies being available within the web hosting package. Where the use of a third-party web host requires changes to the structure or build of the website, the client agrees to be liable for the costs of any additional work required.

The client shall accept liability for the choice of a third-party web host and agrees to fully indemnify and hold N9 Design free from harm in any and all claims resulting from issues arising from the use of a third-party web host, including, but not restricted to, loss of data, virus infection, hacking and slow data/site access.

Licensing

Any design, copywriting, drawing, idea or code created for the client by N9 Design, or any of its contractors, is licensed for use by the client on a one-time only basis and may not be modified, re-used, or re-distributed in any way or form without the express written consent of N9 Design and any of its relevant sub-contractors.

All design work, where there is a risk that another party may make a claim, should be registered by the client with the appropriate authorities prior to publishing, first use or searches and legal advice sought as to its use. N9 Design will not be held responsible for any damages resulting from such claims. N9 Design is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss, non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. The client agrees not to hold N9 Design responsible for any such loss or damage. Any claim against N9 Design shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the client.

Media Buying and Other Suppliers

Where N9 Design purchase media advertising services on behalf of the client, these shall be subject to a commission detailed in advanced and agreed by the client, on the gross amount payable for the client’s advertisements. N9 Design shall invoice the client for the full cost of the advertising (including any commission) immediately upon placing the client’s advertisement and the same shall be payable forthwith.

Data Formats

The client agrees to N9 Design’s definition of acceptable means of supplying data to the company. Text is to be supplied to N9 Design in electronic format as standard text (.txt), MS Word (.doc) via e-mail, file transfer or online access. Images that are supplied in an electronic format, are to be provided in a format as prescribed by N9 Design via file transfer or online access. Images must be of a quality suitable for use without any subsequent image processing, and N9 Design will not be held responsible for any image quality, which the client later deems to be unacceptable. N9 Design cannot be held responsible for the quality of any images which the client wishes to be scanned from printed materials. Additional expenses may be incurred for any necessary action, including, but not limited to, photography and art direction, photography searches, media conversion, digital image processing, or data entry services.

Design Project Duration

Any indication given by N9 Design of a design project’s duration is to be considered by the client to be an estimate. N9 Design cannot be held responsible for any project over-runs, whatever the cause. Estimated project duration should be deemed to be from the date that cleared funds of the deposit are received by N9 Design.

Design Project Completion

N9 Design considers the design project complete upon receipt of the client’s agreement and sign off.

Website Design

When a web design is complete, N9 Design will provide the client with the opportunity to review the resulting work. N9 Design will make one set of minor changes at no extra cost within 30 days of the start of the review period. Minor changes include small textual changes and small adjustments to placement of items on the page. It does not include changes to images, colour schemes or any navigation features. Any minor changes can be notified to N9 Design by e-mail.

N9 Design will consider that the client has accepted the website as completed, if no notification of changes is received from the client, within 30 days of the start of the review period.

Design Credits

The client agrees to allow N9 Design to place a small credit on printed material, exhibition displays, advertisements and/or a link to N9 Design’s own website on the client’s website. This will usually be in the form of a small logo or line of text placed towards the bottom of the page. The client also agrees to allow N9 Design to place all designs on N9 Design’s own website for portfolio and demonstration purposes and to use any designs in its own publicity unless agreed otherwise.

Rights of Refusal

N9 Design will not include in its designs, any text, images or other data, which it deems to be immoral, offensive, obscene or illegal. All advertising material must conform to all standards laid down by all relevant advertising standards authorities. N9 Design also reserves the right to refuse to include submitted material without giving reason. Any images and/or data that N9 Design does include in all good faith, and then finds out that it contravenes these Terms and Conditions, the client is obliged to allow N9 Design to remove the contravention without hindrance, or penalty. N9 Design is to be held in no way responsible for any such data being included.

Cancellation

Cancellation of orders may be made initially by telephone contact, or e-mail, however, following this, N9 Design will need formal notification in writing to the company’s postal address or by email, which shall be acknowledged. The client will then be invoiced for all work completed over and above the non-refundable deposit that will have been made at the time of first ordering. The balance of monies due must be paid within 30 days. Please note: any cancellation which is not formally confirmed in writing and received by N9 Design within 14 days of such instruction being issued, will be liable for the full quoted cost of the project.

Creative Works for Tenders and Pitches

Where creative services are provided by N9 Design as part of a formal tender or pitch procedure, then the requesting client entity shall be subject to N9 Design’s terms and conditions. All supplied artwork designs remain the property of N9 Design, unless agreed in writing. Should N9 Design not be successful in a tender or pitch process, and designs or other proposed creative elements are found to have used by the client entity, then N9 Design shall invoice the client entity for the value of the project.

Disclaimer

N9 Design makes no warranties of any kind, express or implied, for any and all products and/or services that it supplies. N9 Design will not be held responsible for any and all damages resulting from products and/or services it supplies. N9 Design is not responsible for any loss, or consequential loss of data, or non-delivery of products or services, of whatever cause. While we take reasonable steps to investigate the materials we recommend, we accept no responsibility for the performance or quality of materials or any consequential loss arising from their failure. The client agrees not to hold N9 Design responsible for any such loss or damage. Any claim against N9 Design shall be limited to the relevant fee(s) paid by the client.

N9 Design reserves the right to use the services of sub-contractors, agents and suppliers and any work, content, services and usage is bound by their Terms and Conditions. N9 Design will not knowingly perform any actions to contravene these and the client also agrees to be so bound. Sub-contractors, agents and suppliers and any work, content, services will be chosen on previous trading experience with N9 Design and the quality of their previously supplied services to N9 Design.

General

These Terms and Conditions supersede any previous Terms and Conditions distributed in any form. N9 Design reserves the right to change any rates and any of the Terms and Conditions at any time and without prior notice.

Acceptance of Quotation and Terms and Conditions

The placement of an order for design and/or any other services offered by N9 Design and validated by the client’s signature on the estimate or quotation or the provision of written agreement within an email from the recipient of an estimate or quotation, constitutes acceptance of the estimate or quotation and agreement to comply fully with all the Terms and Conditions and forms a Contract for Business between the client and N9 Design.