Whether you are engaging a web designer to create a new website or re-develop an existing site, you should always ensure that you put in place a written website design contract. This template is designed to form the basis of such a contract. Selected sections from the balanced version of this agreement can be seen here:
Sample Website Design Agreement
This website design contract template is drafted in a way that protects the interests of the customer - unlike most standard website design contracts, which are usually drafted to protect the interests of the designer (see, for example, our pro-designer web design agreement).
Where there is significant software/database development work, this agreement template is not suitable, but one of our web development agreements may be a good alternative.
The key provisions of this web design contract template are as follows.
- Delivery and acceptance - This provides for a testing period and acceptance criteria.
- Unlawful Content - No unlawful content should be included in the design.
- Intellectual Property Rights - This clause states that the intellectual property rights in the HTML and CSS will be assigned to the customer, whereas the rights in scripts will remain with the web designer and be licensed to the customer.
- Confidentiality - This provision protects the confidential information of the customer.
Because the contract for web design services is (almost always) a B2B contract and not a B2C contract, you (the customer) will not have the protection of consumer-protection legislation. All business relationships carry risks, and web design contracts are no exception. Areas of uncertainty and contention may include the following.
- Does the site do what it is supposed to do?
- What uses are you permitted to make of the website and the design?
- Can you take the site to another developer and/or host?
- When can you exit the relationship with the web designer?
This web design contract precedent is intended to help clarify these sorts of issues and reduce the risks of a dispute.
We also provide a balanced version - see our
balanced web design agreement.
The following provisions are included in the template:
(1) Definitions and interpretation
(2) Term
(3) The Services
(4) Customer obligations
(5) Delivery and acceptance
(6) Third Party Works
(7) Unlawful Content
(8) Charges and payment
(9) Intellectual Property Rights
(10) Warranties
(11) Limitations and exclusions of liability
(12) Data protection
(13) Confidentiality and publicity
(14) Termination
(15) Effects of termination
(16) General
This template is 15 pages long (including the cover sheet and footnotes) and is supplied in MS Word (.doc) format for easy editing.
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