Terms and Conditions

Five Dots will not knowingly enter into any contract whereby the other party's terms conflict with any of those set out below. In the case that a client's own terms and conditions conflict with any of the same set out on this page, this document shall be considered to be the authoritative one, unless a separate contract has been signed by the client and by an authorized agent of Five Dots. By entering into a business relationship with Five Dots, you (the Client) agree and consent to the following terms and conditions:

Timeframe and Delivery

Five Dots will provide the initial draft designs to the Client within the timeframe agreed upon in the initial consultation. Please note that if we are experiencing higher than usual demand, your design will be scheduled for the next available time slot and you will be notified at the earliest possible time. Five Dots will post the initial designs in an email or to a web site for review by the Client. The Client will then be able to view his/her draft designs and also be able to provide feedback concerning the design. Five Dots will analyze the Client's feedback and revise the designs. The revised samples will be presented to the Client within the specified timeframe. Regular working days are Monday through Friday, 9am - 6pm. Five Dots will continue the revision process as per the terms of the specific contract, until Client is 100% satisfied. Once the Client has approved the final design, the Client will complete any remaining payment owed (typically 3rd installment), and Five Dots will then proceed with the delivery phase (final art work, production). All requested formats of the approved design are then emailed or posted to the client download area for the Clients use.
If a client should abandon a project by way of negligence (i.e., cutting off contact, refusing to respond to emails or phone calls), an invoice shall be issued for the full quoted amount, regardless of project status on abandonment. Special arrangements can certainly be made for ending a project prematurely, but must be negotiated with your project manager.

Copyright and Trademarks

The Client unconditionally guarantees that any element of text or graphics furnished to Five Dots for inclusion in the design do not infringe on any copyright or trademarks that have been already established by another company or organization. The Client will hold harmless and protect Five Dots from any claim or suit arising from the use of such as furnished by the client.
Five Dots makes every effort to produce original artwork. If, however, we create artwork for you which accidentally infringes on any existing trademarked artwork, Five Dots liability is limited only to a refund of the paid amount, or design modification at no additional charge. Five Dots will do no research checking on the legal availability of the name we are creating designs for. It is the Client's responsibility to ensure that the name of their product, company or service is not already in use, and it is the Client's sole responsibility to secure a service mark or trademark to protect the rights to any name or image. Five Dots and it's employees will not be held responsible for any legal action that may result from improper due diligence on the availability of a company name or image.
Ownership of the final artwork becomes the full property of the Client, having unlimited, indefinite and unrestricted use of the design upon payment of all fees. Five Dots retains the right to display the artwork in their corporate portfolios and marketing materials. Unless otherwise arranged with your project manager, all stock photography is used under royalty-free licence of Five Dots. As such, the Client has legal rights to use the photography only within the scope of the purchased design, and all original copyright is retained by the photographer or licensing agency. Exclusive, rights-managed photography is available, but will incur additional cost.
All concepts furnished to the client are for client review and comment purposes only. Until all project invoices are paid in full by the Client, Five Dots will retain exclusive copyright and ownership of all design and draft materials. Ownership of final designs are transferred to the client on payment of all fees, however unless otherwise arranged in writing, Five Dots retains ownership of all draft materials not used in the final design. Please note that master files (layered Photoshop files, original Flash files, Quark/InDesign files, etc.) remain our intellectual property and cannot be released to the Client unless explicitly negotiated. For copyright reasons fonts used within a project cannot be released either.
Under copyright law, the designer is the owner of all files and artwork created for the client, and the client is the owner of the end product (i.e. a printed business cards). Release of electronic files to the client is at the discretion of the designer and is determined by the type of project. Copyright ownership may be transferred to the client for a fee that is based on the uses for which rights are being transferred.

Draft Concept Policies and Copyright

All draft concepts previewed by the client are for client review and comment purposes only. Until final design balance is received by Five Dots , all logos, artwork, concepts and designs remain the copyright and exclusive property of Five Dots. Five Dots reserves the right to utilize and/or reproduce any image, logo or illustration created by Five Dots in advertising, electronic or traditional reproduction, with the addition of any copyright and/or trademark notice that may be requested by the owner of the work. The client is granted unlimited royalty-free use of the design upon full payment of all fees. Five Dots retains the rights to concepts, comprehensives and all artwork involved in the design process prior to the final artwork, and is granted the right to use these logos in promotional and advertising and marketing materials.

Revisions and Author Alterations

Any and all revision requests or project additions/alterations MUST be furnished to the project manager in writing. Revisions may be discussed verbally, however no work will be done until the Client submits their revisions in writing, either by Email, Mailed Letter or Fax. The Client understands that revision work, along with requests for project additions or author alterations, will incur the same hourly billable as noted in the project quotation. Revision work is not done free of charge unless otherwise arranged, in writing.
The quotation assumes a reasonable average number of revisions per design item, but on very rare occasion a project arises in which the Client requests an unusually large number of drafts or revisions. Any and all revisions will still incur the hourly rate as noted on the project quotation, and the Client confirms that any revisions or additions they request will incur this cost.

Payment Policies

Graphic design is a service, not a product - customers are billed for the time and expertise of our professional graphic designers. In accordance with industry standards, Five Dots charges for design services by the hour (unless a flat fee has been negotiated in writing) and does NOT offer refunds under any circumstance (except in the case of copyright infringement as noted above). Five Dots does not engage in speculative work and will not honor any requests for same. We have provided an extensive public portfolio, making it easy for potential clients to judge whether the style and quality of design offered by Five Dots is a good fit for their organization.
All quotations given are estimates only, unless otherwise negotiated and noted in writing on your quotation. Final invoices will reflect actual hours worked on your project which may or may not differ from your quotation.
An up front deposit of 30% (based on the quotation amount) is required for all new projects.
Deposits and payments may be made in a number of ways:
- Credit Cards through Paypal
- Company or Certified Check
- Bank or Wire Transfer
- Money Order or Bank Draft
All invoices are payable on receipt with a grace period of 14 days. If the client is sending payment through the mail, we will accept a tracking number as notice of payment. After 30 days, a late payment charge of 2% per month (26.82% p/a) is applied to all delinquent accounts, without exception and retroactive to the date of invoice. If the account remains in default after 60 days, or if the customer's payment is charged back to us by way of credit card fraud, check fraud or other crime, we will issue one final notice before turning the account over to a collections agency. Late fees will continue to accrue on your account. Refusing to pay your bill is theft, and we take it very seriously. If collection efforts are unsuccessful, we will engage the client in litigation to collect the debt, and all copyright will revert to Five Dots. In such a case, we will retain the right to repossess any and all materials created for the client. The client will have no rights to use the materials in any way, shape or form, and legal action will be taken to enforce this policy.

Web Site FiveDots.co.uk

Unless otherwise specified and/or credited all images, artwork, text and graphics, of this site, are the copyright of Five Dots . All rights reserved. All other images are the copyright and/or trademark of the respective owners. The information presented on the Five Dots Web site is copyrighted to Five Dots . This copyright does not supersede any copyrights that may exist in the logos, artwork and designs presented. These works are copyright and/or trademarked by the respective owners. Designs, original art and clip art presented by Five Dots are for the use of the authorized client. All art, images, designs, and material are copyright of Five Dots and may not be resold, added to clip art collections or any other unauthorized form of distribution or reproduction without the express written permission of Five Dots and the images contained within. All material featured on FiveDots.co.uk are offered for individual or commercial information only and as such are offered on a 'as is' basis. Any other use of graphic material found on the FiveDots.co.uk site including mirroring or copying any part of the site is prohibited without the express written consent of Five Dots or their authorized representatives.
Visitors are permitted, and encouraged to link to this site. You are welcome to link to any page or section of the Five Dots web site. Any form of reproduction, electronic or otherwise is strictly forbidden without prior written consent of Five Dots or its agents.If you have any questions about these terms, or would like information about licensing images and/or materials from Five Dots please feel free to contact us.