For graphic designers
Before you sign that design contract, check these three things.
A design project agreement — a logo, a brand system, a retainer — can look like a simple fee for deliverables. What it can leave open is how many rounds of changes the fee covers, who owns the working files and rejected concepts, and what you are paid if the client stops halfway.
This design agreement fixes the fee but not the work: revisions run until the client is satisfied, and a cancelled project pays only the deposit.
Revisions run until the client is satisfied
Satisfaction is the client's call alone, so the fixed fee has no edge: every further round is included, however many there are.
Ask for
Ask for a stated number of revision rounds, with a rate for each round beyond it.
- Rejected concepts transfer tooLow · IP
- No kill fee if the client stopsLow · Termination
The numbers
In May 2025, there were 197,830 wage and salary jobs for graphic designers in the U.S., with a median annual wage of $62,960.
These figures count jobs, not people, and do not include self-employed work — so they say little about how many graphic designers work freelance or run their own business.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, national estimates for SOC 27-1024. Public domain.
Revisions, file ownership and the kill fee
- Revisions — “Revisions until the client is satisfied” turns a fixed fee into open-ended work. A stated number of rounds, with a rate for extra ones, keeps the scope where you priced it.
- Ownership of files and concepts — Check whether the ownership transfer covers only the final artwork or also source files, sketches and rejected concepts you might reuse.
- Kill fee — If the client cancels mid-project, the contract decides whether you are paid for the work already done. Look for a kill fee tied to the stage reached.
Check the agreement before the first sketch
Design contracts can turn on a handful of lines about revisions and rights. Free: one analysis every 30 days, no card. Each analysis gives a risk read of the key clauses, quotes the contract's own words for its findings, and turns each flagged clause into a specific ask.
Analyze my contract — free- Encrypted in transit & at rest
- Files auto-deleted after 30 days
- Never used to train models
- Informational — not legal advice