Designers, do you give .psds ?
 

So, I just bought this site and am talking to the designer/developer that did the site for the guy that I bought it from.

I need a little help setting up the custom CMS... and I ask him if he has the .psds because I want to make a graphical change.

He says "I own the psds"

When I buy design, I require the .psds

What is the standard on this? Thanks.

I always give the PSDs if they ask for them.

Generally I provide PSD's to the client on request.

I rather not deal with updates after I set a design in motion and milk the client for penny's in the process.

buy the psds :( i don;t usually send psds to clients.. esp a whole site design.. depends on what you both have agreed with.. or maybe you can hire him again to make some changes. additional cost :(

we give the psds if the client asks for them every time

One reason for paperwork.

Now many seem to forget a designer litterally owns the design and copyright to what you paid them to make unless they sign over such rights to you.
Technically they can charge you for each alteration, if you decide to use the logo elsewhere or whatever. Hell they could have you stop using it all together I suppose.

Yes when we do designs for people we give them the psd when asked and also sign over full copyrights.

I give out psd's.. I don't give out fonts etc I've used in it though.
I also usually don't even save gallery psd's, so if a client asks for them (later) I can't provide them.

Good comments, exactly what I thought. I think it is ridiculous to have to pay a designer to do simple updates on a design that is already paid for.

Bingo.

Any designer that does not provide details about the produced design with a detailed agreement one should definatly be afraid of and avoid.

I usually give the customers the .psds or .ai files if they ask. If not, I just archive them. I'm not sure what the standard is but that is pretty much how most designers I know operate.

ofcuz u get psds u paid for em

He shouldn't have to do any updates at all without being compensated, unless that was part of the original agreement.

This is something you should have in writing prior to the start of the project.

"Project includes X # of revisions (not updates) with additional costing X $ per revision".

If you want psd files, free updates, complete rights and all that...you should be be prepared and more than willing to spend more than $499 on a tour design.

The guy paid way way more than that for it. Thanks for the comments.

I make it clear that I require .psd files on all the designs I purchase...

I provide the psd to all clients if they ask for them. And I only give the fonts if they ask. It takes some to find a good font.

i always give the PSD's...you bought them, they are yours IMHO

I always do

you should before agreeing to a job or hiring a design firm discuss revisions, how many are acceptable and the cost thereafter , thats a must, among other things.

fuck this guy though. the psd's are yours. its a work for hire. your not licensing the work. he of course keeps a copy.

you think designers who create a logos or do artwork for major coprorations own those logos or art work and dont give them the psd's??

fuck no. :1orglaugh

"ofcuz u get psds u paid for em"

"i always give the PSD's...you bought them, they are yours IMHO"

No, and no. You guys are talking out your ass. As others here have pointed out, unless there was an agreement in place to have the original working files signed over with rights, all that was purchased was gifs, jpgs, and some html.

TGF also makes a good point in that you shouldn't get the fonts when you get the PSDs. The designer has no right to redistribute them if he has legal copies. While that doesn't stop a lot of people, including myself sometimes, if you don't want to break copyright laws then the buyer should be purchasing his own font files from the foundry.

If you would like to know more about the legal ins and outs of the design industry, pick up a copy of the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook, Pricing and Ethical Guidelines (http://www.gag.org/). It will show you that you that the artist has all the rights unless you get them specifically signed over in contractual form.

Thanks, good info.

jonsey makes a good point though, that in these little jobs, you don't expect the designer to be a dick and withold the originals. He's also probably shot himself in the foot because you aren't likely to ever use him again for more work, nor recommend him to your friends. As for major corporate identity jobs, there's some major corporate legal in place from the start to say who owns what.

If the major corporations did not get a release signed over giving them full ownership of the copyrights to the logos or art work, you damn well bet the designers still own them.
This typically happens in an outsourced situation, and is ussually pre-covered in a in house situation where a company would own anything and everything created with company resources on company time.
This is all sort of copyright law 101 info.

Reminds me of the programmer that wanted to write an application for me, but didn't want to give me the source code. You bought the design, in my book you own the psd's so that you can do changes and not have to involve him.

we always give psds :)

As a designer, I expect to give out the PSDs... Some people dont even want them, but I give them anyways... What do I care? They're going to have the final product anyways, and I got paid.

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Technically, in Canada at least, unless specifically stated, full rights to the work stays with the designer as a matter of copyright law... In reality though, when a designer is asked to do work, the designer usually doesnt care what the client does with any of the work.

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and for a shameless plug, reversethinking always gives out PSD's to our *cough* highqualitylowcostfastturnaround work =) now was that a shameless plug or what, eh?

I should just add...

Getting the PSDs or source code for any work you have done, should be a major condition of the contract -- Always ask about before starting any work!

some desinger own logos of big corporation, or get a certain amount of monny each time the logo was spread. That is a good way to buy logo from designer u cant pay. however its hit u hard on long road when you start spread that logo and ur companie grow

i curently have this kind of deal with 2 clients and both end up to pay off, at start they cant afflow what i ask for a design so we procede that way ( am not the only one who ever do it this way tho. I hear that story about nike, the gurl was asked to such kind of deal and she turn herslef too the strait money option. Price 45 usd. she must bite her hand till chop them off by now)

Personaly i usualy dont give psd, except if it was in the agrement, i will rather do the change for free, its like poke ur wife for having a baby and ask your friend to give some hit after, I guess evry designer not realy enjoy someone else touch their design

but still i dont think refuse to give psd at all is a good way to please ur clients, so i mostely try to be flexible on it.

psd's and rights should be negotiated at the time of agreement/payment

I would never hire a designer that didn't provide source files, same as a programmer in my eyes. :2 cents:

i have alwayws received the psd's from designers, never had a problem with that.

If customer asks for it, I have no problem in giving it to him.

i guarantee not one major corp lets that shit slip - branding is an integral part of a products success.

fat bat dropped a good reference Graphic Artists Guild Handbook, Pricing and Ethical Guidelines http://www.gag.org which every designer should own or at least check out.

like alienQ and fat bat said a reputable design firm wont withhold shit from you.

I know damn well most if not all major corps get that shit covered. They actually do have paperwork and do not just do deals with a virtual handshake.
At the same time though since design often incorperates other aspects in adult. A designer could very well come up with a tagline or catch phrase. Now I mention this because very often major corps do have to pay royalties on such things.

All in all get shit in writting and before you do the deal. Just to cover everyones ass's.

we give the psd's if they requested it.. :)

I don?t know about that gag.org .. Law would state otherwise.. If you purchase work from anyone then you own the all rights to that work unless otherwise stated. He can?t make up his own terms. And a legal agreement for work & purchase of the work can be made through a legal contract, ICQ, Email, etc. You do not need a set term or a signature if both agree.

I give the psd.. then the customer can decide in the future if he wants to do some changes by himself or pay us to do it

I've given out the psd's when asked..

I can see not giving them up for a cheap template design tho

i always give the PSD's if the client ask