About DS Design & Terms and Conditions

Last updated 6th January 2010

Click here to download a copy of our terms and conditions as a word document

What we do

D.S. Design are a graphic design/web design company, based in Stotfold, Hitchin Hertfordshire.
We have various services at our disposal, illustrators, printers, copywriters we can even provide web domains, hosting and web developers all at a very affordable price. If we at D.S. Design don't know how to do it, we know someone who does. At D.S. Design, we have experience of pre-press, and the requirements that a printer needs to successfully send your projects to print.

I.T. Related Issues

D.S. Design no longer deal with I.T. related issues directly such as problems with email in outlook express for example. If you do have issues such as these please email us we can then direct you elsewhere, to a reliable company who can help with such issues.

Meetings

Please note, some places may incur a call out fee, due to travel expenses, prices vary depending on distances involved. We are based in Hertfordshire. Due to the Internet, and its capabilities, graphic/web design is not limited to this one area. We are able to conduct business, not just locally, but nationally, and even in some cases, internationally. We will consider traveling to surrounding areas and to London.
We can send you PDF files, or any other format you require for proofs, and/or initial ideas, can all be sent to you by E-mail.Web pages and web site design, can be uploaded to using our own webspace, as a test, and for your approval then uploaded to your own site when you are satisfied with the final design. Please note your website will not be loaded to your site until full payment is received.

New Customers

Any new customers will need to pay at least 10% of their estimate costs before start of any work. They will also be required to sign and return a copy of our standard T&C's. These can be downloaded from here.

Small Business Start up Package

This package is aimed at companies just starting up and that don't have the budget for a large bespoke website. Just tell us your budget and your ideas, and we can put together a package to suit you. Starting at just £200 for 1-3 pages. For more details or to arrange a meeting please email us. We can also help with all your stationery and marketing literature, and work with you and your available budget.

 

How can D.S. Design help my company to stand out?

Printed literature for your company, can be your biggest marketing asset. D.S. Design, has experience producing:-

* brochures
* leaflets
* stationery (business cards and letterheads)
* logos
* posters
* banners and exhibition stands
* gift wrap
* greetings cards
* packaging

The quality of your printed literature, and the time and effort involved in producing them, reflects on how you run your business. With our expertise at D.S. Design, and our eye for what 'looks good' we can put your business on the right track, and help you to stand out from the competition. Or if you are a design consultancy, we can give you the extra help you need to meet tight deadlines.

Why do I need a web page?

If you have a presence on the web, then everyone can see what your business has to offer. You could be missing out on customers if you don't already have a website.
Here at D.S. Design we can produce your website to match your printed literature, or vice versa.
Having a well designed website, can make all the difference and definitely without a doubt reflects the quality of what your business has to offer. Even if you already have a website, we could re design it if you are not happy with your current site. We can also help to make your website accessible to everybody.
We could for instance make it easier to navigate, or give your site a complete revamp!
If you are not sure about what you want, we could produce a 'no-obligation' website for your approval, and show you the difference we can make.
If you don't already have a website or domain name, we can help with that too!
Starting at just £55 per year, you could have your own web space, and domain name included- extra domains start at £15 yearly or 2 yearly renewals, PLUS free e-mail addresses and instructions on how to set up your email clients - we no longer are able to come to you to set up your outlook express or similar email clients.

Search Engine Optimisation

We can also submit your page to popular search engines, and relevant directories, and social networking site. Not only that but we can help with optimising your site to appear as high as possible on search engines. Please contact us for more information about SEO.

Other Information we may need for your web page?

If you already have webspace/domain name, and ISP provider, we will need this information along with passwords, to produce your webpage, this is also important as we will design your web page according to what your hosting package supports.

Pricing, timescale, for graphic/web design

My hourly rate is £35. I usually estimate per job, for graphic design, my estimates are dependent on whether I have all the information I will need to complete the job up front, this will cut the cost of your final bill. Any changes you make will incur costs of £30 per hour. Per webpage, dependent on size and content, also dependent on having all the information upfront, will usually be £55-£150 per page, as above extra changes at £25-£30 per hour.
For flash content or pages, £40 - £60.
For hosting/domain plan prices, please see above. Please bare in mind these prices are not fixed, this is just to give you some idea, each job is given an estimate, every project has a different cost. I will try to also take into account your budget. If I have all theInformation I need I can meet the required deadline.
Timescale for a medium sized website, providing of course you give me the final brief, I have all images and text I need, and all final decisions on what you want have been made, usually about a month.
The same applies for graphic design, for say a brochure, providing I have all the relevant information needed to complete the project on time, usually about a month, and in some cases sooner, if you require.

Pricing also varies if your website requires maintenance or updates we usually charge this at a slightly lower rate, again this varies.

Statements - we will provide a statement if we feel your project is about to go over your original estimate or specified budget due to extra work or excessive changes to the design.

Initial Consultation charges - DS Design don't usually charge for the initial meeting. However, if we spend time discussing your requirements and putting together various estimates, you decide to go elsewhere with your project we will be obliged to charge a small call out fee depending on the distance we travelled, and how long the first meeting or subsequent meetings took.

Payments can be made by cash or cheque, or online by using paypal, please email us for our paypal details.

Late Payment

Terms of payment initially are depending on the terms set out in your contract. Terms of payment after receiving your invoice are between 10 and 30 days as stated on your invoice and depending on the project. After this initial period following if your invoice goes over the number of days stated reminders will be sent out, if there is no response a final reminder will be issued- there will be a final 10 days waiting period, if we have still not heard from and you have failed to clear your account, we will add interest on your final bill, we have the right to do this under statutory provisions. If you require more details or have any questions regarding the above please email us. Unless payment is received we will have no alternative but to pursue recovery of the outstanding sum together with interest and court fees. This will serve only to increase that amount that you will, ultimately be required to pay.

Graphic design/web design, what is the next step?

You can contact us by our feedback/enquiry form, or directly by phone or e-mail. A design consultant will then contact you directly, and arrange an appointment to discuss things further, and take down your requirements. We will then produce an initial proof for your approval. For a website we can either come to your place of work, or we can upload the website to a hidden url for you to look at, which can save time. Or if its a print job, we can send you proofs by e-mail as a pdf file, for your approval, or any changes you may need. Or print off a proof for you, and come to see you in person if you like.

Logos and copyright protection

Special rules apply for logos, to avoid breech of copyright we issue them with a watermark, for proofs, and initial ideas. This is to insure that we are paid, and ideas are not stolen. Once final payment is received we will issue the logo, editable and watermark free.

Briefly copyright legislation (1988 CDPA) states that the individual or collective that authored (DS Design) the work will normally be the exclusive owner of the work.
However, if a work is produced as part of employment then it will normally belong to the person/company who hired the individual.

Once full payment is received DS Design hands over (sell) the copyright of the creation to the client. So that copyright is transferred when full payment is received.

 

Copyright for images

I am able to supply stock photography, starting at £10 per image- which includes image research time.

All stock photos obtained on your behalf will automatically have a standard licence associated with it. This is supplied through a third party. In certain cases you may require an Extended License - For more information please contact DS Design.

Please do not supply DS Design with images taken straight from the internet - from Google images for example. You could end being liable for huge costs if you are found to be using them without a valid licence.