DEED FOR DESIGNERS

OWNED, NOT ORPHANED.

Client work with clear IP terms, portfolios that survive the handover, and logos with a record behind them.

THE SITUATION

A designer ships a logo, an identity or a whole system, and then hopes the invoice, the deliverables and the rights all match. Most of the time the deliverables leave, the rights get argued about later, and the portfolio use gets forgotten entirely.

The client thinks they own everything. The designer thinks they can show it. Both are half right, and the version they signed is a PDF someone edited in an email.

THE RISKS

WHAT BREAKS.

01
PAY ON DELIVERY, RIGHTS ON PAYMENT
IP transferred before the client has actually paid, so the leverage is gone the moment they go quiet.
02
NO PORTFOLIO CARVE OUT
The best work of the year, invisible in your case studies because the contract said so.
03
SOURCE FILE GIVEAWAY
Layered files handed over with no restriction, and used to make derivative work you never saw.
04
LOGO WITHOUT A RECORD
A brand identity with no timestamped proof of authorship if someone else claims it.
05
AI STYLE COPYING
Client uses your delivered assets to train models on your visual language.
HOW DEED HELPS

FOUR STEPS.

01DROP

Upload the brief, the SOW and the final deliverables.

02EXAMINE

Deed rewrites clauses that transfer too much and adds a portfolio carve out, kill fee and payment gate.

03EXECUTE

Contract signed both ways, deliverables released against payment, logo minted with a public record.

04DEFEND

Monitoring for lookalikes and unlicensed derivatives, and demand letters ready when needed.

QUESTIONS
+Should IP transfer on signature or on payment?
On payment. Deed writes the assignment as conditional by default, so the rights arrive when the money does.
+How do I prove I made a logo first?
Mint the identity as a public Deed. The record is timestamped, numbered and verifiable by anyone who clicks the D.
+Can I show client work in my portfolio?
Yes. Deed keeps a portfolio carve out in every contract unless you and the client explicitly remove it.

START A DEED.