Terms & Conditions

Summary.

I will always do my best to fulfil your needs and meet your goals, but sometimes it is best to have a few simple things written down so that we both know what is what, who should do what and what happens if things go wrong. In this text you won’t find complicated legal terms or large passages of unreadable text. I have no desire to trick you into agreeing to something that you might later regret. I do want what’s best for the safety of both parties, now and in the future. So, in short.
You are hiring me to provide services in New Media Design, Conscious Development, Ethical Marketing or Research areas, we will call that “The Scope” for the total price outlined in my formal proposal, we will call that “The Estimate”.  These documents will be delivered to you privately and electronically.
Of course it’s a little more complicated, but we’ll get to that.

The contract

You have the authority to enter into this contract on behalf of yourself, your company or your organisation. You are over 18 years old and in a geographical location where it is legal for you to do so.
You’ll provide for me the assets and information I tell you is needed to complete the project. You’ll do this when I ask and provide it in the formats I ask for. You’ll review my work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner too. Deadlines work two ways, so you’ll also be bound by dates we set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out, if any.
I have the experience and ability to do everything I’ve agreed with you and I’ll do it all in a professional and timely manner. I’ll endeavour to meet every deadline that we set and in addition I’ll maintain the confidentiality of everything you share with me.

The work

You’ll have plenty of opportunities to review my work and provide feedback. I’ll either share a Dropbox folder or GitHub repository with you and be in regular contact. If, at any stage, you’re not happy with the direction our work is taking, you’ll inform me and pay me in full for your project until that point and cancel this contract.
Should you require me to produce or source any of the necessary elements required to begin your project that fall out of “The Scope”, I will be happy to provide an estimate for that work.

Support.

When you work with me, no matter the scope of your project, I will be available to offer support, for the duration of our contract and 30 days after it ends. I make myself available to answer your questions, go over any additional onboarding that remains, address unexpected issues that may arise. During this period, you shouldn’t hesitate to reach out to me through one of my available communication channels.
I will provide you information and answers to any questions that you have in relation to your project or our work together and I endeavour to do this to the best of my ability. I do not guarantee that I will be able to answer every question, and I may need time to understand your issue to diagnose problems effectively.
You are able to reach me via email or text me through one of my designated text channels at any given time, and I will get back to you within one business day of receiving your message.
You are also able to book a call with me during my available hours Monday to Friday by using my online booking system. My availability for calls is limited and it might take longer for you to get through to me in this way. If you have an emergency, I recommend you reach out in writing first.
Ongoing guidance, advice and other support is given on an ad-hoc basis, as and when required to improve your project. I do not guarantee a fixed amount of guidance to be given. Advice given comes with no guarantees and I do not accept liability for incorrect or misinformed information.

Changes.

I don’t want to limit your ability to change your mind. The price at the beginning of our work “The Estimate” is based on the amount of work I estimate I’ll need to accomplish everything you’ve told me you want to achieve, but I’m happy to be flexible. If you want to change your mind or add anything new, that won’t be a problem as I’ll provide a separate estimate for those additional items.

Assurances.

I’ll carry out my work in accordance with good industry practice and at the standard expected from a suitably qualified person with relevant experience.

That said, I can’t guarantee that my work will be error-free and so I can’t be liable to you or any third-party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages, even if you’ve advised me of them.

Your liability to me will also be limited to the amount of fees payable under this contract and you won’t be liable to me or any third-party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages, even if I’ve advised you of them.

Finally, if any provision of this contract shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this contract and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

Intellectual Property.

Just to be clear, “Intellectual property rights” means all patents, rights to inventions, copyright (including rights in software) and related rights, trademarks, service marks, get up and trade names, internet domain names, rights to goodwill or to sue for passing off, rights in designs, database rights, rights in confidential information (including know-how) and any other intellectual property rights, in each case whether registered or unregistered and including all applications (or rights to apply) for, and renewals or extensions of, such rights and all similar or equivalent rights or forms of protection which subsist or shall subsist now or in the future in any part of the world.

First, you guarantee that all elements of text, images or other artwork you provide are either owned by your good selves, or that you’ve permission to use them. When you provide text, images or other artwork to me, you agree to protect me from any claim by a third party that I’m using their intellectual property.

I guarantee that all elements of the work I deliver to you are either owned by me or I’ve obtained permission to provide them to you. When I provide text, images or other artwork to you, I agree to protect you from any claim by a third party that you’re using their intellectual property. Provided you’ve paid for the work and that this contract hasn’t been terminated, I’ll assign all intellectual property rights to you as follows:

You’ll own the final product plus the visual elements that we create for it. I’ll give you source files and finished files and you should keep them somewhere safe as I’m not required to keep a copy. You own all intellectual property rights of text, images, site specification and data you provided, unless someone else owns them.

I’ll own any intellectual property rights we’ve developed prior to, or developed separately from this project and not paid for by you. I’ll own the unique combination of these elements that constitutes a complete design and I’ll license its use to you, exclusively and in perpetuity for this project only, unless we agree otherwise.

I will retain intellectual property rights over any proofs, sketches, concepts and other imagery presented as part of the pitching and design process that are not part of the final delivery. These are not for publication or reproduction in any channel and must be treated with confidentiality.

Displaying my work

I love to show off my work, so I reserve the right to display all aspects of my creative work, including sketches, work-in-progress designs and the completed project on my portfolio and in articles on websites, in magazine articles and in books.

Investment

Payments

I’m sure you understand how important it is that you pay the invoices that I send you promptly. As I’m also sure you’ll want to stay friends, you agree to stick tight to the following payment schedule. I will issue you with an initial quote showing an estimate of the total cost of your project. To proceed you will need to pay a 50% deposit, payment of this deposit signifies your agreement to my Terms & Conditions.  I will provide a clear itemised invoice of the work done and time spent on your project. I issue estimates and invoices electronically.

Our payment terms are 14 days from the date of invoice by SEPA, SWISH or other international payments system or Stripe Online Payments. All estimates are quoted in Euros and payments will be made at the equivalent conversion rate at the date the transfer is made.  You agree to pay all charges associated with international transfers of funds. The appropriate bank account details will be printed on my electronic invoice.   You agree to pay all charges associated with international transfers of funds, if applicable. The appropriate bank account or approved payment method details will be printed on my electronic invoice.I reserve the right to charge interest on all overdue debts at the rate of 8% per month or part of a month.

Refunds

If you are unhappy with the quality or timeliness of our Services, contact me at support@mariaak.com with the details of your dissatisfaction. I will evaluate each situation on a case-by-case basis and, in my sole discretion, determine the appropriate resolution, which may or may not include a refund.

Confidentiality.

In short; neither of us will share any confidential information about each-other, by any means, with anyone else.

What is confidential information?

It’s anything we write or say to each-other in a phone call, chat window, email or by any other method including smoke signals and telepathy. It might relate to a project, be about our businesses or something technical like a password. Nothing’s excluded. If we share it, it’s covered.

We’ll both keep shared information to ourselves and we won’t use it except for the reason it was shared. We’ll take every step to make sure it stays confidential too. We’ll keep confidential information safe and secure. This includes keeping files, access to online systems and any user names and passwords in such a way that they can’t fall into the wrong hands.

If we think that there’s even a possibility that any confidential information might have been compromised, we agree to tell each-other right away so we can take all necessary steps to protect ourselves. We also agree to help each-other to resolve any problems that might arise if confidential information is compromised.
When this agreement ends, we’ll return any materials, physical or digital and delete any copies that we may have. We won’t forget to empty the trash can too.

So what can we say?

Confidentiality doesn’t apply to any information that’s already in the public domain or might become public by any other means. Although we hope that it will never happen, it also does not cover a situation where the police coming knocking at our doors and we’re required by law to disclose it.

This document.

Neither of us can transfer this contract to anyone else without the other’s permission.
We both agree that we’ll adhere to all relevant laws and regulations in relation to our activities under this contract and not cause the other to breach any relevant laws or regulations.
This contract stays in place and need not be renewed. If for some reason one part of this contract becomes invalid or unenforceable, the remaining parts of it remain in place.
Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and this contract is a legal document under the exclusive jurisdiction of Swedish courts.