Thank you for considering Zzyzx Works as your Design and Consultation
firm. We look forward to serving you and your organization to further your
personal, as well as business, goals.
This information has been prepared to help you understand the standard practices
and policies of our firm. We realize that this may be a lot to read, but it is
recommended that you do read and understand it prior to beginning any project.
It is essentially a contract between yourself and Zzyzx Works.
If you have questions about anything outlined here, please contact us for
clarification. We encourage potential clients to print this section out for
their reference.
Please Note: Proceeding with, or deposit for a project will be construed as
acknowledgment and approval of these policies and standards.
Zzyzx Works adheres to the Graphic Artists Guilds' "Code of Fair Practice
for the Graphic Communication Industry". As a prospective client, please
familiarize yourself with these codes of ethics and fair practice.
As your Design and Consultation firm, we are part
of your business team. For us to serve you most effectively, you must share with
us the problems you face. The opportunities you wish to capitalize on. Your
hopes and plans for your organization’s future.
Proprietary information will go no further, but you need to share it with us so
that the recommendations we make and the activities we undertake fit your
overall goals and business plan.
We expect you to trust us and work with us. Unless you trust that we are working
in your best interests, our relationship, and therefore our work, may remain
superficial and ineffective.
Our relationship will require time to mature. Please be patient with the
inevitable rough spots until we know each other well. We look forward to
developing a working partnership that will be not only mutually rewarding, but
also pleasurable.
Frequently communication, including telephone
conversations and face-to-face meetings, are necessary to ensure that we are
fully informed and are meeting your short-range and long-range needs.
Just as you expect us to be immediately available to you, we also expect to be
able to reach you quickly.
As in many areas of business, deadlines are a way of life. This is definitely so
in design and consultation. Your accessibility and the accessibility of your key
company personnel are vital for us to gather information, check facts, obtain
approvals, contract with vendors and subcontractors and more — all necessary
steps to making sure that your projects are completed on time and on budget.
Like everyone else, we would prefer as much
lead-time as possible on projects. The earlier you involve us in your thinking
and planning, the more effective we can be.
We will help you shape your plans to achieve your goals, and may use the early
information to generate additional ideas for your consideration.
Please be aware that creative work takes time. While we, most likely, can meet
your short deadlines and are happy to try when it is required, there may be
unavoidable rush charges and, sometimes, undesirable results as a consequence.
Longer lead times ensure the best product we can offer.
The development of project plans and budgets is a
cooperative effort between our two organizations.
While we may have provided an initial proposal at no charge so you could
evaluate our services, additional program outlines, plans, budgets,
specifications, timetables and ideas you request are chargeable services for
which you will be billed at our standard hourly rates for that service plus
expenses and rush charges.
Investigating suppliers, preparing reports and
correspondence, attending meetings, discussing your program on the telephone,
preparing progress prints, email/fax and approval of progress prints, traveling
to your offices or elsewhere on your behalf, developing new ideas, solving
problems — is also charged at our standard hourly rates for that service plus
expenses.
You are charged for the time it takes to implement your programs. The smoother
the reporting relationship, the fewer the program revisions and false starts,
the easier it is to obtain information and approvals, the lower your total costs
will be.
At various stages in the development of your
project, we will show you concepts, mock-ups, models, samples, drawings and
more. Their accuracy is critical, as is your approval.
You will be asked to indicate changes, if any; to initial your approval; and to
return the material to us, usually within 24 to 48 hours. If time is short, you
may be asked to render approval over the telephone and to return your written
approval as soon as possible, as confirmation for our files.
In the case of engineering drawings, drafting and renderings, etc., we will show
you the items at various stages and ask you for your approval. For example, you
may be shown layouts, which show the position of structures, sets, lights,
special effects, machinery and others. You may waive approval at any of the
various stages in the project, keeping in mind that in so doing you are still
accepting responsibility for the final product.
The time to make changes with the least cost and delay is at the earliest
possible point in the production process. Ideally, final drawings should only be
used to verify technical details.
Changes or delays at any stage of production will delay the completion of the
project. A change of scope or modification of steps already approved and
completed will require those steps to be repeated. Even a minor change can delay
a project for weeks or even months, depending upon its severity, and will result
in extra charges, not to mention missed deadlines.
Similarly, when you take extra time to complete any of the approval steps, we
lose that time in the production schedule since we cannot proceed without your
approval. Prompt and decisive approvals mean that your work can proceed on
schedule and be completed on time.
This policy has been established to help you, the client, get the
end-result you are looking for.
IMPORTANT! If for any reason this review and approval
process can not be followed (to rush a project to meet a critical deadline, for
example), the client or representative will take full responsibility for errors
and/or omissions that may result. Zzyzx Works will not be responsible or liable
for damages or costs that arise from being asked to take shortcuts that deviate
from our established policy of review and approval.
Zzyzx Works will not be responsible or liable for the poor planning, bad
judgment, miscommunication, malfunctioning of equipment, ineptitude, errors
and/or omissions of others.
Zzyzx Works is a design and consultation
firm. As such, our major products are our time and talent and are NOT
"work-for-hire" or other such term. It is our experience and talent that you
have contracted for in your relationship with us.
Like your attorney or accountant, we charge you by the hour for the time it
takes to serve your needs. As you assign or approve projects for us to develop
and implement for you, we will open a project file for each one. Our time and
expenses will be accounted for by project.
A "Cancellation-Kill Fee" is a fee paid by the
client to the artist or contractor when the client does not use the work. "Kill
fee" is a general term that covers two types of payments: a cancellation fee,
and a rejection fee.
A cancellation fee will be paid when the work
satisfies the client's stated requirements, but the client decides, for reasons
outside our control, not to use it.
For example:
- the work was intended to accompany an article
that has been killed;
- unforeseen space limitations don't leave enough room for the work.
A rejection fee should be paid when the work does
not satisfy the client's stated requirements. When this happens, the causes are,
in theory at least, within our control.
For example:
- the artwork unexpectedly deviates from the artist's traditional style;
- the final work is not consistent with the preliminary sketches or roughs that
were accepted by the client.
The rates outlined above, or others with specific conditions, are subject
to change (prior to contract or job acceptance)
Rates, which are intrinsically linked to outside products, services, or
mediums, are subject to change
Estimates can be assumed valid for up to 30 days from date of estimate
There is a minimum or nominal charge (see rate schedule) of one hour
A Rush/Overtime Charge will be incurred
on projects that require time to be devoted to it which exceed our normal
business hours or which encroach upon another project, whether it previously
or recently acquired. Generally, a rush charge may be 10%-20% of the overall
charges. On extended projects, any work over eight hours in a 24-hr period or
more than forty hours in a work week, will receive a standard time and
one-half charge of the billing for that work (Please refer to California AB60,
"Eight Hour-Day Restoration and Work Place Flexibility Act of 1999"). Work
falling on a U.S. standard national, or religious holiday or exceeding fifty
hours per work week will be charged double the billing rate for that work.
All time is charged in ˝-hour increments (after the nominal charge)
Quarter-hour increments or fractions are rounded down to the nearest
half-hour
ALL orders require a 50%
non-refundable deposit;
Balance on delivery
Estimates:
All estimates are just that, Estimates. They are not "Not to
Exceed" or in any way final. Final costs may be lower or higher based on the
actual time, scope, and requirements of the project.
Returned Checks:
$35 service charge on all returned checks.
Open Accounts:
Net 24 hours - Unless otherwise mutually agreed upon in
writing.
Past Due Accounts:
5% finance charge is effective 15 days after date of
invoice. Accounts over 60 days subject to collection action.
All finance charges and costs incurred to process collection, including
court costs, will be added to the balance due.
Zzyzx Works standard business hours are,
Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST. We are closed for all
major holidays and weekends. NOTE: Schedules that deviate into these
"down-time" periods will be subject to additional charges. See note
regarding Rush/Overtime Charges.
Time used in general consulting, planning and
account administration that cannot be allocated to a project will be charged
as general consulting or administrative time. You will be provided with a
detail on your invoice of how this time was spent.
Out-of pocket expenses incurred on your behalf
are charged to you on your invoice. These include subcontractor services,
postage, telephone charges, photocopies, printing, film, travel expenses,
messengers, freight, delivery and unusual supplies. These charges vary
according to the activities performed.
Standard industry practice: The artist owns
their original artwork even if rights of reproduction are transferred.
Artist, can, on the other hand, sell the original and still keep rights of
reproduction. The copyright law clearly states that the copyright is
separate and distinct from the material work in which it is embodied. See
"Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, 10th Edition". If the artwork is a
compilation of other works not originating with the artist, the artist only
owns the resulting work.
Unless otherwise stipulated in writing,
Zzyzx Works reserves the right to use any resulting work created by
Zzyzx Works for the
purpose of advertising or promotion
The purchaser of rights to art for inclusion in
the collective work holds ONLY the copyright in the collective work, not in
the underlying contribution (the art) itself. Since altered artwork is in
fact a derivative work of the original, if the artist does not grant the
right to prepare a derivative work, the client has no right to alter the
image. See "Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, 10th Edition".
Alterations to artwork should not be made without consulting the original
illustrator, and the Illustrator should be allowed the first option to
make alterations when possible. After acceptance of artwork, if alterations
are required, a payment is charged over the original amount. Another
possibility is to define "alterations" as "cropping and sizing only."
Zzyzx Works is not responsible or liable for obtaining permissions or
establishing usability of materials, mediums, or elements submitted to us by
the client. It is the clients' responsibility to secure rights on written
copy, photographs and images, artwork, sounds and music, animation,
formulae, video or other materials submitted to Zzyzx Works by the
client or their representative(s).
It is expressly understood and agreed that,
except for the licenses granted the Client under this Agreement, as between
Originator (Zzyzx Works) and Client, all right, title, and interest
in and to all original works by Originator vests solely and exclusively with
Originator.
Please note that
Zzyzx
Works is not responsible for obtaining copyright permissions for any
textual or graphic content submitted to us for use in your project. It is
your responsibility to have all rights secured before submitting the content
to us for inclusion.
We may subcontract design, rendering,
sculpting, research, engineering, CAD drafting and design, coordination,
administration and other services. Our subcontractors have a history of both
high quality and fast, reliable service, and we are happy to stand behind
their work.
On extended projects, an invoice issued weekly
(or other mutually agreed upon scheduled invoice period) will provide you
with an accounting by project of the time used in serving you. Expenses are
itemized, as well. All invoices, which are due and payable upon receipt
(unless otherwise specified on the invoice or other mutually agreed upon
schedule), includes information about the project(s) we worked on as well as
the fees and expenses allocated to each. If a more detailed invoice is
required, the time required to generate it to your specifications will be
charged to you at our nominal hourly rate.
On
occasion, small jobs evolve into larger and more encompassing ones. We will
try to adjust our schedules and priorities to meet yours. However, a
significant change in the scope of your project should be discussed with us
so that we can best determine our ability to shift these factors and
accommodate your changing schedule and scope. (Please review "Approvals,
Changes and Delays" )
This will very likely affect our invoicing schedule to you as well. On
extended projects, you will be invoiced bi-weekly.
Because ours is a professional relationship, we expect that you pay your
bills to us on time. If you do not, we reserve the right to halt work on
your projects and vigorously pursue payment until your account is cleared.
This also means that the commencement of any new work will be delayed while
there are any outstanding balances due from previous invoices or projects.
Payment of a deposit and/or commencement
with a project will be considered acknowledgment and acceptance of these
Policies and Standards
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Money Matters
Operating Hours
On
occasion, small jobs evolve into larger and more encompassing ones. We will
try to adjust our schedules and priorities to meet yours. However, a
significant change in the scope of your project should be discussed with us
so that we can best determine our ability to shift these factors and
accommodate your changing schedule and scope. (Please review "Approvals,
Changes and Delays" )
