I have to laugh. I've ranted about it before but we still get the occasional person asking for our original files.
I suppose that I could excuse clients who haven't dealt with a design company before - if I was in a good mood. If they haven't, then they've probably never even thought about it.
But sometimes, it's other DESIGN companies who ask! In some cases, we know that they are just trying it on, and they don't really expect us to pass on native files. But to them, it's worth a quick email to ask for them; if they did by any chance ask an amateur designer they might even get the files. And this would save them a hell of a lot of work.
Sometimes the person who asks IS an amateur designer and really doesn't know the difference.
So let's get this straight, professional design companies DO NOT pass on their original files. Ah, having said that, they might sell them, but that's a different matter. You'll find that the going rate for original files is normally two times the cost of the original project. So if your design company has charged you $10,000 for a brochure design, they will charge in the region of $20,000 for the original files.
And remember that these original files won't include stock images or fonts. When we buy fonts and images, we have to abide by the terms of use set by the vendor and 99 times out of a hundred, no, more than that, the terms of use make it clear that we cannot pass on the font or image to a third party.
Imagine that you employ a carpenter to build cabinets in your house. Does this give you the right to take all the tools he used too?
When you buy just about anything, including a design or a website, you are buying the finished product. When I buy a bottle of coke and a cake, does that give me the right to the recipe too? It does not.
"But" the client says "I have paid for it". No you have not. You have paid for the finished product.
I must have bought tens of thousands, more, of bottles of Coca Cola in my life. Does that give me the right to demand the recipe? No.
If your new designer is asking for the original files, ask yourself, is this person really a designer? If so, why do they want another designer's files? I would never ask for another designer's files. Why would I? I know that it's unethical, unprofessional and just 'not done' obviously, but even if that wasn't the case, why on earth would I want another person's files, for goodness sake? WHY? Because I can't design?
When I create, let's say, a brochure, there are many, many years of experience go into that. Not only am I using my experience, I'm also using what could be called tricks of the trade that I have either developed myself or painstaking learned over the years. In the program I use, I also have scripts that I have written, scripts and add-ons and plug-ins that I have paid very good money for. I have any number of pre-sets and imported palettes, paragraph styles, object styles, character styles that have taken years to develop. I wouldn't 'give' that to anyone. I probably wouldn't even sell it. Or at least, if I did, it would be for an amount that would buy me a waterfront house, a large yacht and a pair of matching Porches. And only then if there was enough left over in the bank to keep me for the rest of my life. Yes, that is how strongly I feel about it.
Those files are more than just the tools of my trade. They include financial investment, investments in time and an enormous amount of experience. They are also an asset of my company. I should give away my company assets? Come on...
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