hank you for considering Air’n Art Designs as your Design and Consultation firm. We look forward to serving you and your organization to further your 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 Air'n Art Designs.

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.

Air'n Art Designs 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.

Mission Statement

o unto others as you would have others do unto you."
As simple as it seems, this is the basis to conduct any relationship. If we can help your organization to succeed then we have succeeded.
Value-priced services and a wealth of experience, balanced with compassionate interpersonal virtues and ethical business practices is the fundamental core of Air’n Art Designs, Inc.
Our clients and the practical implementation of a functional design are key to the success of Air’n Art Designs and is our initiative.
Just as air is vital to life, art and form are tangible and essential elements of any functional design.
We look forward to applying these tools, and our experience with them, to serving you!

Owner / Designer

Working Together

eamwork
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 both mutually rewarding and pleasurable.

Communications

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.

Lead-Time

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.

Planning and Project Management

The development of project plans and budgets is a cooperative effort between our two organizations.

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 if any.

Managing your projects

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.

Approvals, Changes and Delays

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. Air'n Art Designs 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.

Air'n Art Designs will not be responsible or liable for the poor planning, bad judgment, miscommunication, malfunctioning of equipment, ineptitude, errors and/or omissions of others.

Money Matters

hat You Are Charged For
Air’n Art Designs 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 (See U.S. Copyright Law). 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.

Air'n Art Designs is not an engineering firm. If your project requires engineering or other certification, we can sub-contract those services for you. It is most practical, however, if you contract those services yourself. It is your responsibility, and in your best interest, to have the designs we create from your direction verified and/or certified, trademarked, copyrighted, and patented. It is also your responsibility to have any content provided to us verified as to legal right and correct copyright and patent use. This includes, but is not limited to all content, pictures, video, audio, mechanical devices, mechanisms, systems of any kind, trademarks, and inventions. We assume no responsibility for your failure to do so.

Cancellation or "Kill" fees

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

Cancellation 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.

Rejection Fee

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.

Rate Schedule:

Current as of: 1/1/2010

Description of Service	Cost / Unit
General
Minimum Labor Charge/Travel Time (>15 mi radius)	$50.00 / hour minimum

Prototypical Mechanical Systems Services
Consultation*	$50.00 / hour minimum
Concept Development*	$50.00 / hour minimum
Mechanical Design*	$50.00 / hour minimum
Technical Writing*	$50.00 / hour minimum
3D CAD Modeling/Rendering*	$50.00 / hour minimum
2D CAD Drafting*	$50.00 / hour minimum

Computer
Consultation*	$50-$100 / hour
Computer System Repair/Installation*	$50-$100 / hour
Training*	$60-$85 / hour

Graphic Arts/Desktop Publishing/Computer Illustration	$50.00 / hour
Layout & Design, Web Page & Site Design	$50.00 / hour
Word Processing/Typesetting/Typespecing	$50.00 / hour

The following Services are subject to various factors and will be quoted upon request. Prices shown are offered for estimation and reference only.
Scanning
Black & White Scans up to 8-1/2" x 11" (Low Res-300 dpi)	$3.00 / ea
Grayscale & Color Scans up to 8-1/2" x 11" (Low Res-300 dpi)	$8.00 / ea

Photography (Documentary)
Digital Imaging (Processing Time and Printing Not Included)	$3.00 / ea image
Photographic 35mm (Film, Processing, Proofs and Printing Not Included)	$10.00 / ea image
Setup Time and Materials Not Included

Optical Character Recognition
Per 8-1/2"x11" Page (Normal 12pt orig.) w/Spell Check	$10.00 / ea
Per 8-1/2"x11" Page (Complex or small original) w/Spell Check	$15.00 / ea

Other
Photo Retouching, Manipulation, and Special Effects	Quote
Video Transfer (VHS>DIGITAL)	Quote
Video Editing, Video-Photo Montage, Video Collage	Quote
Electronic Virus Management Fee	$45.00 / ea instance
Faxing	$5.00 / ea pg
Email (over 1MB) Send and/or Receive	$2.00 ea 1MB or fraction
Comps, Adobe Acrobat Formats	$5.00 / ea 1MB or fraction
CD Storage	$10.00 / ea
Data Archival Storage (Non CD)	$40.00 / ea 10MB
Electronic Medium Conversion	Quote

NOTE:

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 be 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.

We do NOT participate in "Pay-When-Paid" schemes. You are contracting with us to perform a task. When we complete that task we expect to be compensated at that time, not when, or if, you get paid by your client. The Supreme Court has ruled that such practices are illegal. Our vendors expect to get compensated on time and so do we. We are not in business to "fund" your project with our time, talent, and expertise (See Past Due Accounts below).

All time is charged in ½-hour increments (after the nominal charge)
Quarter-hour increments or fractions are rounded down to the nearest half-hour
*Subject to work scope and/or duration. Determined upon Estimate generation and may change if work scope changes or from other influencing variables.

Terms and Conditions

All Orders are C.O.D.:	ALL orders require a 50% deposit; Balance on delivery (Deposits are non-refundable)
Project Billing:	Extended projects (>1 week): 1 week deposit, weekly payment thereafter, less last week.
Estimates:	All estimates are just that, Estimates. They are not "Flat Fee" or "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. Scope changes or inaccurate scope definitions may affect final cost(s).
Flat Fee Projects:	50% deposit, 25% on initial review; 25% on delivery
Deposits:	ALL deposits are non-refundable and may serve as a cancellation fee
Expenses:	All project-related fees, expenses, taxes, printing, and shipping are additional costs and are not included in estimates
Returned Checks:	A minimum $35 service charge will be added on all returned checks
Open Accounts:	Net 24 hours - Unless otherwise mutually agreed upon in writing
Past Due Accounts:	A 15% finance charge, or "Vendor Financing fee", is effective 15 calendar days after date of invoice. Accounts over 60 days are subject to collection action. This fee is applied, and accrued weekly on all outstanding compensation. If there is work in progress during an outstanding balance period, all work will be suspended until your account is brought up to date. All finance charges and costs incurred to process collection, including court costs, will be added to the balance due.

Operating Hours

Air’n Art Design’s 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.

General Consulting

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

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.

Ownership of Artwork

Standard industry practice: The artist owns the 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".

Return of Artwork

Standard industry practice: When client provides original artwork during the project, contractor is responsible for returning the artwork undamaged.

Right to Modify (Alterations)

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."

Air'n Art Designs 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 Air'n Art Designs by the client or their representative(s).

No Assertion Of Rights

It is expressly understood and agreed that, except for the licenses granted the Client under this Agreement, as between Originator (Air'n Art Designs) and Client, all right, title, and interest in and to all original works by Originator vests solely and exclusively with Originator.

Copyrighted Materials

Please note that Air'n Art Designs 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.

Unless otherwise agreed to in writting, all works provided by Air'n Art Designs may be used for self-promotion.

Subcontracts

We may subcontract services (but not limited to) 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.

Invoices

Depending upon the project, an invoice may be issued weekly (or other mutually agreed upon scheduled invoice period) and will provide you with an accounting by project of the time used in serving you (See "Terms and Conditions").

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.

n 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 weekly.

Because ours is a professional relationship, we expect that you make compensation 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 compensations due from previous invoices or projects.

				Last Updated January 22, 2010
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