AIGA Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services

This agreement allows you to create customized terms and conditions for different types of design engagements. Updated in 2020, it is modular to meet the needs of a growing design community involved in various disciplines.

How to use the contract template

The AIGA Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services does not take a one-size-fits-all approach, and it is not an extensive pre-printed document where you simply fill in the blanks. Instead, this agreement acknowledges that most design firms develop their own custom proposal document for each project and are looking for an appropriate set of terms and conditions to attach to it. When put together and signed, the custom proposal document and its attached terms and conditions comprise the binding agreement with the client. With this in mind, the focus of the agreement is on those terms and conditions. In addition to being more customizable, this modularity helps keep individual agreements down to a more manageable size.

The first two modules, Basic Terms & Conditions and Intellectual Property Provisions, should be used for all design assignments. An additional three modules are provided as supplements that can be added to the agreement as needed: Print-specific Terms & Conditions, Interactive-specific Terms & Conditions and Environmental-specific Terms & Conditions.

To use this agreement, download the master agreement PDF.