Terms & Conditions

All clients must read and agree to the points laid out below.

By entering into a business relationship with Synthetic Reality Design, you (the Client) agree and consent to the following terms and conditions:

TIMEFRAME AND DELIVERY

Synthetic Reality Design will provide the initial draft concepts to the Client within the timeframe agreed upon in the initial consultation. Please note that if we are experiencing higher than usual demand, your design will be scheduled for the next available time slot and you will be notified at the earliest possible time. Synthetic Reality Design will post the initial designs in an email or to a website for review by the Client and will then be able to view his/her draft designs as well as be able to provide feedback concerning the design.

Synthetic Reality Design will analyze the Client’s feedback and revise the designs. The revised samples will be presented to the Client within the specified timeframe. Regular working days are Monday through Friday, 8am – 5pm Eastern Standard Time, excluding holidays. Synthetic Reality Design will continue the revision process as per the terms of the specific contract. Once the Client has approved the final design, the Client will complete any remaining payment owed, and Synthetic Reality Design will then proceed with the delivery phase. All requested formats of the approved designs are then emailed, mailed, or posted to our website in the client download area for the Clients use.

COPYRIGHT / TRADEMARKS

The Client unconditionally guarantees that any element of text or graphics furnished to Synthetic Reality Design for inclusion in the design do not infringe on any copyright or trademarks that have been already established by another company or organization. The Client will hold harmless and protect Synthetic Reality Design from any claim or suit arising from the use of such as furnished by the client.

Synthetic Reality Design makes every effort to produce original artwork. It is the Client’s responsibility to ensure that the name of their product, company or service is not already in use, and it is the Client’s sole responsibility to secure a service mark or trademark to protect the rights to any name or image. Synthetic Reality Design and it’s employees will not be held responsible for any legal action that may result from improper due diligence on the availability of a company name or image.

Ownership of the final artwork becomes the full property of the Client, having unlimited, indefinite and unrestricted use of the design, only upon payment of all fees owed. Until the contract is paid in full, all materials remain property of Synthetic Reality Design. Synthetic Reality Design retains the right to display the artwork in their design portfolios and marketing materials. Unless otherwise arranged with your project manager, all stock photography is used under royalty-free licence of Synthetic Reality Design. As such, the Client has legal rights to use the protography only within the scope of the purchased design, and all original copyright is retained by the photographer or licencing agency. Exclusive, rights-managed photography is available in some – but not all – instances, but will incur additional cost.

All concepts furnished to the client are for client review and comment purposes only. Until all project invoices are paid in full by the Client, Synthetic Reality Design will retain exclusive copyright and ownership of all design and draft materials. Ownership of final designs are transferred to the client on payment of all fees, however unless otherwise arranged in writing, Synthetic Reality Design retains ownership of all draft materials not used in the final design.

DRAFT CONCEPT POLICIES AND COPYRIGHT

All draft concepts previewed by the client are for client review and comment purposes only. Until final design balance is received by Synthetic Reality Design, all logos, artwork, concepts and designs remain the copyright and exclusive property of Synthetic Reality Design. Synthetic Reality Design reserves the right to utilize and/or reproduce any image, logo or illustration created by Synthetic Reality Design in advertising, electronic or traditional reproduction, with the addition of any copyright and/or trademark notice that may be requested by the owner of the work. The client is granted unlimited royalty-free use of the image upon full payment of all fees. Synthetic Reality Design retains the rights to concepts, comprehensives and all artwork involved in the design process prior to the final artwork, and is granted the right to use these logos in promotional and advertising and marketing materials.

REVISIONS AND AUTHOR ALTERATIONS

Any and all revision requests or project additions/alterations MUST be furnished to the project manager in writing. Revisions may be discussed verbally, however no work will be done until the Client submits their revisions in writing, either by Email or Mailed Letter. The Client understands that revision work, along with requests for project additions or author alterations, will incur the same hourly billable as noted in the project quotation. Revision work is not done free of charge unless otherwise arranged, in writing.

The quotation assumes a reasonable average number of revisions per design item, but on very rare occasion a project arises in which the Client requests an unusually large number of drafts or revisions. Any and all revisions will still incur the hourly rate as noted on the project quotation, and the Client confirms that any revisions or additions they request will incur this cost.

PAYMENT POLICIES

Graphic design is a professional service, not a restockable product or commodity – customers are billed for the time and expertise of our graphic designers, art/creative directors and project managers. In accordance with industry standards, Synthetic Reality Design charges for design services by the hour (unless a flat fee has been negotiated in writing) and does not offer refunds under any circumstance.

Synthetic Reality Design does NOT engage in speculative work and will not honour any requests for same (see www.no-spec.com for more information about spec work). We have provided an extensive public portfolio, making it easy for potential clients to judge whether the style and quality of design offered by Synthetic Reality Design is a good fit for their organization.

All quotations given are estimates only, unless otherwise negotiated and noted in writing on your quotation. Final invoices will reflect actual hours worked on your project which may or may not differ from your quotation.

A retainer of 50% (based on the quotation amount) is required for all new projects.

Preferred clients requiring long term and ongoing design work will be placed on a monthly billing cycle, which will allow said client to skip the quotation/deposit phase. Clients on monthly billing will be invoiced on or around the 20th of each month.

Deposits and payments may be made in a number of ways:
- Company or Certified Cheque
- Money Order or Bank Draft

We do not and will not accept PayPal or Cash.

All invoices are payable on receipt, net 15 days. If the client is sending payment through the mail, we will accept a tracking number as notice of payment.

• Inactive Status
If there has been no activity initiated by the client on a contract in 30 days, but the client has been responsive to status requests by Synthetic Reality Design, said contract will be classified as “inactive”. Inactive contracts are invoiced periodically throughout the fiscal year, to ensure all parties are able to keep their records up-to-date. Please note that an inactive classification has no adverse effect on your account, provided all invoices are paid on time. If your project is incomplete and you have received an inactive project invoice, please rest assured that you are being invoiced only for work actually completed to date, and that you are welcome to re-open the project at any time. Upon payment of your invoice, you will have rights to request delivery of any design files (complete, or otherwise). Any credits (hourly or otherwise) granted to the client’s account are valid and redeemable at any time pending Synthetic Reality Design‘s availability, until a period of six months has passed, at which point all credits are considered null and expired.

• Delinquent Status
After 30 days, a late payment charge of 2% per month (26.82% p/a) is applied to all delinquent accounts, without exception and retroactive to the date of invoice. If the account remains in default after 60 days, or if the customer’s payment is charged back to us by way of check fraud or other crime, we will issue one final notice before turning the account over to a third-party collections agency. Late fees will continue to accrue on your account, and you will be responsible for all costs incurred for placing you in collections. Refusing to pay your bill is theft, and we take it very seriously. If collection efforts are unsuccessful, we will engage the client in litigation to collect the debt, and all copyright will revert to Synthetic Reality Design. In such a case, we will retain the right to repossess any and all materials created for the client. The client will have no rights to use the materials in any way, shape or form, and legal action will be taken to enforce this policy.

• Abandoned Status
If a client should abandon a project or contract after work has commensed, an invoice shall be issued for the full quoted amount, regardless of project status on abandonment. Abandoned contracts in cases where the client is nonresponsive are also subject to an accellerated collections policy, and will be submitted to a third-party collections agency if not paid or addressed within 30 days.

SYNTHETIC REALITY DESIGN WEBSITE

Unless otherwise specified and/or credited all images, artwork, text and graphics, of this site, are the copyright of Synthetic Reality Design. All rights reserved. All other images are the copyright and/or trademark of the respective owners.

The information presented on the Synthetic Reality Design web site is copyrighted to Synthetic Reality Design. This copyright does not supersede any copyrights that may exist in the logos, artwork and designs presented. These works are copyright and/or trademarked by the respective owners.

Designs, original art and clip art presented by Synthetic Reality Design are for the use of the authorized client. All art, images, designs, and material are copyright of Synthetic Reality Design and may not be resold, added to clip art collections or any other unauthorized form of distribution or reproduction without the express written permission of Synthetic Reality Design and the images contained within.

All material featured on syntheticrealitydesign.com are offered for informational purposes only, and are offered on a ‘as is’ basis. ANY third party use of graphic or written material found on syntheticrealitydesign.com website, including mirroring or copying any part of the site, is strictly forbidden without the express written consent of Synthetic Reality Design or their authorized representatives.

PRIVACY POLICY

We respect and are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy lets you know how your personal information is processed and used. We promise that we will take steps to use your personal information only in ways that are compatible with this Privacy Policy.

What information are you collecting and how are you collecting it?
Every computer connected to the Internet is given a domain name and a set of numbers, that serve as that computer’s “Internet Protocol” IP address. When a visitor requests a page from within our site, our web servers automatically recognize that visitor’s domain name and IP address. The domain name and IP address reveal nothing personal about you other than the IP address from which you have accessed our site. We may use this information to examine our traffic in aggregate. Our web servers do not automatically record e-mail addresses or any personal information of the visitors.

Sensitive Information Disclosure
Anyhosting account information, FTP information, or domain registrar account information provided to your design team will be kept in the strictest of confidence, will be used only by Synthetic Reality Design developers assigned to your account, and will be used only for the purposes of setting up your website, managing your website, providing technical support, or other purposes established in writing with your project manager.

Information Storage
Client accounts and project file archives are stored on a dedicated, secure, in-house server that is not accessible (physically or otherwise) by anyone other than Synthetic Reality Design‘s owners. For security reasons, there are no backups for this server.

What information do you collect when I pay an invoice?
We accept a number of different payment methods, including several offline options (credit card by telephone or fax, wire transfer, or cheque by mail). We also offer secure and convenient payment online. Your credit card information will be processed via secure, tested and trusted servers. All connections in processing your credit card online are encrypted via SSL, to the same (and in some cases, higher) level of encryption as that used by major online banking websites. Your information will not be shared or sold to third parties for any purpose.

Will you disclose the information you collect to outside third parties?
Synthetic Reality Design will only disclose personal information and/or an IP address, when required by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to:

1) Cooperate with the investigations of purported unlawful activities and conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Synthetic Reality Design,

2) Protect and defend the rights or property of Synthetic Reality Design site and related properties, or visitors to the Synthetic Reality Design site and related properties,

3) Fulfill a user/client order or request.

Synthetic Reality Design uses reasonable precautions to keep the information disclosed to us secure. We are not responsible for any breach of security or for any actions of any third parties that receive the information. We are not responsible for such third party privacy policies or how they treat information about their users

What else should I know about my privacy when online?
The Synthetic Reality Design website may contain links to third party websites. Synthetic Reality Design is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such third party websites or advertisers. We do not share any of the individual personal information you provide with the third parties to which we link. Please check with those websites to determine their respective privacy policies.

Please keep in mind that whenever you disclose personal information online through e-mail, forums, discussion lists, or unsecured pages, that information can potentially be collected by others, despite the security measures in place by the sender and/or recipient of such messages. In short, IF you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your personal information. Please be careful and responsible whenever you’re online.

YOUR CONSENT TO THIS AGREEMENT

By using the Synthetic Reality Design website and/or engaging in business with Synthetic Reality Design, you consent to the terms specified above. We reserve the right to modify this policy without  notice. If our Privacy Policy is changed, those changes will be posted on this page.

Synthetic Reality Design reserves the right to amend these terms at any time. Should it happen that a client’s own terms and conditions conflict with any of the same set out on this page, this document shall be considered to be the authoritative one, unless a separate contract has been signed by the client and by an authorized agent of Synthetic Reality Design.