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Graphic designers make the things a business puts in front of people: packaging, signage, brochures, exhibition stands, vehicle livery, reports, menus, labels and the artwork behind digital ads. Much of the work is production rather than concept - taking an identity someone else set and applying it correctly across dozens of formats, each with its own technical constraints.

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The most useful thing a UK client can know about hiring a designer has nothing to do with taste. It is that paying for design does not, by itself, make you the owner of it. The Intellectual Property Office states plainly that for commissioned work the first legal owner of copyright is the person or organisation that created the work and not you the commissioner, unless you otherwise agree it in writing. A freelancer working under a contract for services keeps copyright in what they produce unless the contract says otherwise.

Two further rights sit alongside copyright and surprise people. Moral rights give the creator a right to be identified and a right to object to derogatory treatment of the work. And most of the material inside a design - fonts, stock photography, illustrations - is licensed rather than owned, so what you can do with the finished artwork depends on terms nobody reads until a printer asks.

The work UK graphic designers take on

  • Print collateral: brochures, leaflets, stationery, reports and forms, prepared to a printer's specification.
  • Packaging and labelling, where the artwork has to carry legally required information as well as look right.
  • Signage, wayfinding and vehicle livery, produced to a sign maker's cutting and material requirements.
  • Digital advertising sets: many sizes of the same creative, built to each platform's specification.
  • Presentation and document templates that non-designers can use without breaking the layout.
  • Illustration and infographics, often commissioned separately because the skill is different.
  • Artworking and production: taking approved design and making it press-ready, which is where most errors surface.

Paying for design does not transfer copyright

Designers are authors, and authorship is where ownership starts. That holds even when the client wrote the brief, chose the direction and paid for every hour worked. Without a signed agreement transferring it, the artwork remains the designer's property and the client holds only whatever permission the engagement implies. In-house teams sit outside this, because an employee's output in the course of employment belongs to the employer.

This catches people out because the invoice feels conclusive. It is not. Ownership of copyright can be transferred, but the transfer has to be made and it has to be written down. A short assignment clause naming the deliverables, taking effect on payment, does the job for most projects.

Where an assignment is not on offer, a licence can be enough if it is broad enough. Check three things: what the artwork may be used for, for how long, and in which territories. A licence for a single print run does not cover reprinting next year, putting the same design on a van, or handing the files to a different supplier.

Moral rights: identification and derogatory treatment

Moral rights sit in Chapter IV of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and are separate from copyright ownership. Section 77 gives an author the right to be identified as the author of the work, but the right only exists if it has been asserted in accordance with section 78, which sets out how assertion is made - for artistic works, including by identification on the original when it is first released or by a clause in an assignment.

Section 80 gives the right to object to derogatory treatment: an addition, deletion, alteration or adaptation that amounts to distortion or mutilation of the work or is otherwise prejudicial to the author's honour or reputation. For a designer, that can be engaged when artwork is stretched, recoloured or cut about by someone else after handover.

Moral rights cannot be assigned, but section 87 allows them to be waived by an instrument in writing signed by the person giving up the right. Section 84 separately protects against false attribution. None of this stops a normal working relationship - it just means the contract should say whether the designer will be credited and what may be changed without asking.

Fonts, stock images and other licensed ingredients

  • Fonts are licensed software, and a desktop licence often does not cover embedding in a website or an app.
  • Ask whose account the font licence sits in - if it is the designer's, you may not be licensed to use the files yourself.
  • Stock photography and illustration licences vary by use, print run, territory and duration, and some exclude packaging or merchandise.
  • Royalty free means no repeat fee, not no licence; the terms still limit what you may do.
  • Icons, templates and mockups downloaded from the web often carry attribution requirements that never reach the client.
  • Commissioned photography is copyright of the photographer unless assigned, exactly as design is.
  • Keep the licence documents with the artwork files, because the question always comes up years later.

Brief, concepts, artwork and files

  • A written brief naming the audience, the formats, the technical specification and the immovable deadline.
  • A stated number of concept routes and revision rounds, so extra rounds are a priced decision rather than an argument.
  • Proofs at the right stage: a visual proof for design and a press proof for colour and trim.
  • Sign-off by one named person, because artwork approved by committee is where typos survive.
  • Delivery of both output files and editable source files, with fonts and linked images accounted for.
  • A handover note listing licences, colour references and printer specifications used.

Copyright and registered designs are different rights

  • Copyright arises automatically when original artistic work is created, with no registration and no fee.
  • A registered design protects the appearance of a product - shape, configuration, decoration, colour or pattern - and must be new.
  • Registration helps prove that the design is legally yours and when you created it.
  • A registered design lasts five years and must be renewed every five years, up to a maximum of twenty-five.
  • Packaging and product appearance are where registration usually earns its keep; a leaflet layout rarely is.
  • A trade mark is a third and separate right covering signs that distinguish your goods or services.

Common problems at handover

  • Flattened exports with no editable source files, so every later change means recreating the artwork.
  • Missing fonts or linked images, which turns a small amendment into a rebuild.
  • No written assignment, discovered when a new supplier is asked to adapt the design.
  • Artwork prepared in the wrong colour space or without bleed, rejected by the printer at the worst moment.
  • Stock licences bought for one use and then applied to another, sometimes years later by someone else.
  • Files delivered by a temporary download link that expires before anyone archives them properly.

Graphic Designers: frequently asked questions

We commissioned a design and paid the invoice. Is it ours?

Not unless you agreed that in writing. UK copyright gives first ownership to the creator, and the IPO states that for commissioned work the first legal owner is the person or organisation that created it rather than the commissioner. Someone working under a contract for services keeps copyright unless the contract says otherwise. Ask for a written assignment of copyright in the deliverables, effective on payment, before the project starts.

What is the difference between an assignment and a licence?

An assignment transfers ownership of the copyright to you. A licence leaves ownership with the designer and gives you permission to use the work on stated terms. A licence can be perfectly adequate, but check its scope: what uses it covers, in which territories, for how long, and whether it lets you have the design adapted by someone else later. Anything not granted is retained.

Does the designer have a right to be credited?

Potentially. Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 gives authors a right to be identified, but it applies only if it has been asserted in the way section 78 sets out. There is also a right under section 80 to object to derogatory treatment that distorts or mutilates the work or is prejudicial to the author's honour or reputation. These rights cannot be assigned, though they can be waived in writing, so the contract should address credit and alteration explicitly.

Can we use the fonts from our brand guidelines ourselves?

Only if you hold a licence covering that use. Fonts are licensed software and the terms differ by use: a desktop licence for artwork is not the same as a web font licence or an app embedding licence. If the designer bought the font under their own account, that licence may not extend to you. Ask which fonts are used, where the licence sits, and what it permits, and buy your own where needed.

Should we register our packaging design?

It is worth considering if the appearance itself is commercially valuable and new. A registered design protects the shape, configuration, decoration, colour or pattern of a product, helps prove that the design is legally yours and when you created it, lasts five years and can be renewed in five-year steps up to twenty-five years. Copyright exists automatically alongside it but is harder to evidence in a dispute.

Sources

  1. Intellectual Property Office - Ownership of copyright works
  2. GOV.UK - Copyright: how you get it and what it protects
  3. Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Chapter IV: moral rights
  4. Intellectual Property Office - Register a design

Written by the LokalMatch editorial team. Last reviewed 22 September 2026. How we write and check our guides

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What affects the fees graphic designers charge

Fees depend on the work involved and how the professional bills. We only publish fee ranges when they’re backed by real LokalMatch data or reliable sources. Until then, here’s what usually changes the fee:

  • Scope and complexity of the work
  • How the firm bills: hourly, per project or on a monthly retainer
  • Experience of the team
  • Timeline and how urgent the work is
  • Ongoing support after the work is delivered

How to compare graphic designers before you hire

  • Ask for examples of similar work for clients like you.
  • Read reviews and ask for references you can contact.
  • Make sure the scope, deliverables and timeline are written down before work starts.
  • Ask who will do the work: an in-house team, freelancers or subcontractors.
  • Compare two or three proposals before you decide.

Questions to ask graphic designers before you hire

  • Have you done work like this before, and can I see examples?
  • Who will work on this, and who is my main contact?
  • How do you charge: hourly, per project or monthly?
  • What is included, and what costs extra?
  • How long is the contract, and how can either side end it?
  • How will you report on progress?
  • Who owns the work, files and accounts you set up for me?

Licences and registration

This kind of work is often limited to licensed or registered professionals, and the rules depend on where you are. Ask which body they’re registered with, and check their status on that body’s public register before you hire.

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