A general freelance contract covers scope, fees, and payment, and for a lot of work, that is enough. Design work has its own set of landmines that a generic template does not touch: the fourth "small tweak" that is actually a fifth round, the "can you just send me the editable file" after a half-payment, the logo that quietly shows up on a product you never quoted for.
I run a design studio, so I have paid for every one of these lessons. This post is the design-specific layer to add on top of a standard agreement: the clauses that actually protect a designer in India.
Start with the base, then add these clauses
Do not rebuild the whole contract. Take the plain-English freelance contract template for India as your foundation (it already has scope, fees, payment terms, IP, and jurisdiction) and bolt the design-specific clauses below onto it. That keeps the document to one readable page instead of a legal novel.
The design contract clauses that actually save you
Revision rounds, defined as a number. "Includes revisions" with no number is an open door. Design feedback expands to fill whatever space you give it. State it: "Includes 2 rounds of revisions. A round is one consolidated set of feedback. Further rounds are billed at ₹[amount]." The word consolidated matters. It stops the drip of ten separate WhatsApp messages counting as ten rounds, or one round depending on who is arguing. If revisions are your recurring pain, the scope-creep playbook pairs well with this clause.
What "final files" means, and where source files sit. Clients often assume the fee includes your editable, layered source files (the AI, PSD, or Figma originals). Decide this on purpose. A common split: the fee delivers final flattened exports (PNG, JPG, PDF, SVG), and native source files are either a separate paid deliverable or handed over only on full payment. Write which one you are doing.
Usage rights, especially for logos and brand work. Ownership and usage are not the same conversation. For a logo or brand identity, be explicit about where the client may use it, and that a materially new use they did not brief (say, a franchise rollout or merchandise line) is a new scope, not a free extension of the old one.
Rejected concepts stay yours. If you present three logo directions and the client picks one, the other two are still your work. State that ownership transfers only for the selected, paid-for work, and that unused concepts remain yours to reuse or sell. Under the Copyright Act, 1957, the person who creates the work is generally its first owner unless there is a written assignment, so silence tends to favour you, but a clear line avoids the argument entirely.
Stock assets, fonts, and plugins. If the project uses paid fonts, stock photos, or premium plugins, say who buys the licence (usually the client) and that those licences are the client's responsibility going forward. You do not want to be on the hook for a foundry's licensing email two years later.
A kill fee for cancellation. Design projects get paused and killed mid-stream more than most. Protect the work you have already done: "If the project is cancelled after work has begun, all completed work is billable, and the advance is non-refundable." For bigger projects, some designers add a flat kill fee on top.
The design add-on — copy this
Paste these under the relevant sections of the base template and fill in the brackets.
REVISIONS
Fee includes [2] rounds of revisions. A "round" is one
consolidated set of feedback. Further rounds: ₹[amount] each.
DELIVERABLES & SOURCE FILES
Final deliverables: [PNG, JPG, PDF, SVG] exports.
Native source files ([AI / PSD / Figma]): [included on full
payment / available as a separate deliverable for ₹[amount]].
USAGE RIGHTS
The delivered work may be used by the Client for [agreed use,
e.g. website, social, print collateral]. A new use not covered
here (e.g. merchandise, franchise) is a separate scope.
OWNERSHIP OF CONCEPTS
Ownership transfers only for the selected work, on full
payment. Unused or rejected concepts remain with the Designer.
THIRD-PARTY ASSETS
Licences for stock images, fonts, and plugins are purchased in
the Client's name and are the Client's ongoing responsibility.
CANCELLATION
If cancelled after work begins, completed work is billable and
the advance is non-refundable. [Optional kill fee: ₹[amount].]
Then actually get it signed
A design contract that lives in your drafts folder protects no one. The friction of exporting a PDF, emailing it, and chasing a signature is exactly why designers skip it and go straight to "sounds good, let's start."
Draft your project contract on the Riffit dashboard and send it for signing. Before the first round of revisions, not after the tenth.Try Riffit freeInside Riffit you fill in the project details on the dashboard and send the contract by email, or on WhatsApp on Pro. Your client signs from the link with a one-time code. Your client gets the signed PDF; you keep the audit-trail certificate. The full contract walk-through covers the flow, and if you are wondering how a phone signature is treated here, electronic signatures are recognised in India for ordinary agreements like this one.
FAQ
Two rounds is a common default for logo and brand work, three for larger UI or web projects. The number matters less than defining what a round is (one consolidated set of feedback, not each individual message) and stating the price for extra rounds up front so more revisions become a paid choice rather than an argument.
Decide it on purpose and write it down. A clean approach is to deliver final flattened exports as part of the fee, and treat native source files either as a separate paid deliverable or as something released only on full payment. What causes disputes is leaving it unsaid and getting the request after a partial payment.
Under the Copyright Act, 1957, the creator of the work is generally the first owner of the copyright unless there is a written assignment transferring it. That is why a contract clause assigning ownership on full payment matters: it gives the client clear title once they have paid, and keeps it with you until then.
A kill fee is a charge for a project cancelled part-way through, on top of billing the work already done. It is most useful for larger projects that get paused or dropped mid-stream. For small jobs, billing completed work and keeping the advance non-refundable is usually enough.
If your contract states that ownership transfers only for the selected, paid-for work, then yes: rejected or unused concepts remain yours to reuse or sell. Without that line it can get murky, so it is worth stating explicitly in a design contract.