Terms and conditions

1. These terms

These terms apply to every project I quote for and deliver. Accepting a quote, paying a deposit or asking me to start work means these terms apply, whether or not they are signed.

Where a signed proposal or statement of work says something different, that document wins on the point it covers. Everything else here still stands.

2. Who you are contracting with

Shape My Visuals is a trading name of Muarij Ullah, a sole trader based in Lahore, Pakistan. Contact is hello@shapemyvisuals.com.

These terms are written for business clients. If you are commissioning work as a consumer, your statutory rights are unaffected by anything here.

3. Quotes, scope and acceptance

3.1 What a quote covers

Every quote is written, fixed and specific to the brief in front of me. It lists the deliverables, the number of revision rounds included, the payment stages and an indicative timeline. Anything not listed is out of scope.

3.2 How long it holds

A quote is valid for 30 days. After that I may requote, usually unchanged, sometimes not if the brief has moved.

3.3 Acceptance

The project starts when you confirm the quote in writing and the first payment clears. Dates are allocated at that point, not at the point of enquiry.

4. Fees and payment

4.1 Stages

Unless the quote says otherwise, fees are paid in stages: a deposit to book the work and start, one or more instalments at agreed milestones, and a final balance on handover. Retainers are invoiced monthly in advance.

4.2 Terms

Invoices are payable within 14 days of the invoice date by bank transfer. Prices exclude VAT where VAT applies, and exclude third-party costs such as fonts, stock imagery, print, hosting and domains, which are quoted separately or recharged at cost.

4.3 Late payment

Work may be paused on any project with an invoice more than 14 days overdue, and statutory interest and recovery costs may be charged under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. I will always email before pausing anything.

4.4 Deposits

Deposits cover time reserved and are non-refundable once work has begun.

5. What I need from you

5.1 Material and access

Copy, images, logos, product information and any accounts I need to build or publish the work. You confirm that you own or are licensed to use everything you send me, and that it does not infringe anyone else's rights.

5.2 A single decision maker

One named person who can approve work and consolidate feedback. Committee feedback arriving in fragments is the most common cause of a project running late.

5.3 Feedback and approval

Feedback within five working days of each presentation keeps the timeline intact. Where a stage is approved in writing, or where no response arrives within 10 working days, that stage is treated as approved and the next one begins.

6. Revisions and changes to scope

6.1 Included revisions

Each stage includes the number of revision rounds set out in the quote. A round means one consolidated set of changes, not an open-ended sequence of individual requests.

6.2 Changes beyond scope

New deliverables, a change of direction after a stage has been approved, or extra rounds are quoted as additional work before anything is done. Nothing is invoiced that you have not agreed in writing first.

7. Intellectual property

7.1 What you own

On receipt of final payment, all rights in the approved deliverables transfer to you, including source files. You can use, adapt and extend them without limit and without further payment.

7.2 Before final payment

Until the final invoice is paid, I retain ownership of the work and any licence to use it is temporary.

7.3 What I keep

Concepts not selected, working files, and any tools, templates or code libraries I bring to the project stay mine. You get a perpetual licence to use anything of that kind embedded in your deliverables.

7.4 Third-party licences

Fonts, stock imagery, plugins and similar are licensed in your name where the licence allows. Those licences are between you and the supplier, and their terms sit outside my control.

7.5 Showing the work

I may show completed work in my portfolio, on this site and in social posts, once it is public. If a project is confidential, tell me and it stays unpublished.

8. Confidentiality

Anything commercially sensitive you share stays confidential, and is used only to deliver the project. This holds for two years after the project ends, and indefinitely for anything you mark as a trade secret. It does not apply to information that is already public, or that I am required to disclose by law.

9. Specialists and subcontracting

I lead and deliver every project. Where a job needs specialist depth, I may bring in a freelance specialist to work to my brief and under my direction. I remain responsible to you for their work, I pay them, and you deal only with me. Confidentiality under clause 8 binds them too.

10. Timelines and delays

Timelines in a quote assume feedback arrives as described in clause 5.3 and that material is supplied on time. They are estimates given in good faith, not fixed dates, unless the quote states a date as a firm deadline.

Where a project stalls on your side for more than 30 days, I may invoice for work completed to that point and reschedule the remainder into the next available slot.

11. Pausing and cancellation

11.1 If you cancel

Tell me in writing. You pay for work completed and costs committed up to that date, and the deposit is not refunded. Nothing produced transfers to you until that invoice is settled.

11.2 If I cancel

If I cannot complete the work, I refund any payment made for work not yet delivered and hand over what has been produced. I will give as much notice as I can.

11.3 Retainers

Either of us can end a retainer with one calendar month's written notice. Unused days do not roll beyond the month they were booked in.

12. Liability

12.1 What I am responsible for

I will carry out the work with reasonable skill and care, and fix defects in my own work at no charge when they are reported within 30 days of handover.

12.2 Limits

My total liability for any project is limited to the fees paid for it. I am not liable for loss of profit, loss of business, loss of data or any indirect or consequential loss. Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law.

12.3 Proofing and approval

Please check spelling, prices, legal wording and specifications before you approve a stage. Once artwork is approved and sent to print or published, correcting an error found later is chargeable, and print costs are not recoverable from me.

12.4 Things outside my control

I am not responsible for third-party platforms, hosting outages, plugin updates, printer variance in colour, or changes a search engine makes to how it ranks pages.

13. Definitions

The studio, I, me

Muarij Ullah trading as Shape My Visuals.

You, the client

The business or person who accepts a quote.

Deliverables

The specific items listed in the quote, in the formats stated there.

Revision round

One consolidated set of changes to a presented stage.

Handover

Delivery of the final files, guidelines and walkthrough for a completed stage or project.

14. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction. If either of us has a problem, the first step is a conversation. How your personal information is handled is set out in the privacy policy.