[Chino]

I have a client that is a web presence solution company. That being said, this company is ran by IT guys with no design talent. They hold a circle of designers at their beck and call, and I am basically the forefront of the list, meaning they give most if not all of the design/xhtml/css work to me.

Like nearly all clients, they eventually 'cheap out' and want to start getting things for a lower price. In this case, that means wanting PSDs from me and having the xhtml/css done outside of the U.S.

The reasoning behind it is simple, get quality designs and have it sliced up for dirt cheap.

My concerns are that a) if I hand over PSDs to my client, which in turn, hands it over to someone I have and will never meet. They can easily, with any Photoshop skills, take that design and make any changes needed and resell it. And b) if I don't agree to this I may lose my biggest source of freelance.

My client, the tech guys, are smart enough to know and we have discussed client relationships and the idiocy involved with dealing with people sometimes so I know they'd understand my concerns about handing over source files, but I'm still not sure what to do or how to handle this yet.

[drik]

I'm sure they won't like it either if someone makes a few changes to a psd and resells it. It's their responsibility tho to make sure that does not happen. Once you get your money and send the psd it belongs to that company.

You can however talk with them about some kind of contract or NDA (non-disclosure agreement) they send along with the psd to their slicers. Make sure it contains something like they'll have to delete the psd after the work is done.

Ofcourse this does not mean that people wont use your psd's at all, but you do have something to get back on in case of any problems.

[Chino]

Hmm... Yeah, that's probably the best solution. Where's the digital rights management for my Photoshop documents, eh?

Maybe ask that they pay me a small(er) fee for source files. Something that doesn't negate the whole reason they're sending the PSDs to someone else in the first place.

I guess I failed to mention that they're sending these to be handled by a programmer that works with their CMS. But they've stressed that Joomla is easy I just haven't taken the time to learn it, so I'm convinced their biggest reason is price.

Thanks for your advice.

[drik]

The thing is, once you hand over the psd, after recieving the payment for it, it belongs to that company. If you think you don't get payed enough for the whole creativity and design aspects of the layouts and handing the psd (together with the rights of it) to that company you should definitely raise your prices.

Another thing you can do is search for your own cheap-ass-trustworthy slicer

[Maerk]

I'd give them flattened photoshop files except maybe for layers where the copy is so it can be copy and pasted out - Minimal ability to fuck up the design then.

With print design anyway you certainly don't give your source files to the client otherwise they can just chuck those at someone with a copy of indesign and create something absolutely awful for a tenth the cost or somesuch.

[Chino]

Yup, I'm dealing with something like that with another client who wants source files.

That's a good idea, I may need to find someone to do the Joomla part or learn it myself.

Thanks, again.

[Accurate]

Hand them over, with a fee.