Design.com Terms of Service & Privacy Policy
Design.com
Below Average
Based on a complete review of both the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, Design.com collects standard data but includes several aggressive clauses that heavily favor the company, especially regarding content rights, liability, and dispute resolution for international users.
Source: https://design.com/maker/legals/termsofuse
Profile & Identity Data
When you create an account, they collect your email address, name, country, address, other contact details, and business name. For designers, this also includes your profile picture and description.
Payment Data
They store the last four digits of your credit card and its expiry date. Full credit card data is handled by third-party payment processors.
User-Generated Content
Any content you upload, provide, submit, or create, including designs, artwork, photographs, text, website content, comments, and information in project briefs.
Automatically Collected Data
Your IP address, date and time of visit, pages you access, actions on the website, and browser type. This also includes usage data when logged in, such as pages visited, products ordered, and payments made.
Cookies & Tracking Data
Technologies like cookies are used to monitor traffic patterns, improve user experience, and deliver services. Some marketing or technology partners may also use cookies.
Third-Party Data
Information, including personal information, received from third parties (partners) for fraud detection, marketing, payment processing, and customer service purposes.
Service Provision & Account Management
They use your data to create and manage your account, process your requests for goods or services, and provide their services to you.
Notifications & Communication
They use your data to send you notifications about projects, designs, files, messages from other users, deadlines, and payments. They also use it to respond to your questions and suggestions.
Marketing & Research
They use your data to send email or SMS notifications for special promotions or offers, conduct marketing activities, and perform market research. You can opt-out of marketing emails.
Security & Fraud Prevention
Your data is used to protect the security and integrity of their marketplace for all users and to prevent fraudulent use of their services.
Service Improvement & Analytics
They use your data to improve the quality of their goods and services, diagnose problems with their sites, and for general data analytics.
Content Customization
They use your data to display content that is customized to your interests and preferences.
Sharing with Third-Party Service Providers
They share your personal information with third parties who provide services on their behalf, such as data storage, payment processing, email distribution, email validation, SMS distribution, IP lookup, data enrichment, and customer relationship management systems.
Sharing with Designers/Clients & Partners
They may disclose your personal information to third-party designers or clients in connection with works created or requested. They also share information with referral partners to facilitate partnerships and with related companies/business partners for requested services.
Overseas Data Transfer
Your personal information is stored on servers in various countries, including the United States and Australia. They may also disclose personal information to their subsidiary, DesignCrowd LLC, located in the United States.
Change of Control
If Design.com sells, divests, or changes ownership of its business, your data may be transferred as part of the assets.
Broad, Perpetual Content License
HIGH RISK“You grant Us a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable license to use, reproduce, alter, amend, publish and display Your Content for the purposes of and reasonably incidental to the conduct and promotion of The Sites Services and your participation in it (including on The Sites and in any press, advertising, marketing or promotional material related to The Sites Services).”
This means: You give Design.com a permanent, global, free license to use, change, publish, and show anything you create or upload ('Your Content') to promote their services, even if you delete your account. This includes using it in their ads and marketing, and they can transfer this right to others.
Limited Company Liability
HIGH RISK“Our maximum aggregate liability to you for all claims arising under or in connection with The Sites and The Sites Services, whether arising in contract, tort (including negligence) under statute or otherwise is limited to the greater of: AUD$100; and the applicable Fees in respect of the Service that gave rise to the relevant loss.”
This means: Design.com limits its financial responsibility for any damages you might suffer. Their total liability to you is capped at either AUD$100 or the fees you paid for the specific service that caused the problem, whichever is higher. This is a very low cap, especially for business users.
Mandatory International Arbitration & Jurisdiction
HIGH RISK“These Terms of Use are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia and the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts sitting in New South Wales, Australia. ... If you are not an Australian resident or a company incorporated outside of Australia, then: any dispute arising out of or in connection with The Sites or these Terms of Use will be finally settled under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (the Rules) by one arbitrator appointed in accordance with the Rules; the place of arbitration will be Sydney, Australia; the language of the arbitration will be English;”
This means: Any disputes will be handled under the laws of New South Wales, Australia. If you're not an Australian resident, disputes will go to mandatory international arbitration in Sydney, Australia, under specific rules. This means you likely cannot sue them in your local courts, and resolving disputes could be costly and inconvenient.
Moral Rights Waiver Requirement
HIGH RISK“You must procure from all persons who are authors of copyright material in Your Content, a grant of consent and waiver in respect of any Moral Rights which enable Us to exercise their rights under these Terms of Use.”
This means: You must ensure that anyone who created content you upload waives their 'Moral Rights.' These rights protect the creator's reputation and the integrity of their work. This waiver allows Design.com to use and modify your content as they see fit without needing further consent from the original creator.
Automatic Account Creation on Affiliated Sites
MEDIUM RISK“By registering Your Account on this website, you may be automatically registered on our affiliated websites located at: https://www.designcrowd.com.au/ and https://www.design.com/ or https://www.brandcrowd.com/.”
This means: When you create an account here, you might automatically get accounts on their other related websites (DesignCrowd, BrandCrowd). You'll need to contact them separately to close those accounts.
Delete your account
You can close your account for Paid Services by providing written notice. For Free Services, you can terminate by simply ceasing to use the services. You can also request deletion of your personal information by emailing dataprotection@design.com.
Data retention
While they will make 'reasonable endeavours' to delete your personal information upon request, they state there may be 'legitimate reasons' (such as established legal/commercial relationships or tax records) why they cannot delete certain data. The perpetual content license also means they retain rights to use your uploaded content even after your account is closed.
Data portability
You can request a copy of your personal information by emailing dataprotection@design.com. They commit to responding or actioning requests within 30 days.
Broad, Perpetual Content License (TOS Clause 8.5)
This clause gives Design.com a permanent, worldwide, and transferable right to use, reproduce, alter, and display any content you upload for promotional purposes, even after you've stopped using their service or deleted your account. This means you lose significant control over your creative work.
Industry context: This is worse than normal. While many platforms require a license to operate, a 'perpetual' and 'transferable' license that explicitly allows them to 'alter, amend' your content for 'promotion' is very aggressive and goes beyond what's necessary for basic service operation.
Low Liability Cap (TOS Clause 11.6)
Design.com limits its total financial responsibility for any damages you incur to a maximum of AUD$100 or the fees you paid for the specific service. If something goes wrong, and you suffer significant losses (e.g., business disruption, lost revenue), you will likely not be fully compensated.
Industry context: This is worse than normal. While liability caps are common, a cap as low as AUD$100 for a professional design service is extremely restrictive and heavily favors the company, especially for business users.
Mandatory International Arbitration in Australia (TOS Clause 14.5)
If you are not an Australian resident, any disputes must be resolved through international arbitration in Sydney, Australia. This makes it very difficult and expensive for users outside Australia to seek legal recourse, effectively creating a significant barrier to justice.
Industry context: This is worse than normal for a global digital service. While arbitration clauses are common, forcing international users into arbitration in a specific foreign country is a strong tactic to deter legal challenges.
Moral Rights Waiver Requirement (TOS Clause 8.7)
You are required to ensure that anyone who created content you upload waives their 'Moral Rights.' These rights protect the creator's reputation and the integrity of their work. This waiver means Design.com can use and modify your content without needing further consent from the original creator, potentially against their wishes.
Industry context: This is worse than normal. Requiring a waiver of moral rights is a strong demand that gives the company extensive control over the integrity and attribution of user-created content, which is a significant concession for creators.
Vague Data Retention After Deletion (Privacy Policy Clause 6)
While you can request data deletion, Design.com states there may be 'legitimate reasons' (like established legal/commercial relationships or tax records) why they cannot delete personal information. This lack of clarity means you don't have full control over what data is actually removed after you close your account.
Industry context: This is worse than normal. While some data retention for legal reasons is standard, the broadness of 'legitimate reasons' and 'established legal and commercial relationship' leaves significant ambiguity and limits user control over their data post-account closure.
Design.com's policies are a mixed bag. They are reasonably transparent about data collection and use, and explicitly state they don't sell your data. However, the Terms of Service contain several highly restrictive clauses that heavily favor the company, particularly concerning your content rights, their liability to you, and how disputes are handled for international users. Always consult a qualified attorney for legal advice before agreeing to terms that impact your intellectual property or legal rights.
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