A fundamental part of any graphic design business is the ‘business’ part of it. Whether you are a graphic design freelancer or a founder of a graphic design firm, there is a lot of management that you will need to do to ensure that your time and money is not only spent well, but is also tracked just as well. The book ‘Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers‘ provides graphic designers with 47 business and legal documents which are regularly used in the graphic design business.

The book provides many forms needed to establish a good internal system for managing the graphic design business such as the Job Index Form, the Payables Index Form, and the Project Status Report. The book also offers a number of essential forms necessary for the regular dealing with clients, these vary in scope from and range from a Proposal Form, a Project Confirmation Agreement, and all the way to a Fee Collection Letter and many more. The book also does not fail to mention forms necessary for dealing with third parties other than clients and who could play a fundamental role in certain projects such as independent contractors, models, and printers.

Each of the forms provided in the book are provided with an introductory explanation on when the specific form is usually used, the process by which this form is usually filled, and how the form can be used and/or customised.

In addition to the business forms, the  book also includes a number of sample contracts that may be used by a graphic designer. The obvious ones such as a design agreement and a NDA are included as well as more incidental ones such as lease agreement, an employment contract, and a contract with a photographer are also included. The introductory chapter of the book explains the meaning of the commonly used legal clauses in all contracts, while each specific contract is also preceded by an explanation of what the contract is used form, how to fill the form, and how to negotiate specific clauses in the contract.

The book is generally quite helpful, but also requires a level of seriousness on the side of graphic designer to benefit from all of the forms, especially the ones which are to be used constantly and are necessary for tracking jobs, time, and bills.

It must be noted that this book does not provide comprehensive explanation of the legal issues like the kind seen in the Legal Guide to Web Software Development, but instead provides readers with a wider set of forms and contracts that can be readily used. The book is also primarily written for US designers, but almost all of the forms (other than the copyright and trademark registration forms) can be used anywhere in the world without making any substantial changes to them.

Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers is a nice addition to any graphic designer’s bookshelf aiming to be a professional in the business of his craft.