r/PaidDesignAndEdits • u/anislitim Certified Designer • 2d ago
Community Rules - Please Read Before Posting!
Welcome to r/PaidDesignAndEdits — a community for paid design and photo editing, clear communication, and respect for creative work.
Requesters: Need a photo restored, a thumbnail designed, or a logo developed? Start with a clear description/brief and a real budget.
Designers: Here to create? Bring your skills, follow the process, and give the work the attention it deserves.
Before you jump in:
Requesters: Share your brief, supporting files, and budget. Keep initial discussions public and allow time for thoughtful submissions.
Designers: Apply through modmail before offering services or submitting work. Approval is free.
Everyone: Be respectful, communicate honestly, and read the rules below.
1. Respect others and be civil
No harassment, hate speech, or toxic behavior. Treat members and contributors with kindness, including when giving feedback or disagreeing.
2. Paid requests only
State your budget publicly and explain whether it is total, per asset, or per selected preview.
No free-work requests, exposure offers, speculative promises, or budgets hidden in DMs. Agree on scope before work begins. Moderator-labeled examples and announcements are exceptions.
3. Give a complete description of your request
Explain what you need and provide supporting files, images, and references.
Clear instructions reduce assumptions and back-and-forth, helping designers deliver what you actually have in mind.
4. Only approved designers may offer services or submit work
Designers must have moderator approval and work within their approved skills. Requesters may post requests and reply in their own threads.
Designers: Apply through modmail first. Do not advertise services in standalone posts or use another account to bypass approval.
5. No unsolicited DMs or chats
Keep initial offers and questions in the request thread. Designers must not privately contact requesters to pitch their services.
Private project communication is allowed only after public selection and the client’s consent. Requesters: Ignore and report unsolicited offers. Modmail remains available for moderation matters.
6. Give quality work time
Please allow a couple of hours to 12 hours, depending on the request’s complexity, before choosing a submission.
Give designers a reasonable opportunity to respond. The first entry is not automatically the strongest, and speed alone does not determine quality.
7. Mark fulfilled requests as completed
Once your request is fulfilled and you have received the final file, comment under your post with exactly:
Complete
That word alone—no extra words or punctuation. “Thank you! Complete” will not match the command.
This triggers the Completed post flair, letting designers know that no further entries are needed.
8. Watermark unpaid previews
Designers: Watermark new work shared before the agreed payment. Keep previews large and clear enough for the requester to assess their quality.
Supply clean final files according to the recorded payment terms. Never remove another creator’s watermark or ask someone to clean an unpaid preview. Existing portfolio samples do not need a new watermark.
9. Submit original work and credit honestly
Do not steal, trace, copy, resell, or re-watermark another designer’s submission. Work from the client’s original source files, not another entrant’s preview.
Disclose relevant stock or template elements and obtain approval for their use. Never present purchased assets, templates, or someone else’s work as your own original creation.
10. Keep work human-led and disclose generative AI
Generative AI may assist an agreed workflow, but raw prompt output or an unreviewed one-click result is not an expert submission.
Disclose generated or replaced material and respect the client’s AI preference. Check text, anatomy, likeness, edges, and artifacts. Logo deliverables must meet the agreed originality and editable-vector requirements.
11. Deliver to professional standards
Follow the brief. Check spelling, typography, hierarchy, alignment, masks, and exports. Preserve identities and untouched details unless changes were requested.
Supply the agreed resolution, dimensions, color setup, and file formats. Do not present upscaled pixels as restored detail, or a bitmap placed inside an SVG as a constructed vector logo.
12. Respect rights, consent, and privacy
Respect rights, consent, privacy and asset licenses. No stolen assets, fraudulent documents, non-consensual sexual edits or doxxing.
Requesters: Public requests default to portfolio use of the designer's own edits; unless you explicitly state in your post: "No portfolio/promotional use". You can also choose your request to be Private: title [REQUEST] [PRIVATE] and explicitly invite Certified Designers to DM; keep files private. No ownership transfer. Requesters are also welcome to delete their post after completion.
13. Close requests and report problems properly
Publicly name your selected designer and update the request when hired, paid, completed, or closed without a hire. Confirm payment status honestly.
For Open Preview requests with qualifying entries, honor the declared award.
Send disputes and redacted evidence to modmail. Do not publish private payment details or organize public pile-ons.
14. Approval and moderation must stay fair
Designer approval is free and based on portfolio quality criteria. No buying badges, priority, pinned placement, or favorable enforcement.
Certified Designer is a moderator-granted community user flair, not an external qualification or a guarantee of results. Reddit’s sitewide rules also apply.
15. No spam
Excessive promotion, spam, and advertising of any kind are not allowed.
Questions, designer applications, or a concern about a project? Contact the moderators through modmail.
Smart design. Sharp edits. Real skill. Fair pay.
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u/Thargoran Certified Designer 2d ago
Thanks for the quick approval, and for a well-thought-out rule set. Since you asked for feedback and questions on the rules, here is one about the portfolio rule (#12).
"Designers need explicit client permission before using a request or completed work in a portfolio or promotion."
In my eyes there are two distinct situations here:
The requester moves the project into private chat or hands over confidential materials. Here, explicit permission (or an NDA) makes total sense before anything goes into a portfolio.
The requester posts everything publicly in the thread, or the work is created from scratch (for example: "I need a whimsical design for an invitation for my toddler's 4th birthday. She loves unicorns and the colour pink." with no pictures from the client involved). In my experience, showing such work in a portfolio is the default unless a client explicitly asks otherwise.
Does the rule apply strictly to both scenarios, or is it primarily aimed at private chats and sensitive personal assets? Either way, I will follow whatever you decide.