It went to print. All of it.
Cover for design and creative studios, built around the rights in what you deliver and the cost of an error that has already been produced.
Design and creative agency insurance
Usually includes
Professional indemnity
Intellectual property
Production errors
Cyber & data
Public liability
Employers’ liability
One
conversation.
You explain the business once, and we take it from there.
Bespoke service
for your business
No two businesses are the same, so we start with yours rather than with a template.
Everything
quoted together.
Your advice, the data you hold and the office behind it, priced in one go rather than piece by piece.
Know your cover
What is design agency insurance?
Creative work carries two exposures a general office does not. The first is rights: fonts, stock imagery, footage and music all come with licences, and a delivered file that breaches one is an infringement regardless of intent. The second is production, where an error that would be a quick fix on screen becomes a reprint, a re-run or a recall once it has been manufactured.
It covers the work
Professional indemnity responds to a claim that your design or artwork caused a client a loss.
It covers the rights
Fonts, images, footage and music, where somebody else owns what ended up in the file.
It covers the reprint
An error found after production is a physical cost, not a revision. That is where the cost sits.
Who it’s for
Whatever you design.
✓
Brand and graphic design studios
Identity, artwork and guidelines that a client then rolls out everywhere.
✓
Packaging design
Artwork carrying legal and regulatory information, produced at volume.
✓
Digital and product design
Interface and experience design handed to a development team.
✓
Web design and build studios
Sites and applications where the deliverable also has to work.
✓
Film, motion and photography
Produced content with releases, locations and licensed music attached.
✓
Independent designers and small studios
Sole practitioners contracting directly with clients.
What we cover
Cover built around your studio.
We ask what you design, for whom and how it gets produced before we approach anyone. Then show you what’s available, and you decide what fits.
Professional indemnity
The claim that your design, artwork or specification caused a client a loss.
Intellectual property
Fonts, images, footage and music where the licence did not cover the use.
Production errors
The reprint, re-run or recall when a mistake is only found after manufacture.
Cyber & data
Client files, working assets and the payment diverted after a convincing email.
Public liability
Injury or damage on a shoot, at a client’s premises or during an installation.
Employers’ liability
Required by law from your first employee, including freelancers you treat as staff.
Studio & contents
The studio, the fit-out, and the screens, cameras and equipment inside it.
Portable equipment
Laptops, cameras and lighting away from the studio, on location or at a client.
Legal expenses
Recovering unpaid fees, a rights complaint, and the cost of defending a client dispute.
Who this cover tends to suit.
This cover is generally bought by design and creative studios delivering artwork, content or digital work to clients, from an independent designer to a studio with a production team. Not every part will apply to every studio, so tell us how you’re set up and we’ll show you what’s relevant.
Worth knowing
Check the details before you choose.
Licences are narrower than they appear
A stock licence usually limits territory, media, print run and duration. Using an asset beyond those terms is an infringement even where it was bought legitimately.
Fonts are licensed software
Web, app and broadcast use are commonly separate licences from desktop use. It is one of the least visible sources of claims in creative work.
Approval does not transfer the liability
A client signing off artwork rarely removes your responsibility for an error in it. Keep the sign-off, but do not rely on it as cover.
Production errors are physical costs
A mistake found after a print run or a manufacturing run is a reprint, not a revision. That is what makes the claim expensive.
Every brief is different.
A brand identity and a packaging artwork run don’t carry the same risk, so we ask different questions for each.
Brand identity
Graphic design
Packaging design
Artwork production
Print design
Web design
Web build
Product design
UI and UX
Motion graphics
Film production
Photography
Illustration
Exhibition design
Signage design
Retouching
Brand identity
Graphic design
Packaging design
Artwork production
Print design
Web design
Web build
Product design
UI and UX
Motion graphics
Film production
Photography
Illustration
Exhibition design
Signage design
Retouching
Why Vara
Bespoke service for you & your business,
without the big-firm minimum.
01
Rights before anything else
Licences and clearances are the most frequent source of claims here. We ask how you manage them before we present the risk.
02
Production is where cost appears
An error caught on screen costs nothing. The same error after a print run is not. We make sure that gap is covered.
03
Digital deliverables have to work
A site or an application is judged on function as well as design, which widens the professional exposure.
04
We present the risk right
Fee income, work types, production volumes and claims history. How it’s framed changes what you pay.
You talk to a person. The machines do the typing.
Free review of your design and creative agency cover and costs.
On a policy that treats a studio like an office? Leave your details and we’ll call you straight back. One conversation covers the lot.
What the review covers
We go through the policy you have now, so you can see what it does and doesn’t cover against a rights infringement, where a stock or font licence is narrower than it appears.
We point out the terms that catch studios out most often, how a reprint or a recall after a production error is treated as a physical cost, so you can check yours.
We approach insurers on our panel who write design and creative agency risks, and come back with what they’ll offer.
We explain each option in plain English, including what it doesn’t cover.
If it’s not a risk we can place, we’ll tell you straight away rather than leave you waiting.
No obligation to switch. You decide what fits.
Rather not wait? Call us on 0333 091 3663
Good to know
Design agency questions, answered straight.
What insurance does a design studio need?
What happens if we use an image or font outside its licence?
Does the client signing off artwork protect us?
Who pays for a reprint if the error was ours?
Are we liable for a website that does not work properly?
Are freelancers and contractors covered?
Do we need cover for shoots and locations?
What limit of indemnity should we have?
Vara Commercial Insurance · 0333 091 3663
Vara is a trading name of Koral AI Operating Company Limited. Vara is an appointed representative of Innovative Risk Labs Ltd, under Firm Reference Number 1060955. Innovative Risk Labs Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, under FRN 609155. We are registered in England and Wales under Registered Company Number 17256222. Registered office: 167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London, W1W 5PF.