{"course":{"slug":"independent-creative","title":"Working for Yourself","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/independent-creative","level":"intermediate","track":"create"},"lesson":{"slug":"files-and-handover","title":"The last four hours","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/independent-creative/files-and-handover","position":48,"of":84,"minutes":10,"answer":"Clients cannot judge your craft with confidence but can judge immediately whether your files worked, so ship a structured pack with a README, outline type in print artwork.","keyIdea":"Clients cannot judge your craft with confidence but can judge immediately whether your files worked, so ship a structured pack with a README, outline type in print artwork, and name the typefaces rather than sending the font files, because most commercial licences prohibit transferring them."},"body":{"format":"markdown","text":"## The part that decides whether you are rehired\n\nClients cannot judge your craft with any confidence. They can judge, immediately and permanently, whether the files you sent worked.\n\nThis is a strange fact about the trade and it is worth taking seriously. Studios rehire competent designers over brilliant ones because the competent one's files never generate a phone call from a printer. Clients recommend the person whose handover was clean. The last four hours of a project have more effect on repeat work than the previous four weeks.\n\n## What a handover pack contains\n\nNot \"the final files\". A structured delivery, in a folder, that somebody who is not you can use in two years.\n\n```\nClientName-ProjectName-2026-03/\n  01-final/\n    print/         PDF/X-1a or X-4, outlined, with bleed\n    digital/       PNG, SVG, JPEG at stated sizes\n    source/        the editable working files\n  02-fonts/        licence notes, not the font files\n  03-guidance/     one-page usage note, colour values\n  04-archive/      packaged working files with links\n  README.txt\n```\n\nThe README is one page and answers the questions you will otherwise be emailed about: which file to send a printer, which to use on a website, what the colour values are, what the typefaces are and where to buy them, what the minimum size is, and what to do about the white version on a dark background.\n\nWriting it takes twenty minutes and eliminates most of the post-project support that you are not being paid for.\n\n## Naming, which matters more than it should\n\nUse a consistent scheme and never ship a file called `final_v2_new_FINAL.ai`.\n\nA workable pattern: `client-item-variant-size.ext`, all lowercase, hyphens not spaces, dates as `2026-03-14` so they sort correctly.\n\n`raman-logo-horizontal-black.svg` is findable in three years by somebody who was not there. Spaces and non-ASCII characters in filenames still cause genuine problems on web servers and on some print workflows, which is an unglamorous, entirely real reason to be careful.\n\n## The format questions, answered concretely\n\n**Print.** Send a PDF made to a print standard: PDF/X-1a is the safest common denominator, PDF/X-4 if the printer supports transparency. Fonts embedded or outlined, images at 300 ppi at final size, bleed of 3mm or whatever the printer specified, CMYK or the specified spot colours. Ask the printer what they want; every print shop has a preference and they will tell you.\n\n**Logos.** SVG for web, a layered vector source, and PNG at a few sizes with transparency. Provide the full-colour, single-colour black, and reversed-out white versions, because they will be needed within a month and the client will otherwise ask somebody else to make them badly.\n\n**Screen.** Actual pixel dimensions the developer asked for, plus SVG for anything vector. Ask whether they want 1x and 2x, or whether their build handles it.\n\n**Video.** A delivery master at the agreed codec and a compressed viewing copy. Say the frame rate, the resolution and the audio levels in the README.\n\n## Fonts: the trap that catches almost everyone\n\nDo not send font files to a client. Most commercial font licences prohibit transferring the files, and doing so can expose both of you.\n\nWhat you do instead:\n\n- **Outline the type** in final print artwork, so the file does not need the font.\n- **Tell them what the typefaces are**, where to buy them, and what licence they will need: desktop, web and app licences are separate purchases from most foundries, and a client who bought a desktop licence cannot legally use the webfont.\n- **Recommend an open alternative** where it suits, and say so honestly. Google Fonts and the SIL Open Font Library contain good faces that can be installed, embedded and redistributed freely. For a small business that will never buy a foundry licence, specifying an open typeface from the start is better work than specifying one they will end up pirating.\n\nThis conversation belongs at the kickoff, not the handover, because the typeface decision has a cost attached and the client should know it before you build on it.\n\n## Packaging working files\n\nLayout applications can gather a document with its linked images and fonts into one folder: \"Package\" in InDesign, \"Collect for Output\" in older tools, and the equivalent in Scribus. Do it, and check the result opens on a different machine.\n\nThe common failure is linked images that live in a folder on your drive. The client opens the file two years later, every image is missing, and you are no longer reachable. This happens constantly.\n\nFor anything you want to remain openable regardless of software, include a flattened PDF and a high-resolution image alongside the source. Application file formats rot; PDFs and TIFFs from twenty years ago still open.\n\n## What you hand over, and what you keep\n\nThe source files are usually part of the deal and should be stated in the quote either way. Where they are included, they are released on final payment and not before.\n\nKeep your own archive of everything, indefinitely if you can. The client will lose their copy (not may, will) and being able to send it two years later is a five-minute favour that produces enormous goodwill and, quite often, the next project.\n\n## Delivering it\n\nSend a link, not a 4GB email attachment. Any free cloud storage works. Two details: set the link not to expire if you can, and tell them to download and store a copy rather than relying on your link, because your storage account is not their archive.\n\nThen send a short email that says what is in the folder and which file is the one they will need first. People open the folder, see thirty files and freeze. One sentence (\"for the printer, send `raman-menu-print.pdf`\") prevents the phone call.\n\n## The limitation\n\nPerfect files do not survive a client who reopens them in the wrong application, rescales the logo by dragging a corner without holding a modifier key, or sends the low-resolution web version to a printer. Some of this is preventable with a usage note and some is not.\n\nWhat the handover controls is whether the failure is traceable to you. A packaged, documented, correctly specified delivery means that when something goes wrong downstream, you can point at what you sent, and, much more often, that nothing goes wrong at all and the printer quietly notes that your files are the ones that never bounce."},"check":{"question":"A designer sends a client the working InDesign file along with the fonts, so the client's team can make small amendments later. Two problems follow. What are they?","options":[{"text":"The client's team will not have the right software version, and the fonts will substitute, so a packaged PDF should have been sent instead of the source.","correct":false,"tempting":"Version drift is a real hazard and a flattened PDF is a good companion file, but it does not address either of the actual failures here."},{"text":"Transferring the font files likely breaches the licence, and the document's linked images probably still point at folders on her own drive.","correct":true},{"text":"The client can now alter the work without her involvement, and the fonts give them the means to produce new material that carries her design badly.","correct":false,"tempting":"Control over downstream use is a legitimate concern addressed by a usage note, not a defect in the delivery itself: clients usually own the right to amend."},{"text":"Source files should be released only on final payment, and sending fonts means she has no leverage if the last invoice is disputed.","correct":false,"tempting":"Withholding source files until payment is sound practice, but this describes when to send them rather than what is wrong with what was sent."}]},"prev":{"slug":"estimating-time","title":"Estimating from records, not imagination","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/independent-creative/estimating-time"},"next":{"slug":"working-with-suppliers","title":"When you are the middle of the chain","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/independent-creative/working-with-suppliers"},"authorship":"Founder and series editor: Dr Mustafa Mun. Written by AI models to a written standard. Exam keys checked blind by a second model: 3,665 of 3,666 agreed. Academic review invited.","review":{"status":"Draft, open for academic review"},"cite":"Addaly (2026) 'The last four hours', in Working for Yourself. Edited by M. Mun. Addaly. Available at: https://addaly.com/learn/independent-creative/files-and-handover (Accessed: 13 October 2026).","licence":{"name":"CC BY-NC-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/"},"reader":{"schema":1,"title":"The last four hours","courseTitle":"Working for Yourself","module":{"index":5,"slug":"running-the-job","title":"Running the job"},"answer":null,"keyIdea":"Clients cannot judge your craft with confidence but can judge immediately whether your files worked, so ship a structured pack with a README, outline type in print artwork, and name the typefaces rather than sending the font files, because most commercial licences prohibit transferring them.","hero":{"kind":"plate","image":null,"alt":null,"caption":null},"blocks":[{"t":"h2","id":"the-part-that-decides-whether-you-are-rehired","runs":[{"text":"The part that decides whether you are rehired"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Clients cannot judge your craft with any confidence. They can judge, immediately and permanently, whether the files you sent worked."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"This is a strange fact about the trade and it is worth taking seriously. Studios rehire competent designers over brilliant ones because the competent one’s files never generate a phone call from a printer. Clients recommend the person whose handover was clean. The last four hours of a project have more effect on repeat work than the previous four weeks."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"what-a-handover-pack-contains","runs":[{"text":"What a handover pack contains"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Not “the final files”. A structured delivery, in a folder, that somebody who is not you can use in two years."}]},{"t":"code","lang":"","label":"Text","text":"ClientName-ProjectName-2026-03/\n  01-final/\n    print/         PDF/X-1a or X-4, outlined, with bleed\n    digital/       PNG, SVG, JPEG at stated sizes\n    source/        the editable working files\n  02-fonts/        licence notes, not the font files\n  03-guidance/     one-page usage note, colour values\n  04-archive/      packaged working files with links\n  README.txt"},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"The README is one page and answers the questions you will otherwise be emailed about: which file to send a printer, which to use on a website, what the colour values are, what the typefaces are and where to buy them, what the minimum size is, and what to do about the white version on a dark background."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Writing it takes twenty minutes and eliminates most of the post-project support that you are not being paid for."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"naming-which-matters-more-than-it-should","runs":[{"text":"Naming, which matters more than it should"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Use a consistent scheme and never ship a file called "},{"text":"final_v2_new_FINAL.ai","code":true},{"text":"."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"A workable pattern: "},{"text":"client-item-variant-size.ext","code":true},{"text":", all lowercase, hyphens not spaces, dates as "},{"text":"2026-03-14","code":true},{"text":" so they sort correctly."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"raman-logo-horizontal-black.svg","code":true},{"text":" is findable in three years by somebody who was not there. Spaces and non-ASCII characters in filenames still cause genuine problems on web servers and on some print workflows, which is an unglamorous, entirely real reason to be careful."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"the-format-questions-answered-concretely","runs":[{"text":"The format questions, answered concretely"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Print.","b":true},{"text":" Send a PDF made to a print standard: PDF/X-1a is the safest common denominator, PDF/X-4 if the printer supports transparency. Fonts embedded or outlined, images at 300 ppi at final size, bleed of 3mm or whatever the printer specified, CMYK or the specified spot colours. Ask the printer what they want; every print shop has a preference and they will tell you."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Logos.","b":true},{"text":" SVG for web, a layered vector source, and PNG at a few sizes with transparency. Provide the full-colour, single-colour black, and reversed-out white versions, because they will be needed within a month and the client will otherwise ask somebody else to make them badly."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Screen.","b":true},{"text":" Actual pixel dimensions the developer asked for, plus SVG for anything vector. Ask whether they want 1x and 2x, or whether their build handles it."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Video.","b":true},{"text":" A delivery master at the agreed codec and a compressed viewing copy. Say the frame rate, the resolution and the audio levels in the README."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"fonts-the-trap-that-catches-almost-everyone","runs":[{"text":"Fonts: the trap that catches almost everyone"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Do not send font files to a client. Most commercial font licences prohibit transferring the files, and doing so can expose both of you."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"What you do instead:"}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"Outline the type","b":true},{"text":" in final print artwork, so the file does not need the font."}],[{"text":"Tell them what the typefaces are","b":true},{"text":", where to buy them, and what licence they will need: desktop, web and app licences are separate purchases from most foundries, and a client who bought a desktop licence cannot legally use the webfont."}],[{"text":"Recommend an open alternative","b":true},{"text":" where it suits, and say so honestly. Google Fonts and the SIL Open Font Library contain good faces that can be installed, embedded and redistributed freely. For a small business that will never buy a foundry licence, specifying an open typeface from the start is better work than specifying one they will end up pirating."}]]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"This conversation belongs at the kickoff, not the handover, because the typeface decision has a cost attached and the client should know it before you build on it."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"packaging-working-files","runs":[{"text":"Packaging working files"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Layout applications can gather a document with its linked images and fonts into one folder: “Package” in InDesign, “Collect for Output” in older tools, and the equivalent in Scribus. Do it, and check the result opens on a different machine."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"The common failure is linked images that live in a folder on your drive. The client opens the file two years later, every image is missing, and you are no longer reachable. This happens constantly."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"For anything you want to remain openable regardless of software, include a flattened PDF and a high-resolution image alongside the source. Application file formats rot; PDFs and TIFFs from twenty years ago still open."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"what-you-hand-over-and-what-you-keep","runs":[{"text":"What you hand over, and what you keep"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"The source files are usually part of the deal and should be stated in the quote either way. Where they are included, they are released on final payment and not before."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Keep your own archive of everything, indefinitely if you can. The client will lose their copy (not may, will) and being able to send it two years later is a five-minute favour that produces enormous goodwill and, quite often, the next project."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"delivering-it","runs":[{"text":"Delivering it"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Send a link, not a 4GB email attachment. Any free cloud storage works. Two details: set the link not to expire if you can, and tell them to download and store a copy rather than relying on your link, because your storage account is not their archive."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Then send a short email that says what is in the folder and which file is the one they will need first. People open the folder, see thirty files and freeze. One sentence (“for the printer, send "},{"text":"raman-menu-print.pdf","code":true},{"text":"”) prevents the phone call."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"the-limitation","runs":[{"text":"The limitation"}],"role":"limit"},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Perfect files do not survive a client who reopens them in the wrong application, rescales the logo by dragging a corner without holding a modifier key, or sends the low-resolution web version to a printer. Some of this is preventable with a usage note and some is not."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"What the handover controls is whether the failure is traceable to you. A packaged, documented, correctly specified delivery means that when something goes wrong downstream, you can point at what you sent, and, much more often, that nothing goes wrong at all and the printer quietly notes that your files are the ones that never bounce."}]}],"check":{"question":[{"text":"A designer sends a client the working InDesign file along with the fonts, so the client’s team can make small amendments later. Two problems follow. What are they?"}],"options":[{"text":[{"text":"The client’s team will not have the right software version, and the fonts will substitute, so a packaged PDF should have been sent instead of the source."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Version drift is a real hazard and a flattened PDF is a good companion file, but it does not address either of the actual failures here."}]},{"text":[{"text":"Transferring the font files likely breaches the licence, and the document’s linked images probably still point at folders on her own drive."}],"correct":true,"tempting":null},{"text":[{"text":"The client can now alter the work without her involvement, and the fonts give them the means to produce new material that carries her design badly."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Control over downstream use is a legitimate concern addressed by a usage note, not a defect in the delivery itself: clients usually own the right to amend."}]},{"text":[{"text":"Source files should be released only on final payment, and sending fonts means she has no leverage if the last invoice is disputed."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Withholding source files until payment is sound practice, but this describes when to send them rather than what is wrong with what was sent."}]}],"order":[2,3,1,0],"why":null},"prev":{"slug":"estimating-time","title":"Estimating from records, not imagination","minutes":9},"next":{"slug":"working-with-suppliers","title":"When you are the middle of the chain","minutes":10}}}