Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 1 March 2025

The Design Collective (“we”, “our”, “us”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard information through our website, enquiry forms, and studio submission process.

1. Information We Collect

We may collect:

Contact details: your name, email address, phone number, and address.
Client project information: details such as project type, location, budget, and aesthetic preferences.
Studio information: practice details, aesthetic summary, portfolio, and online presence (e.g. website, Instagram, Pinterest).
Feedback: we may conduct mid-project and end-of-project interviews with clients to ensure outcomes align with our standards.
Website data: IP addresses, browser type, cookies, and analytics data.
Comments: if you leave a comment, we collect the data shown in the comments form, your IP address, and browser user agent to assist spam detection.

2. Media

If you upload images to our website, avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS). Visitors to the site can download and extract this data from images.

3. Cookies

If you leave a comment, you may opt-in to saving your name, email, and website in cookies for convenience. These last for one year.
If you visit our login page, a temporary cookie checks if your browser accepts cookies; it is discarded when you close your browser.
When logged in, we set cookies to save login details and screen preferences. Login cookies last two days, screen cookies last a year. If you select “Remember Me,” login persists for two weeks. Logging out removes these cookies.
If you edit or publish an article, a cookie is saved indicating the post ID, expiring after one day.

4. Embedded Content from Other Websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles). Embedded content behaves as if you visited the other site directly and may collect data, use cookies, or track your interaction.

5. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

Match clients with vetted designers from our collective.
Review studio applications for potential inclusion.
Conduct client interviews mid- and post-project to uphold quality outcomes.
Communicate with you regarding enquiries, submissions, or ongoing projects.
Improve our website, services, and client experience.
Comply with legal obligations.

6. Who We Share Your Data With

Studios within our collective, for the purpose of matching client projects.
Service providers (e.g. website hosting, analytics, spam detection).
Authorities if required by law.
If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

7. How Long We Retain Your Data

Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely to allow automatic approval of follow-ups.
Registered users (if any) can see, edit, or delete their personal data at any time (except username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
Client and studio information is retained only for as long as necessary to provide services and comply with legal obligations.

8. Your Rights

You may request:

An exported file of the personal data we hold about you.
Correction of inaccurate information.
Deletion of your personal data (excluding data we are required to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes).

9. Where Your Data Is Sent

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

10. Security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information, but no method of electronic storage is completely secure.

11. Updates

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The updated version will be posted here with the effective date.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions or requests regarding your personal information, please contact us:

The Design Collective
Email: matthew – at – thedesigncollective.com.au