Privacy

Who I am

I am a sole trader who provides graphic design and marketing services. I am located in Bentham, North Yorkshire, but my services are provided online.

In the course of our communication and business, I may collect, use and am responsible for certain personal information about you. It is regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which applies across the European Union and the United Kingdom. I will be responsible as a ‘controller’ of the personal information for the purposes of GDPR.

Statement of intent

The purpose of this policy is to be transparent about how I collect, use and protect the personal information you provide to me, whether online, via phone, email, in letters or in any other correspondence or from third parties.

Personal data is information that relates to identifiable living individuals. I will act in accordance with current legislation and meet current best practice with regard to the processing of personal data.  I am committed to safeguarding your personal information.

If you have any queries about this privacy policy, please contact me via the contact form on my website.

Collection of personal data

When you contact me via email, my website, social media or phone, access my website, or purchase services directly from me or via my website or social media channels, your personal information (such as name, address and other contact details) may be collected. This personal information will be used to verify your identity, provide services to you or notify you of any changes to my services that may affect you and to improve my services.

Data protection law recognises that certain categories of personal information are more sensitive. This is known as sensitive personal data and covers health information, race, religious beliefs and political opinions. I do not usually collect sensitive personal data.

Legal basis for processing your personal information

There needs to be a legal base for processing your personal information. The following may be one of the legal bases for me to process your personal information:

• Where you have given a clear consent to process your personal information.

• Where the use of your personal information is necessary to fulfil a contractual obligation that I have with you or to take necessary steps before entering into a contract.

• Where the use of your personal information is necessary for complying with the law (not including contractual obligations).

• Where the use of your personal information is necessary for performing a task in the public interest or official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.

• Where the use of your personal information is necessary for my legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party (unless there is a good reason to protect your personal information, which overrides the legitimate interests).

 

Sharing your personal information

Your personal information may be shared with third parties to enable me to provide the best service to you or be shared with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.  I will only share your information when there is a legitimate need to do so. It may be necessary to share some information with third party service providers, suppliers, sub-contractors and financial and official organisations.

I never share personal data with any individual or organisation for third-party marketing purposes. 

Payment processing

When you purchase services or products from me, I use third-party transaction and payment processors and they process your financial data. The providers I currently use are:
Square – View their privacy policy: https://squareup.com/gb/en/legal/general/privacy
Stripe – View their privacy policy: https://stripe.com/gb/privacy
Thrivecart – View their privacy policy: https://legal.thrivecart.com/platform/privacy
 

Marketing

I may send you information about my services, competitions and special offers, which may be of interest to you. Where I have your consent or it is in my legitimate interests to do so, I may do this by email. This will be done only if you opt in to receive email marketing, and you may unsubscribe at any time. I currently use a third-party email marketing site, Mailerlite, who will process your contact details. You can consult their privacy policy here: https://www.mailerlite.com/legal/privacy-policy

I may use personal information used in the designs I create for you in my own marketing, for example by displaying a picture of a brochure or business card created for you on my website or social media. The contract for services created by your agreeing to my standard Terms & Conditions when we begin working together provides that you consent to this use. You may withdraw consent to my using any designs that breach your rights under this privacy policy for my marketing purposes by notifying me in writing.

Your rights

Under the GDPR, you have a number of important rights free of charge. You have the right to:

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•  know whether your personal data is being processed, what data is gathered, from where it is obtained and why and by whom it is processed.

•  access the data collected from/about you.

•  request changes to or deletion of your personal data that are inaccurate or incomplete.

•  request your personal data to deleted from my records, subject to my legal rights.

•  restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.

•  object to processing of your personal data, for example in the case of direct marketing.

• object to automated processing, including profiling.

• data portability so can transfer your personal data from one processor to another.

•  lodge a complaint: in the event that I refuse your request under the Rights of Access, I will provide you with a reason as to why. If you are not satisfied with the way your request has been handled, please contact me.

• ask for the help of a supervisory authority and the right for other legal remedies. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or by telephone: 0303 123 1113

• withdraw any given consent for processing of your personal data.

 

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please contact me via my website contact form.

Keeping your personal information secure

Access to your personal information that I hold is limited to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

Client information is held on my personal computer and backed up to Onedrive, a secure cloud storage service.

Data Retention

I will hold your personal information on my systems for as long as is necessary to comply with my legal obligations.

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Because many of my clients work with me more than once I do not delete your data unless you specifically ask me to. However, some data is routinely deleted for your security, such as any passwords you have shared with me, which are deleted when I no longer require them to fulfil any service I am providing for you.

My website

Throughout my website I may link to other websites owned and operated by certain trusted third parties. These other third-party websites may also gather information about you in accordance with their own separate privacy policies. For privacy information relating to these other third-party websites, please consult their privacy policies as appropriate.

Transferring data to other countries

My website is hosted by Wix.com who use servers located in various countries across the world, therefore your data may be transferred out of the UK, EU and your own country. Other services I use, such as payment processors, email marketing providers and cloud storage facilities may also transfer data out of the UK, EU and your own country.

Cookies, Analytics & other tracking technology

Wix.com use essential cookies to allow my website to function effectively. I may also use similar technologies to analyse customer behaviour, administer my website, track users’ movements, and to collect information about users. This is done in order to personalise and enhance your experience.

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. 

You can choose to accept or decline cookies by opting out via the banner displayed on my website or by disabling them in your browser settings.  This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.  Overall, cookies help me provide you with a better website.

I may use third party cookies in connection with my website as well, For instance, I use Google Analytics to collect and process certain analytical data. Google Analytics collects information anonymously. It reports website trends without identifying individual visits.

I may use tracking technologies via third party email marketing software to collect information from your interaction with emails, such as whether you clicked or opened a message. This information is collected from all users and may be connected with other information about you, this information will be considered personal and treated accordingly.

Changes to this policy

I may make changes to this Privacy Policy by posting the new version on my website.

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Last updated: November 2023