Find Creative and Design Subcontractors in Australia

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Creative work is unlicensed, which means the contract does all the work. The single thing that most often goes wrong is not quality, it is who owns the output once it has been paid for.

This page covers what gets subcontracted in this sector, the credentials worth confirming, and how a job runs on Workforce Marketplace. Early access is open.

What gets subcontracted

The work most often subcontracted covers:

Brand identity, logo and visual system design
Graphic design production and artwork overflow
Web and product design, including UI and UX
Packaging and print design, and pre-press preparation
Illustration, iconography and bespoke asset creation
Motion graphics and animation
Copywriting and content production

Credentials that matter here

There is no licence, so the checks that matter are commercial and contractual:

An active ABN and evidence of a genuine business rather than a disguised employment arrangement
Professional indemnity insurance where the work carries advice or compliance risk, such as regulated advertising
Portfolio and references you actually contact, which is the substitute for a credential in this sector
Clear licensing of any stock, font or third-party asset used in the work, including the licence tier
Written assignment of intellectual property, which does not happen automatically on payment in Australia

Under Australian law the creator generally owns copyright in commissioned work unless it is assigned in writing. Paying an invoice does not transfer ownership. If you need to own the logo, the assignment has to be in the contract.

What to confirm before work starts

An active ABN. Where a supplier does not quote one, you are generally required to withhold 47 per cent of the payment and remit it to the ATO. Their GST registration also tells you whether the price should carry it.

That the credential is held by the entity you are contracting with. A person can hold a qualification while the business you are paying holds nothing. Check the name on the document against the name on the invoice.

Insurance appropriate to the scope. Public liability is the common one. Depending on the work you may also need professional indemnity, and workers compensation if they carry their own staff.

That the engagement is genuinely a contract for services. Since the Fair Work amendments the test looks at the real substance of the relationship rather than the label on the paperwork, and getting it wrong creates back-pay, superannuation and payroll tax exposure. Contractor vs employee in Australia sets out how it now works.

Writing a scope that gets comparable quotes

Creative quotes become comparable when the deliverable and the revisions are defined. State the exact outputs and formats, how many rounds of revision are included and what happens beyond them, who owns the intellectual property and when it transfers, what happens to working files and source documents, whether third-party licences are included in the price and who renews them, and whether the contractor may use the work in their own portfolio.

How it works on Workforce Marketplace

Post the scope with the payment structure it actually uses, whether that is fixed price, hourly, daily, quoted or split into milestones for staged work. Subcontractors apply, and you compare them side by side rather than chasing callbacks.

Every account is ABN-verified at sign-up. Beyond that, subcontractors can submit licences, certifications and insurance for verification, which we review rather than grant automatically. Their profile shows the status against each credential without showing the document, the licence number or the ABN. Verification is opt-in, so a profile may hold credentials that have not been submitted, and it reflects the document as at the date it was reviewed rather than standing indefinitely.

Applying for work costs nothing and there are no leads to buy. Payment runs through Stripe, and Workforce Marketplace never stores your card or bank details.