This website is my portfolio, a place where I collect and present work I’ve created, directed or contributed to across digital design, branding, photography, video and visual production.
Some projects are completely my own. Others were created together with clients, agencies, developers, strategists, photographers, designers or wider project teams.
The purpose of this portfolio is simple: to show what I do, how I think and the kind of work I like to create.
You’re welcome to explore it, share a link to it and use it as a reference to my work.
What you may not do is simply take the work and use it as your own.
Publicly available does not mean free to use.
This page is the readable version. The PDF is the formal document supplied with quotations and invoices.
Work shown on this site
Unless stated otherwise, original work created by me and shown on this website remains protected by copyright.
This can include:
- photography and video;
- digital product and service design;
- UX and UI design;
- visual identities and branding;
- campaign and marketing material;
- graphics, concepts and creative assets;
- prototypes and interface concepts;
- written and visual case-study material.
Copyright protection applies regardless of whether the work is shown as a complete project, a single image, a cropped detail, a screen recording, an animation or part of a wider case study.
The fact that work can be viewed, downloaded by a browser or found through a search engine does not make it public-domain material.
You may therefore not copy, reproduce, republish, redistribute, sell, modify or commercially use work from this portfolio without permission.
If you would like to use something, just get in touch first.
Client work
A large part of this portfolio consists of commissioned work and projects created for, or together with, clients.
These case studies are intended to show my own role, creative contribution, process and experience within those projects.
That does not mean I claim ownership over everything visible within every case study.
Client names, trademarks, logos, products, supplied photography, written copy, data, brand assets and other third-party materials remain the property of their respective owners.
The same applies to work created by other designers, photographers, developers, agencies and collaborators.
Where several people contributed to a project, the work is shown here as context for my own involvement rather than as a claim of sole authorship.
Where possible, I try to make my role and responsibilities clear within the project itself.
If you believe something has been incorrectly attributed or credited, feel free to contact me.
Copyright & licensing
How ownership works depends on the type of assignment.
For photography, video, branding and other visual production, copyright normally remains with me unless we explicitly agree otherwise in writing. The client receives a licence to use the work within the scope agreed for the assignment.
For UX/UI design, digital product development, automation and AI work, ownership and transfer of rights are governed by the General Terms & Conditions and the specific agreement for the assignment.
A licence can define things such as:
- where the work may be used;
- for how long it may be used;
- in which countries or territories;
- through which media and channels;
- whether paid advertising is included;
- whether third parties or affiliated companies may use it;
- whether the licence is exclusive;
- and whether broader or unlimited usage rights are required.
This structure allows usage rights to match the actual purpose and scale of an assignment.
A local campaign running for several months, for example, is different from a photograph being used internationally for several years across paid media, packaging and advertising.
For commercial assignments, the exact usage rights are defined in the quotation and in the Usage & Copyright terms supplied with the assignment.
Those agreed terms always take precedence over this general website page.
Sharing my work
Sharing my work is absolutely fine when it is done in the right way.
You are always welcome to share a direct link to my website or to one of the individual project pages.
If you would like to reproduce or feature work somewhere else (for example in an article, publication, presentation, blog, social post, exhibition, inspiration collection or other editorial context), please ask first.
Depending on the intended use, I may simply give permission or we may agree on specific conditions.
Where permission is given, credit should normally be provided as:
© Nick Frens
or, where appropriate:
@nickfrens
A credit is appreciated, but it does not automatically create permission to use the work.
Permission and attribution are two separate things.
Commercial use
Work from this portfolio may not be taken and used for commercial purposes without permission.
This includes, for example, using photography, video, designs, visuals, concepts or other creative material in:
- advertising;
- commercial websites;
- social campaigns;
- paid media;
- presentations for clients;
- products or packaging;
- promotional material;
- publications;
- brand communication.
If you are interested in using existing work commercially, a separate licence can usually be arranged.
The scope and price of that licence will depend on the intended use.
Editing my work
Please don’t materially alter, manipulate or repurpose my work without permission.
Small technical changes may sometimes be necessary when publishing something, such as resizing an image or adapting it to a different format, but the creative character of the work should remain intact.
Examples of changes that should not be made without permission include:
- significantly changing colours or grading;
- removing or adding visual elements;
- heavily cropping photography;
- retouching or manipulating subjects;
- altering layouts or designs;
- removing branding or credits;
- combining work with other material in a way that changes its meaning;
- re-editing video into a different production;
- presenting work in a misleading or inappropriate context.
The same principle applies to design work.
Logos, visual identities, interfaces and other supplied assets should be used according to their intended application and any applicable brand guidelines.
Photography, video & people
Some of the work shown on this website contains recognizable people, locations, products, brands or property belonging to clients or third parties.
Their appearance within this portfolio does not grant anyone else permission to reuse those images or recordings.
Copyright and portrait rights are separate matters.
Even where I hold copyright in a photograph or video, other rights may still apply to the people, brands, locations or property shown within it.
Any applicable portrait rights, privacy rights, trademark rights and other third-party rights therefore remain unaffected.
If you want to reuse a photograph or video featuring a recognizable person, additional permission may sometimes be required.
Concepts & unpublished ideas
This portfolio may occasionally contain concepts, exploratory work, prototypes or directions that were not ultimately produced or launched.
These are shown to demonstrate process, thinking and creative development.
They should not be interpreted as freely available concepts or templates.
Ideas, visual directions and creative concepts shown here may therefore not be copied, reproduced or developed into commercial work without permission.
Where concepts were created within a client assignment, any applicable client rights and confidentiality agreements remain respected.
AI & automated use
Work displayed on this website may not be collected, reproduced or used as training material for generative AI models, machine-learning datasets or similar commercial automated systems without prior written permission.
This also applies to automated scraping or systematic collection intended to build commercial datasets, design libraries, image datasets or training material.
Using individual work as personal inspiration is one thing.
Copying, reproducing or systematically extracting that work to train or improve a commercial system is another.
If you are interested in licensing work for a specific dataset, research project or automated application, please contact me first.
References & inspiration
I believe creative work should be able to inspire other creative work.
You are welcome to use this portfolio as reference material, save links for inspiration, discuss projects with your team or use examples as part of a moodboard or research process.
There is an important difference, however, between inspiration and reproduction.
Using an idea as a starting point for your own creative process is different from directly copying a composition, interface, photograph, visual identity, concept or other distinctive piece of work.
When in doubt, ask.
Interested in using something?
If you would like to license a photograph, video, design or other piece of work (or you’re simply unsure whether a particular use is okay), get in touch.
Usage rights can usually be tailored to the way you actually want to use the work, whether that means a single editorial publication, an advertising campaign, longer-term commercial use or something more specific.
For commissioned work, usage rights are agreed as part of the assignment and documented in the quotation and accompanying Usage & Copyright terms.
For existing portfolio work, permission and licensing can be discussed separately.
Either way, it is always better to ask before using something.
© Nick Frens. All rights reserved.