Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of The Design Engine (the "Service") operated by The Design Engine, Inc. ("we," "us," or "our"). By creating an account, calling our API, or fetching any resource served from thedesignengine.ai or its subdomains, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service. If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization to these Terms.

The Design Engine is a brand-intelligence platform that serves computed design directives — colors, typography, logos, layout systems, voice guidance, and related brand attributes — to AI tools and coding agents. Delivery surfaces include:

• A public, canonical URL per brand at /brands/{slug}/DESIGN.md, returning a Google-DESIGN.md-compatible file (the "Public DESIGN.md Service").
• An authenticated MCP (Model Context Protocol) server serving structured design directives, logo delivery, PPTX/DOCX template compilation, and generation metering.
• A brand-builder web application for ingesting and managing brand profiles.

We do not process the content you generate using the Service. We serve brand intelligence; your content (decks, documents, diagrams, code) stays with you and your chosen AI tools.

To access authenticated features, you must create an account. You are responsible for safeguarding your credentials and for all activity under your account.

Brand slug claims. The canonical public URL /brands/{slug}/DESIGN.md is reserved for users who verify ownership of the brand's domain via email. Consumer email providers (gmail, outlook, icloud, yahoo, and similar) cannot claim a canonical brand slug; personal users receive a namespaced URL at /b/{username}/{slug}/DESIGN.md instead.

We reserve the right to transfer, suspend, or cancel a brand slug claim upon receipt of a credible ownership dispute, trademark complaint, or evidence that the claiming user is no longer affiliated with the brand. Disputes follow the process published in our Brand Dispute Policy (forthcoming).

The Service offers Individual, Verified Brand, Pro, Team, Agency, and Enterprise tiers. Current pricing and tier capabilities are published at thedesignengine.ai/pricing. Free tiers do not require payment. Paid tiers are billed in advance monthly or annually.

Trials. New Verified Brand accounts include a 14-day full-engine trial. At the end of the trial, accounts not converted to a paid tier revert to the DESIGN.md-parity feature set. Your public URL continues to work; logo delivery, brand voice, diagram generation, template compilation, and MCP access become upgrade-gated.

Cancellation. You may cancel a paid subscription at any time from your account settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; no pro-rated refunds for partial periods except as required by applicable law.

Agency and Enterprise tiers require a separate written agreement or order form.

You may use the Service only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms. Without limiting the foregoing, you agree not to:

• Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity, in connection with content generated using brand profiles served by the Service.
• Use brand identities you do not own or have authorization to use to create deceptive marketing materials, phishing content, or communications likely to mislead the public about the source, sponsorship, or endorsement of the content. Our platform provides brand intelligence; we do not grant you rights to third-party trademarks, and we expect you to have your own authorization for any brand you use.
• Claim a brand slug for a domain you do not control, or bypass our email-domain verification process. Fraudulent claims are grounds for immediate account termination and legal referral.
• Use the Service to generate counterfeit goods markings, fraudulent certificates, or regulated communications (financial, medical, legal) that misrepresent the source or authorizing party.
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, scrape at abusive rates, or circumvent authentication, rate limiting, or billing controls. Public-tier URLs are cacheable but not unlimited; excess automated requests may be throttled or blocked.
• Use the Service to transmit malicious code, exploit vulnerabilities, or interfere with the Service's operation or the experience of other users.
• Use the Service in any manner that violates applicable laws or infringes the intellectual-property, privacy, publicity, or other rights of third parties.

Legitimate agency, consultant, and freelance use cases are permitted and expected. Pitch decks, RFP responses, spec work, and client engagements in which you have current or prospective authorization from the brand owner are within acceptable use. When in doubt, the Agency tier's notification feature can inform a verified brand owner that an agency is representing them, preserving transparency while avoiding friction for common workflows.

Our property. The Service, including its software, design directives, compiled themes, diagram language rules, adaptive cascade, and design intelligence, is owned by The Design Engine, Inc. and protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. These Terms do not transfer any ownership; you receive only the usage rights expressly granted.

Your property. Brand profiles, logos, color palettes, typography, and other brand assets you upload or claim via the Service remain your property (or the property of the brand you represent). You grant us a limited license to store, process, compile, and serve those assets through the Service on your behalf.

Third-party brand assets. We do not claim ownership over third-party trademarks or brand identities that appear in our seed brand library, in Brand Scout results, or in user-submitted profiles. Third-party assets remain the property of their respective owners.

Our Privacy Policy describes what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. By using the Service you agree to the collection, use, and transfer of information as described in the Privacy Policy.

Consistent with our Switzerland principle, the Service does not store, analyze, or learn from the content you generate using brand profiles. Telemetry is scoped to brand and generation metadata (counts, formats, quality signals), not verbatim content.

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE OPERATION.

We make no warranty that the Service will meet your requirements, that any defects will be corrected, or that the Service will be available at any particular time or location.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE DESIGN ENGINE, INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE.

Our aggregate liability for all claims arising from or related to these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the greater of (a) the fees you paid us in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) USD $100.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without notice, for conduct that we believe violates these Terms or is otherwise harmful to the Service, our users, or third parties. Upon termination your right to use the Service ceases immediately.

You may terminate your account at any time by canceling your subscription and requesting deletion via your account settings.

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated by email to account holders or posted prominently on the Service at least thirty (30) days before taking effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising from these Terms or your use of the Service shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Denver County, Colorado, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of those courts.

Questions about these Terms can be directed to legal@thedesignengine.ai.