How is this better than emailing myself the files?

Email headers are held by a provider, can be difficult to produce cleanly years later, and a self-sent email is not strong evidence on its own. A blockchain record is a public transaction that anyone can verify independently, that you do not control, and that does not depend on an account still existing. It is also cheaper than the time spent arguing about the first option.

Should I timestamp every round or just the final delivery?

Each round, and in particular the concepts a client rejected. Those are the ones most likely to reappear somewhere else, and the final delivery tells you nothing about what was shown three months earlier. A sequence of dated rounds is also considerably more persuasive than one dated file.

My client requires an NDA. Can I still use this?

Yes — this is the case it is built for. The file never leaves your machine; only its SHA-256 hash is transmitted, and a hash reveals nothing about the contents. There is no upload, no storage, and nothing to disclose in a client security review.

Does a timestamp prove the concept was mine?

It proves the file existed on that date and has not changed. It cannot prove you originated it, because someone who copied your work could timestamp their copy and the record would honestly show they had it. The value is priority: an earlier record beats a later one, which is why the concept stage is the moment to do it.

Blockchain Timestamping for Design Agencies

The moment this matters

The pitch. You present concepts to a prospect. They do not hire you. Six months later something recognisable appears. This is the oldest problem in the industry, and it is almost always a question of evidence rather than law.

The delivery. A client disputes what was delivered, or when. A dated record of the exact files that went out on the day ends the conversation quickly.

The third party. Somebody unrelated to the engagement produces a similar mark or design. Your contract governs your client. It does nothing about a stranger, and what you need there is priority.

The objection: doesn't my contract cover this?

It covers the client. That is not the same thing.

A contract establishes who owns the work between you and the person who signed it. It is silent on when the work existed, and it binds nobody else. The two situations agencies actually lose sleep over — a prospect who never became a client, and an unrelated party with something similar — both fall outside it.

A timestamp answers the question a contract cannot: on this date, this exact file existed in this exact form. It complements the contract rather than replacing it.

Round-by-round, not project-by-project

The pattern that works is timestamping at each presentation rather than once at the end.

When	What	Why
Internal concepts settled	The concept deck, working files	Predates any external exposure
Before each client presentation	The exact deck you are about to send	Fixes what was shown, and when
On rejection of a route	The rejected concepts	The ones most likely to reappear elsewhere
Final delivery	The delivered package	Ends "that is not what you gave us"
Brand guidelines released	The guidelines document	Establishes the reference version

The rejected concepts are the ones worth being deliberate about. Work that a client declined and later resembles something they shipped is the specific scenario this is for.

Who owns what, while we are here

Worth checking independently of any of this: in the US, work by an independent contractor is not automatically a work made for hire. Absent a written assignment, the copyright in a logo or design stays with whoever made it. Agencies are sometimes surprised to find they still own work a client believes it bought — and freelancers are sometimes surprised to find a contract quietly assigned everything.

See trademark vs copyright for a logo for how the two rights divide over brand work.

Why the files stay put

Client work is usually under NDA, and a service that requires you to upload it is a service you should not use for it.

The file is hashed in your browser and only the hash is sent. Nothing to upload, nothing stored, nothing for a client to object to in a security review. The free hash tool demonstrates the same mechanism with nothing transmitted at all.

What it proves, and what it does not

That a specific file existed by a specific time, unchanged. Not that you designed it — a copyist can timestamp a copy, and the record will honestly show they had one on that date. What matters is that your record is earlier, which is why timestamping at the concept stage beats timestamping at delivery.

See proof of existence vs proof of authorship.

Blockchain timestamping for design agencies