1.Introduction
The Atelier Creator Standards define the professional expectations, quality benchmarks, and ethical obligations that apply to all Creatives who maintain a verified profile on the Atelier Platform. These standards are not a barrier to entry — they are a reflection of what it means to represent your craft at the highest level. By applying for and maintaining a Creative account on Atelier, you agree to uphold these standards at all times. Consistently meeting these standards is what makes Atelier a trusted destination for clients seeking premium creative professionals.
Who These Standards Apply To
The Atelier Creator Standards apply exclusively to registered Creatives — individuals and studios who maintain a verified profile on the Platform for the purpose of being discovered by and engaged by clients. These standards supplement our Community Guidelines and Terms and Conditions and, in the event of any conflict, the more specific standard prevails.
Why Standards Matter
Clients who use Atelier to find creative professionals have high expectations. They are often planning significant projects — weddings, brand campaigns, editorial shoots, commercial productions, or architectural documentation — and are trusting the Atelier directory to surface professionals who meet a defined standard of quality and professionalism. The Creator Standards are how we ensure that trust is well placed.
2.Profile Quality Standards
Your Atelier profile is your primary professional representation on the Platform. It is the first thing prospective clients see when they discover your work. A high-quality profile is not just an aesthetic preference — it is a prerequisite for being taken seriously as a premium creative professional.
Profile Completeness
All Creatives are expected to maintain a fully completed profile, including a professional display name, a detailed and accurately written biography, at least one defined specialty category, a current location, and a functioning contact or inquiry pathway. Incomplete profiles reflect poorly on you and on the Atelier directory as a whole.
Professional Photography
Your profile photograph — if included — should be a high-quality, professional image that presents you or your studio in a manner consistent with the premium nature of the Platform. Blurry, low-resolution, casual, or inappropriate profile photographs are not acceptable.
Biography Standards
Your biography should be written in clear, professional language that accurately describes your specialty, experience, creative approach, and the types of projects you excel at. It should be free of spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, and exaggerated or unverifiable claims. Biographies should be a minimum of 80 words and should focus on your professional identity, not personal information.
Specialty Accuracy
Tag only the specialties that represent your genuine area of professional competence. Using broad or inaccurate specialty tags to increase your visibility in search results is misleading to clients and a violation of these standards. If your specialty evolves over time, update your tags accordingly.
3.Portfolio Standards
The portfolio is the heart of your Atelier profile. It is where prospective clients evaluate the quality and style of your work before reaching out. The standards below define what constitutes an acceptable and exemplary portfolio on the Atelier Platform.
Minimum Portfolio Requirement
All Creatives are required to maintain a portfolio with a minimum of six (6) high-quality work samples. These samples should represent a cohesive body of work that reflects your current capabilities and creative style. Portfolios with fewer than six samples may be flagged for review and could affect your visibility in the directory.
Image Quality
Portfolio images must be high resolution and properly exposed, composed, and color-graded (where applicable). Low-quality, blurry, or poorly composed images lower the overall quality of the Platform and may be flagged for removal. Images should be exported at a minimum resolution of 2000px on the longest edge and should not display visible compression artifacts.
Work Authenticity
Every piece of work in your portfolio must be work you personally created or have full legal authorization to display. This includes work produced as an employee or contractor for a client or agency — ensure you have the necessary rights before displaying it. Including another creator's work in your portfolio without authorization is a serious violation and may result in immediate account termination.
Currency of Work
Your portfolio should reflect your current skill level and creative style. Work that is significantly outdated or no longer representative of your output may mislead clients about what they can expect. We recommend refreshing your portfolio at least once every twelve months with your most recent and best work.
Portfolio Diversity
Where possible, your portfolio should demonstrate range and versatility within your specialty. A portfolio that shows only a single type of subject, lighting condition, or style may limit your appeal to prospective clients seeking creative professionals for diverse project types.
Behind-the-Scenes and Process Work
Behind-the-scenes images, mood boards, or process documentation may be included in your portfolio as supplementary content but should not replace high-quality final deliverables. Final output work should constitute the majority of your portfolio.
4.Identity Verification Standards
Atelier requires all Creatives to complete an identity verification process before their profiles become publicly visible in the directory. This verification is administered by our trusted identity verification partner and is a cornerstone of the trust that makes Atelier valuable to clients.
What Verification Covers
Identity verification on Atelier confirms that the individual or studio associated with the account is a real, identifiable entity — not a fake account, bot, or impersonator. Verification confirms identity; it does not constitute an endorsement of skill level, output quality, or professional conduct beyond the baseline requirements of our Creator Standards.
Documentation Requirements
To complete verification, you will be required to provide a valid government-issued identification document (such as a passport, national ID card, or driver's license) and complete a real-time identity check. All identity documentation is processed securely by our verification partner and is subject to their privacy policies in addition to our own.
Verification Maintenance
Verification is granted at a point in time and must be renewed if your identifying information changes significantly (for example, a legal name change or a major change to your professional identity). Zeraynce reserves the right to revoke verification status and require re-verification at any time if we have reason to believe that the accuracy of your verification information has changed.
Consequences of Verification Fraud
Providing false, altered, or fraudulent documentation during the identity verification process is a serious violation and will result in permanent account termination and may be referred to appropriate legal authorities.
5.Client Service Standards
Being a verified Creative on Atelier carries a responsibility to deliver a professional, consistent, and high-quality experience to every client who reaches out to you through the Platform. The following standards define the baseline of professional client service expected of all Atelier Creatives.
Inquiry Response Time
Creatives are expected to respond to client inquiries within 48 business hours of receipt. If you are unavailable for an extended period, you should update your profile availability status accordingly to prevent clients from submitting inquiries that will go unanswered.
Honest Availability Representation
Do not accept inquiries or bookings for dates or project types you are not genuinely available or capable of fulfilling. Representing yourself as available when you are not, or accepting projects beyond your current capacity, leads to client disappointment and damages the reputation of the Platform.
Clear Communication of Terms
Before confirming any booking or project arrangement, you must clearly communicate your project terms, deliverable expectations, revision policies, timeline, and any other material conditions of engagement. Clients should not be surprised by conditions that were not disclosed during the inquiry phase.
Delivery Commitments
When you agree to deliver work by a certain date or within a certain timeframe, you are making a professional commitment. Missed deadlines without advance communication and mutual rescheduling are a violation of professional standards and may attract negative reviews and Platform enforcement action.
Professional Dispute Handling
If a dispute arises with a client, address it directly, professionally, and in good faith. Escalate to mediation where appropriate. Do not publicly shame, threaten, or demean clients in response to disagreements over deliverables, feedback, or payment. If a client is acting in bad faith, report the situation to our support team.
6.Ethical Standards
Professional excellence is not only about the quality of the final image, film, or design — it is equally about the ethics and values that guide how you work with clients, subjects, collaborators, and competitors. The following ethical standards reflect what it means to practice your craft with integrity on Atelier.
Subject Dignity and Consent
All individuals depicted in your portfolio content must have given their informed consent to be photographed, filmed, or depicted and to have that content shared publicly on your professional profile. This is particularly important for content featuring minors, private individuals, or sensitive subjects. Model releases and consent documentation should be obtained and retained by you.
Cultural Sensitivity
Approach all creative projects — particularly those involving cultural practices, religious ceremonies, communities, or subject matter outside your own lived experience — with research, respect, and humility. Misrepresenting, appropriating, or trivializing cultural elements in your creative work is inconsistent with the professional and ethical standards of the Atelier community.
Environmental Responsibility
Where your creative practice involves location shoots, installations, or other activities with an environmental footprint, we encourage you to follow Leave No Trace principles, obtain the necessary permits, and operate in a manner that respects natural environments, private property, and local communities.
Honest Pricing Communication
While Atelier does not display pricing publicly on creative profiles (consistent with our No Public Pricing policy), all pricing communicated privately to clients must be honest, consistent, and free of hidden fees or deceptive upselling practices. Pricing should reflect the genuine value of the services you are providing.
Non-Discrimination
Atelier Creatives may not refuse service to clients on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Creative professionals have the right to decline projects that conflict with their values or professional judgment, but that right may not be exercised in a discriminatory manner.
7.Intellectual Property Standards
As creative professionals, Atelier Creatives have both rights and responsibilities when it comes to intellectual property. Understanding and respecting intellectual property law is a foundational professional obligation.
Ownership of Your Work
In most jurisdictions, the copyright in creative work belongs to the creator at the moment of creation, unless that right has been assigned by contract. Before displaying any commissioned or client-funded work in your portfolio, review the contract under which it was created to confirm you have the right to use it for self-promotional purposes.
Licensing to Clients
When you deliver creative work to a client, you are typically granting them a license to use that work for specified purposes — not necessarily transferring the copyright entirely. Be clear about the scope of the license you are granting, including whether the client may reproduce, modify, sublicense, or commercially exploit the work.
Respecting Third-Party Rights
Do not incorporate third-party copyrighted material — including music, fonts, stock images, or brand assets — into your creative deliverables without the appropriate licenses. Delivering work that infringes third-party intellectual property rights to a client exposes both you and the client to legal liability.
AI-Generated Content
If your workflow includes the use of AI-generated imagery, video, text, or other content, you are responsible for understanding the intellectual property implications of using such tools, complying with the terms of service of the AI platforms you use, and being transparent with clients about the role of AI in your creative process where relevant.
8.Standards Maintenance and Review
Atelier conducts periodic reviews of Creator profiles to ensure ongoing compliance with these Creator Standards. Reviews may be triggered by client reports, automated quality checks, or routine auditing of the directory.
Profile Reviews
During a profile review, Zeraynce may assess whether your portfolio meets minimum quality requirements, whether your profile information is accurate and complete, and whether your professional conduct on the Platform meets the standards described in this document. You may be asked to provide additional information or make specific updates to your profile.
Remediation Period
If your profile is found to be out of compliance, you will typically be given a remediation period to address the identified issues before any enforcement action is taken, unless the violation is severe or involves fraud, illegal content, or safety risks.
Voluntary Reporting
We encourage Creatives to proactively report situations where they believe their own profile may no longer meet our standards — for example, if they have undergone a significant change in their creative practice or if previously authorized portfolio content has become subject to new restrictions. Voluntary disclosure is viewed favorably in our enforcement process.
9.Recognition and Advancement
Zeraynce recognizes Creatives who consistently demonstrate excellence and uphold the values of the Atelier community. Maintaining a strong compliance record with these Creator Standards, receiving consistently positive client feedback, and building a robust and high-quality portfolio are the foundations of advancement within the Atelier directory.
Featured Creative Status
Creatives who demonstrate exceptional portfolio quality, strong client service, and consistent adherence to Creator Standards may be considered for featured placement within the Atelier directory. Featured status increases your visibility and signals to prospective clients that you represent the top tier of professionals on the Platform.
Verification Badge
The Atelier verification badge is a visible mark of trust displayed on your public profile. It signals to clients that your identity has been verified by Zeraynce and that your profile meets our baseline standards. The badge is a privilege, not a right, and can be revoked if standards are no longer met.
10.Contact and Questions
If you have questions about these Creator Standards, need clarification on whether a specific situation complies with our policies, or want to report a concern about another Creative's compliance, please contact our Creator Relations team at creators@zeraynce.com. We are committed to being accessible, transparent, and fair in the application of these standards. Include "Creator Standards" in the subject line to ensure your message is routed to the right team promptly.