Privacy Policy
Plain English. No dark patterns. Last updated October 4, 2026.
Who we are
Sway Rise Creative is a web design and brand studio led by Diane Whiddon, based in Chicago, Illinois, USA. We can be reached at diane@swayrisecreative.com.
What we collect
This site collects only what we need to do the work and keep the lights on.
- Information you give us — Anything you type into our inquiry form, send via email, or share during a discovery call. Includes your name, email, business details, and project notes.
- Information collected automatically — Standard server log data (IP address, browser type, pages visited, referring URL, timestamps). We use privacy-friendly website analytics that do not use cookies and do not fingerprint visitors. We also use Google Analytics to measure site traffic in aggregate, with Google signals and ad personalization turned off.
- How you use the site — We use Lucky Orange to understand how visitors interact with our pages. It records anonymized session activity such as mouse movement, clicks, scrolling, and the pages you move through, and builds aggregate heatmaps from that data. This helps us see what's working and fix what isn't. Keystrokes in form fields are masked, and we do not use it to capture sensitive information you type. Lucky Orange sets cookies to do this.
- Cookies — Our hosting and security provider may set strictly necessary cookies for security and performance (attack protection, bot detection). Google Analytics sets first-party cookies to measure how the site is used. Lucky Orange sets cookies to recognize returning visitors and measure how the site is used. We do not set advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
How we use it
- To respond to your inquiry and discuss your project
- To deliver work you've hired us to do
- To send occasional studio updates (only if you opted in)
- To understand site traffic in aggregate and improve the site
- To meet legal, accounting, and tax obligations
We do not sell your data. We do not share your data with advertisers. We do not use your data to train external AI models.
Third-party tools we use
To run this business we use a small set of trusted third parties. Each has its own privacy policy:
- Our hosting and security provider (hosting, DNS, security, privacy-friendly website analytics, form spam protection)
- Google Analytics (aggregate site traffic measurement)
- Lucky Orange (site behavior analytics, session recording, heatmaps)
- Cal.com (scheduling discovery calls)
- Google Workspace (email, docs, calendar)
- Stripe (payments, when invoiced)
- GitHub (source code, version history)
How long we keep it
Inquiry and client correspondence is kept for the life of the project plus seven years for tax and contract records. After that, we delete it on request or as part of routine cleanup. Server logs are typically retained for 30 days.
Your rights
You can ask us, at any time, to:
- See what we have on file about you
- Correct anything that's wrong
- Delete what we're not legally required to keep
- Stop receiving any communication from us
Email diane@swayrisecreative.com with the subject line "Privacy request." We respond within 30 days, usually faster.
Children
This site is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
Changes to this policy
If we change anything material, we'll update the date at the top and, where appropriate, email anyone currently in active correspondence with us.
Questions about any of this: diane@swayrisecreative.com.