Privacy Policy

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.

This policy covers our studio website, AI Designer's Academy, The Rabbit Hole, client Portal and Intake, Proposals, Site Health, SRC Mail, Secure Share, and Authority Audit. Client-owned websites have their own notices.

What we collect

The information we receive depends on which service you use.

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). On the studio website, we use cookie-free traffic analytics that do not fingerprint visitors. The studio and Academy sites also use cookie-based analytics to measure traffic, with advertising signals and ad personalization turned off in those sites' configurations.
How you use the studio website — We use session recordings and heatmaps on our studio's public website to understand page interactions such as clicks, scrolling and navigation. Recording tools mask keystrokes in form fields; recordings can still include visible page content. We do not use them to capture sensitive information you type. These tools set cookies.
Cookies and browser storage — Hosting, security and sign-in services may use cookies to protect the service and keep you signed in. Analytics on the studio and Academy websites, and newsletter confirmation pages, uses cookies to measure visits or signup activity. The studio website's session recording tools also use cookies. Some applications remember display preferences in your browser. You can manage cookies and site storage in your browser; blocking necessary storage may affect sign-in or other features. We do not set advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

Client services and agreements

The Portal and Intake store contact and business details, project answers, uploaded files, support messages and delivery records. Proposals stores proposal and agreement details, selections, signatures and acceptance records, including timestamps, IP addresses and browser information. Site Health stores website checks, reports and connected website performance data. We use these records to provide your services, manage access, document agreements and support your website. Access is available to authorized SRC operators and the client users or recipients permitted for that record.

Academy and Rabbit Hole memberships

Membership services use contact, account, application and payment-status information to manage participation and access. Checkout and externally hosted community services process information under their own privacy notices. In The Rabbit Hole, profile details, photos, posts, replies and other contributions you share with the group are visible to other members. Application responses are used by SRC to review membership requests. Consider what you want fellow members to see before posting.

Rabbit Hole coworking uses an embedded conferencing service that receives your member identity, name and email to connect you to the room. It processes the audio, video and shared-screen content you choose to transmit, which other participants in the room can see or hear.

SRC Mail stores your email address, any name you provide, signup and confirmation details, subscription preferences and delivery history. It records clicks on tracked newsletter links and delivery-provider events, such as delivery failures and complaints; those events can also include opens when reported by the provider. We use these records to send the emails you requested, understand engagement and prevent unwanted delivery. Newsletter links let you unsubscribe. Unsubscribing stops marketing delivery; a record of that preference may remain so we do not add you back by mistake.

When you book a discovery call, our scheduling service also supplies your name, email and appointment details so SRC Mail can send related confirmation and preparation messages. A booking alone does not subscribe a new contact to general marketing emails.

Secure Share encrypts handoff content in your browser before upload. Authorized recipients can decrypt it. The service also processes operational information such as handoff labels, recipient email addresses, file counts, verification records and expiry times. Connected browsers store keys locally so they can open the handoffs they are authorized to receive.

Handoffs expire according to the date shown in the service and are removed from active access through its cleanup process. Expiry does not erase a file someone has already downloaded or information SRC has retained for the agreed project. Recovery copies may remain after active deletion.

Authority Audit

The audit collects the website address and email you submit, checks public website content, captures screenshots and saves the resulting report. Optional self-assessment answers are saved with the report and can be seen by anyone you share its link with. A hashed IP address supports rate limits. Public page text and screenshots are sent to an AI analysis provider to help prepare the findings.

The form also offers occasional studio notes. On completion, your email and the audit signup source are passed to SRC Mail, which handles confirmation and subscription preferences as described above. Hosting, analysis and email providers process the information needed for these steps. Treat your report link as a shareable link and forward it only to people you want to have it.

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.

Service providers

We use service providers for hosting, storage, security and authentication; traffic measurement, session recording and heatmaps; appointment scheduling and conferencing; email, documents and calendars; payments and memberships; AI-assisted website analysis; source-code and version-history management; and encrypted backups. These providers process information for those functions. Information you provide directly to an outside service is also covered by that service's privacy policy.

We use access controls and other safeguards appropriate to each service. No website, transmission method or storage system can guarantee complete security.

How long we keep it

We consider the purpose of each record when deciding how long to keep it:

Inquiry information supports your request and related follow-up. An inquiry that does not become a project is separate from a client contract or financial record.
Project correspondence and working material support delivery, agreed support, and records of the work we provided.
Contracts, invoices and other required business records are retained for applicable accounting, tax, contract and legal needs.
Technical logs and recovery backups follow the retention settings of the services that process them. Removing an item from active use may not immediately remove an existing backup copy.

You can ask us what we hold, why we still need it and what can be deleted. This explanation does not extend an earlier agreed retention period or remove an existing deletion right.

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 optional marketing communications. We may still send messages needed for an active service, payment, security or legal matter.

Email diane@swayrisecreative.com with the subject line "Privacy request." We respond within 30 days and follow any shorter deadline required by applicable law.

Children

This site is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Changes to this policy

We update the date on this page when the policy changes. For material changes affecting people in active correspondence with us, we provide notice by email where appropriate. We also provide any notice or consent process required by applicable law. A policy update does not, by itself, authorize a new use of information collected under an earlier promise.

Questions about any of this: diane@swayrisecreative.com.