Client accounts

Running an agency that does invitation work means running twelve different file workflows for twelve different clients at once. One in a desktop design tool, three in a vector editor, six in someone's old layout software, the rest in whatever the previous agency before you used. Each client wants to see their own copy with their own name on it, on demand. You end up exporting proofs all day and the actual design work happens after midnight. Client accounts give every client a scoped login inside your Invitarium account so they can edit their own copy on their own time, without ever touching anything else you're working on.

The multi-client workflow tax

Solo sellers run one shop on one tool. Agencies run many client projects on many tools, all at once. Every client gets a folder somewhere. Every folder lives in a slightly different system depending on who set it up and when. The agency's actual job is to keep all of them moving without forgetting which client is on which version.

The single biggest source of agency time-cost is not the design. It is the rhythm of taking a working file, exporting a proof with this client's name on it, sending the proof, waiting for feedback, marking up the feedback, going back to the file, exporting another proof. Multiply by twelve. Multiply again by the number of revision cycles. The actual design hours shrink to fit whatever is left after that loop runs.

Client accounts collapse that loop. Each client gets to edit their own copy directly, on a clean surface that shows them their work and nothing else. The agency designer's day stops being about exporting proofs.

What a client account is

A client account is a scoped login inside your agency's Invitarium account. You create one for every client you work with. Each client gets a username and a password, separate from the email-OTP flow your designers use to sign in. The login surface for clients is its own page; they do not see the designer dashboard, they do not see other clients, they do not see your billing.

You assign one or more folders to each client. A folder might hold their wedding suite, or their corporate launch event invitations, or the children's birthday designs you're producing for them. Whatever you put in their folder is what they see when they sign in. Nothing else.

From their side, the experience feels like a private editor for their project. They open the dashboard, see their assigned folder, click into the templates, customise the text, drop their photos, preview on a phone-size canvas, and publish to their own URL. From your side, they are one entry in your Clients tab — created when they joined, assigned to a folder, available for help-edit when they need it.

The scope model

What clients can do inside their account: edit the templates in their assigned folders, publish their copy, request help-edit on a specific copy, manage their own profile and password.

What clients cannot do: access another client's folder, see your Templates library, see your Analytics, see your Statistics, see your billing or Plans, browse your other clients, see designer-only surfaces, upload assets to your shared library.

The boundary is data-level. Even if a client tried to guess the URL of another client's folder, the route loader checks the session and rejects it. The middleware layer also denies designer-only routes before they render. Scope is enforced at the same layer the rest of the app trusts for its own access checks.

The day-to-day, in one platform

On Monday a new client signs the contract. You go to your Clients tab, hit Add a client, fill in their name and email, generate a username and password, and assign their folder. You send them the credentials and the client-login URL. Done in a few clicks.

On Tuesday the client signs in. They see their invitation suite, customise the names and date, drop a photo, preview, ask for help-edit when the layout breaks. They save. They publish to their own URL when they're ready.

On Wednesday you check the Clients tab and see who has been active, who has published, who has requested help-edit. You drop into the copies that asked for help, fix what needs fixing, save. The client sees the change next time they open their copy. No proof exported. No email round-trip. No new file uploaded anywhere.

The day-to-day of running an agency on this model is qualitatively different from the day-to-day of running an agency on a shared design tool. The agency designer's time goes into design and rescue, not into export-and-send.

Lifecycle: reset, disable, delete

Clients are not permanent. Three lifecycle actions cover what an agency typically needs.

1. 1

   Reset password

   The client forgot. Hit Reset on their entry in the Clients tab; you get a new generated password to send them. Their folders, edits, and published URL are untouched.

2. 2

   Disable

   A project is paused or the client is between phases of work. Disable blocks their login but keeps everything in place: folders, customisations, published copy. Re-enable when the project resumes and they pick up exactly where they were.

3. 3

   Delete

   A project is fully done and the client is leaving. Delete removes the login. The folders are unassigned and stay with your agency for archiving or hand-off. The published page can stay live or be revoked at your discretion.

All three actions are reversible on the agency side at the asset level. The only thing you cannot recover is the client's password (that's why Reset generates a new one).

Help-edit, on top of client accounts

Client accounts and help-edit work together. The client owns their copy and does their own customisation. When something goes wrong (a font breaks at their long surname, a photo crops badly, an alignment slips on mobile), they flip the help-edit switch on their copy. The copy appears in the agency designer's dashboard with a badge. The designer opens it, fixes the problem, saves. The client flips the switch back off when they're satisfied.

This is the rescue pattern that lets clients work autonomously without abandoning them when the autonomy breaks down. The client never has to admit they're stuck; they just toggle a switch and the designer steps in.

Pricing, on one plan

Client accounts are a Pro-tier feature. One Pro subscription covers your whole client roster. There is no per-client upcharge, no per-client billing surface, no per-publish fee for client work. Add as many clients as you have actual work for. Five clients, fifty clients, a hundred clients all run on the same Pro plan.

Clients themselves never see billing. They never pay anything. They never enter a credit card. The agency is the customer of record; clients are scoped logins inside the agency's account.

On cancellation, folders stay with the agency. Clients lose access. You decide whether to hand off the design files, leave them archived, or restart the relationship on a fresh plan later. The asset stays with the agency that paid for it.