PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS ("TERMS," "AGREEMENT," "THIS WHOLE THING") CAREFULLY BEFORE SUBMITTING A BUTTON DESIGN TO THIS PLATFORM ("THE WEBSITE," "THE SERVICE," "THE BUTTON SITUATION"). BY ACCESSING, BROWSING, OR EVEN GLANCING AT THIS WEBSITE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD, AND AGREED TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS, INCLUDING SEVERAL THINGS THAT WILL SEEM INCREASINGLY UNREASONABLE AS YOU CONTINUE READING. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, PLEASE CLOSE THIS WINDOW AND GO OUTSIDE. THE OPERATOR GENUINELY RECOMMENDS GOING OUTSIDE.
§ 1
Nature of the Service
1.1This platform ("Button Thing") is a non-commercial art project operated for the personal enjoyment of its operator and the mild inconvenience of its participants. It is not a store. It is not a business. It is a vibe.
1.2Submission of a button design does not constitute a contract, a promise, a guarantee, or a handshake deal. It constitutes a design submission and nothing more. The operator reserves the right to print, not print, or think very hard about printing your design.
1.3You acknowledge that you may or may not receive a button. Both outcomes are valid. The universe is indifferent. The operator is slightly less indifferent but makes no representations to that effect.
1.4The operator is a person. Not a company, not an LLC, not a brand. A person, with a button press, doing their best. This context is provided not to garner sympathy but to set accurate expectations.
1.5By submitting a design, you confirm that you understand what a button is. For the avoidance of doubt: it is a small, round, pinback item bearing an image or text, approximately 1–2.25 inches in diameter. It is not a software button. It is not a belly button. It is not a panic button, though the operator acknowledges that using this website may occasionally feel like pressing one.
1.6The operator reserves the right to find your design charming, perplexing, or quietly inspiring without informing you of this assessment. These opinions are the operator's own and are not transferable.
§ 2
Button Delivery & Attribution
2.1Buttons are delivered at the sole discretion of the operator, subject to availability, mood, weather, and whether the operator can find a stamp.
2.2You may receive a button intended for someone else. This is considered a feature, not a defect. The operator encourages you to view this as an opportunity for reflection on identity and ownership.
2.3Conversely, your button may be given to someone else entirely. The operator reserves the right to determine, unilaterally and without appeal, that another party needs your button more than you do. This determination may be based on observable need, intuition, a gut feeling, or a brief but convincing conversation the operator had with that person at a prior date. You agree that this is, on balance, a good thing, and that helping others is important.
2.4In the event that your button is redirected to another recipient, you are encouraged to feel good about this. You may not have known you needed to feel good about something today. The operator has provided that opportunity, free of charge, as part of the service.
2.5You may receive the button you need, rather than the button you want. The operator has consulted no one on this distinction and stands by it entirely.
2.6You may receive the button you have earned. The operator reserves the right to determine what has been earned and under what cosmic framework. This determination is final and non-appealable.
2.7In some cases, you may receive a button that is simply a button. No deeper meaning is implied. The operator apologizes in advance.
2.8Delivery timelines are approximate, aspirational, and subject to the general entropy of the operator's daily life. "Soon" means soon in the broadest possible sense. "Shortly" means the operator has thought about it at least once this week. "On its way" means it exists.
2.9The operator will not lose your button on purpose. The operator cannot rule out losing your button by accident. These are different things and the distinction matters to the operator greatly.
§ 3
Design Rights & Reproduction
3.1By submitting a design, you grant the operator a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license to use, reproduce, display, and contemplate your design for purposes including but not limited to: button production, personal amusement, showing it to one (1) friend, and framing it in a very small frame.
3.2Your design may be used for other purposes. These purposes may include, but are not limited to: a second button, a test button, a button given to someone entirely different as a gift, a button placed in a drawer and rediscovered years later with great fondness.
3.3The operator will not sell your design. The operator will not license your design to major corporations. The operator may, however, describe your design aloud to someone who wasn't there, which is arguably more intimate.
3.4You represent and warrant that you have the right to submit your design and that it does not infringe upon the intellectual property of any third party, any corporation, any deity, or any entity whose lawyers the operator would prefer not to hear from.
3.5If you submit a design featuring a face, you confirm that the face belongs to: (a) you, (b) someone who has agreed to appear on a button, (c) a fictional character, (d) an animal, or (e) someone who would, upon reflection, find this funny. The operator is not responsible for any buttons that arrive and cause a scene at a dinner party.
3.6The operator admires your creative vision. This admiration is genuine and unsolicited. It is also not a contract.
§ 4
Condition & Comportment of the Button
4.1Buttons are provided "as-is," "as-was," and "as-will-probably-be." The operator makes no warranties, express or implied, including warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, or button sentience.
4.2The operator cannot guarantee that the button will behave. Buttons are small, and their internal lives are their own.
4.3The button may, under certain conditions not yet fully understood, self-destruct. This includes but is not limited to: extreme heat, extreme cold, extreme indifference, and being placed in a pocket with keys.
4.4The pin mechanism on the rear of the button is sharp. This is intentional. This is how buttons work. If you did not know this, please take a moment to sit with that information.
4.5The operator makes no guarantee that the button's colors will remain vibrant indefinitely. Colors are subject to the same forces that affect all things: time, sunlight, and a general unwillingness to stay the same. This is considered a design feature by some.
4.6The button is not waterproof. The button is not submersible. Do not take the button scuba diving. If you do take the button scuba diving, the operator would genuinely like to hear about it, but accepts no liability for the outcome.
4.7The button should not be used as a compass, a measurement tool, a currency, or a form of identification. The operator cannot prevent you from attempting any of these things but would like it noted that they advised against it.
4.8The button may, in rare circumstances, fall off. This is a known risk of the pinback form factor and predates the operator's involvement in buttons entirely. Please do not make it personal.
§ 5
Health, Wellness & Existential Risk
5.1Receipt of a button may cause feelings. These feelings are your responsibility. The operator is not a therapist, though the operator is a good listener at parties.
5.2Existential crises arising from the receipt or non-receipt of a button are not uncommon and are not covered under any warranty, guarantee, or compassionate exception. The operator recommends a walk outside and a glass of water.
5.3In rare cases, receipt of a button has been reported to cause mild euphoria, unexpected nostalgia, and a sudden compulsion to redesign one's entire personal aesthetic. The operator accepts no responsibility for any wardrobe changes made under button influence.
5.4The button may cause vomiting. This is unlikely to be the button's fault. Please consult a physician rather than filing a complaint with the operator, who is not a physician.
5.5If the button causes vomiting, do not mail the button back.
5.6The button should be kept out of reach of small children and large, button-curious pets. The operator has thought about what a dog would do with a button and would prefer not to be part of that story.
5.7Staring at the button for extended periods may result in: introspection, mild dissociation, a sudden awareness of the passage of time, or a craving for a snack. The operator is not responsible for any of these outcomes, except perhaps the last one, which is understandable.
5.8The operator strongly advises against using the button as a mirror. It can function as one, technically. This does not mean it should.
§ 6
Social Consequences of the Button
6.1The button, once worn, is a public statement. The operator accepts no responsibility for what that statement communicates, how it is received, or whether it starts a conversation you did not anticipate having at a grocery store.
6.2You agree that wearing a button in public is a choice, and that choices have consequences, and that some of those consequences will be a stranger saying "I like your button" and you having to decide how long to make that interaction.
6.3The operator cannot be held responsible if your button makes someone like you more. Equally, the operator cannot be held responsible if your button makes someone like you less. The operator hopes it's the former but acknowledges the reality of the latter.
6.4In the event that your button generates fan mail, legal correspondence, or a news segment, the operator requests that you share this with the operator, because that would be remarkable.
6.5You agree not to present your button as an official credential, an access pass, a badge of authority, or proof that you work somewhere you do not work. The operator has made a fun button. The operator has not made you an astronaut.
§ 7
Metaphysical Provisions
7.1The operator reserves the right to interpret your design as a metaphor. This interpretation is binding in no jurisdiction but may inform future button production decisions.
7.2Buttons are physical objects occupying three-dimensional space. The operator acknowledges this is a lot for something so small.
7.3The button, once pinned, becomes part of your body's extended social surface. The operator cannot be held liable for conversations initiated by the button on your behalf. Whatever the button says, it means it.
7.4You agree that the concept of a "perfect button" is inherently subjective and that the operator's version of perfection, while sincere, may differ from yours in ways neither party can fully articulate.
7.5The button does not think about you. The operator cannot speak to whether you think about the button. If you do, this is between you and the button, and the operator respectfully declines to be involved.
7.6Some users have reported that receiving a button felt meaningful. The operator finds this moving and takes no credit for it. Whatever meaning the button holds, you brought that. The operator just pressed it.
7.7The operator does not know where the time goes. The operator is working on accepting this. These Terms are not the place for that conversation, but it felt important to acknowledge.
§ 8
Fauna, Flora & Related Provisions
8.1Wombats produce cubic fecal matter. This information is included in these Terms because it is true, because it is remarkable, and because no one should go through life without knowing it. By agreeing to these Terms, you acknowledge receipt of this fact and accept responsibility for sharing it at an appropriate moment.
8.2The operator is not a wombat. The operator has never been a wombat. Should this change, a revised Terms and Conditions document will be issued.
8.3No animals were harmed in the making of your button. Several were consulted. They had opinions. Those opinions were not implemented, but they were heard.
8.4The operator acknowledges the existence of trees and finds them generally agreeable. This acknowledgment does not constitute an environmental policy.
8.5Mantis shrimp can see sixteen types of color receptors compared to the human eye's three. The operator mentions this because it seems relevant to a website about visual design, and also because it is humbling, and the operator believes humility is valuable, even in legal documents.
8.6A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance. A group of buttons is not called anything officially. The operator is open to suggestions. Please submit them via the contact form rather than in lieu of a button design.
8.7The button is not organic. The button is not locally sourced. The button has not been certified by any agricultural body. The button is, however, made with care, and the operator feels this should count for something.
§ 9
Time, Continuity & the Button in Perpetuity
9.1Once made, the button cannot be unmade. It exists now. It is part of the record. Somewhere, in a physical location, your design has been pressed into a circle of metal and mylar. This is permanent in a way that most things are not. Please be at peace with this.
9.2The operator makes no guarantees about the future. The operator has considered the future carefully and finds it unreliable.
9.3These Terms shall survive the operator's loss of access to the button press, the heat death of the button press, a disagreement with the button press, and any other button-press-related contingency.
9.4In the event that the operator ceases to operate, any outstanding button designs shall be handled with as much care as the circumstances allow, which the operator acknowledges may not be much.
9.5The operator does not know where the time goes. The operator is working on accepting this. These Terms are not the place for that conversation, but it felt important to acknowledge.
9.6Your button will outlast many things. Possibly your phone. Possibly the app you used to make the design. Possibly your interest in the image you chose. The operator considers this one of the button's finest qualities.
§ 10
Complaints, Disputes & the Resolution Thereof
10.1In the event of a dispute arising from these Terms, both parties agree to first take a breath and consider whether this is really something worth disputing.
10.2If, after taking that breath, you still feel a dispute is warranted, the operator invites you to send a message. The operator will read it. The operator will think about it. The operator will respond when the timing feels right and a reasonable resolution can be offered.
10.3Formal arbitration is available in theory. In practice, the operator would like to point out that the item in question is a button, and encourages proportional responses.
10.4The operator is not above apologizing. The operator is also not above pointing out that this is a free art project run by one person who owns a button press and means well. These facts may coexist.
10.5If you are unhappy with your button, the operator would genuinely like to know. Not to be defensive. Not to argue. Just because the operator cares, and caring is the only quality control system currently in place.
§ 11
Miscellaneous
11.1These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and the operator regarding buttons and related matters, superseding all prior negotiations, understandings, and button-related conversations conducted over text message.
11.2If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect, still very confident, perhaps more so.
11.3The operator's failure to enforce any provision of these Terms shall not be construed as a waiver of the operator's right to enforce it later, when you least expect it, during a casual conversation about something else entirely.
11.4These Terms may be updated at any time, for any reason, without notice. The operator will try to tell you. The operator may forget. This is why it says "may."
11.5If you have read this far, the operator is genuinely impressed and slightly concerned about how you spend your time. Please consider this a compliment.
11.6Questions, concerns, and button-related correspondence may be directed to the operator, who will read them, appreciate them, and respond when the timing feels right.
11.7Thank you for your interest in a button. It means more than these Terms are able to legally express.