Privacy Policy

Blackforge Studio (ABN 20 973 275 935) ("we", "us", "our") respects your privacy. This policy explains what personal information we collect when you use hello@blackforgestudio.com.au or our website, why we collect it, how we store it, who we share it with, and the rights you have.

We handle personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

We collect only what is necessary to do business with you. That typically includes:

• Identification — your name and the name of your business. • Contact — your email address and (optionally) phone number when you submit our contact or audit forms. • Business context — your industry, project goals, budget range and any briefing materials you choose to share. • Technical — basic analytics from your visit (browser, device, pages viewed). We do not collect IP-level identifying data beyond what hosting providers retain by default.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16.

We use personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries and quotes you have asked for. • Deliver services we are engaged to provide. • Send invoices, contracts and project communications. • Improve our website and offers — only at the aggregate, non-identifying level. • Comply with our legal and tax obligations.

We do not sell your information. We do not use it for third-party advertising or remarketing.

We use a small number of trusted providers to operate the studio. Each is contractually bound to handle data securely:

• Hosting and infrastructure — Vercel (USA). • Form processing — our contact and audit forms route through a hosted form provider; submissions are forwarded to our studio inbox and stored on the provider for retrieval. • Email — incoming and outgoing email is handled by our domain email provider. • Analytics — anonymous, aggregate site analytics only.

We do not share personal information with any party outside of these operational needs.

Information sent through this site is transmitted over HTTPS. Submissions are stored within our form provider and our studio email account, both of which require multi-factor authentication. We delete project files and personal information once the engagement is complete and any legal retention obligation has passed.

No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure. If we become aware of a privacy breach that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify affected individuals and the OAIC in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

We use only essential cookies (for the site to function) and anonymous analytics cookies. We do not use advertising or third-party tracking cookies. You can disable cookies in your browser; some features may stop working as a result.

Under the Australian Privacy Principles, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you. • Ask us to correct information that is inaccurate. • Ask us to delete information we no longer need to retain. • Withdraw consent for any non-essential use of your information. • Complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) if you believe we have mishandled your information.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at hello@blackforgestudio.com.au. We respond within ten business days.

Some of our providers (notably hosting and form processing) operate from the United States. By using this site you acknowledge that your information may be processed outside Australia. We take reasonable steps to ensure providers offer protections comparable to the APPs.

We may update this policy occasionally. The "last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent change. Material changes will be communicated by email if we hold an active engagement with you.

Privacy enquiries: hello@blackforgestudio.com.au.

Blackforge Studio — ABN 20 973 275 935.

Operating jurisdiction: New South Wales, Australia.