How does hiring an African design studio work: time zones, payments and process?

Hiring a design studio in another country raises two practical questions at the start: when your teams can talk, and how money moves. This guide answers both with clock arithmetic and provider documentation, then covers contracts, ownership of the finished work and the first week of a project.

Tribal House is a brand and web design studio in Accra, Ghana, founded in 2016. We work with clients in Ghana, West Africa, Africa, North America and Europe. Time zone facts below come from Wikipedia and gov.uk, payment facts from the providers' own pages, and studio terms from our own practice.

How does hiring an African design studio work across time zones?

Accra runs on Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+00:00) all year and does not change its clocks. That gives a London client seven to eight shared working hours, a New York client three to four, a Dubai client four and a Los Angeles client none to one. Studios cover the gap with written briefs and one weekly call.

Wikipedia's article on time in Ghana puts the country at UTC+00:00 and says Ghana has no associated daylight saving time. The table assumes a working day of 09:00 to 17:00 in each city. The shared hours are our arithmetic from the offsets that Wikipedia lists for the UK, the US and the UAE.

Wikipedia states that the UAE does not change clocks for daylight saving time, so the Dubai row stays fixed. Winter here means the months when London is on GMT and the US is on standard time. Summer means the months when London is on BST and the US is on daylight time.

The weeks when the offsets change

The UK and the US change clocks on different dates, and the shared hours move on the date of the client's country. Wikipedia lists the 2026 US dates as 8 March and 1 November. Gov.uk lists the 2026 UK dates as 29 March and 25 October. London's shared hours therefore change on 29 March and 25 October; New York and Los Angeles change on 8 March and 1 November.

Put those four dates in the project calendar before kickoff. A call at 14:00 in Accra falls at 09:00 in New York in winter and 10:00 in summer. A call at 13:00 in Accra falls at 09:00 in New York in summer and 08:00 in winter. Recheck the slot after each change.

A Los Angeles client in winter has no shared hour inside a standard day. Agree one call time that stretches the day for one side. In winter, 17:00 in Accra is 09:00 in Los Angeles. Book the Accra morning for London and Dubai and the Accra afternoon for New York.

How does asynchronous work with weekly syncs run?

Asynchronous work means each side does its part on its own clock and leaves written feedback for the other. At Tribal House, reviews happen in writing on each side's own clock and a weekly sync covers decisions that need a conversation. Comments sit in one place, and each revision round has a deadline, so a time gap does not stretch the schedule.

The cycle below is the pattern we suggest for any client more than four hours away. Adjust the days to your calendar.

1. Start of the week: the studio posts work in progress with a short written note that lists the decisions it needs from you.
2. Midweek: you leave comments in the one shared place. Each comment names the screen or page, so the studio can answer it without a call.
3. Weekly sync: one call inside the shared hours closes the open decisions and agrees what ships next.
4. Revision round: the studio applies the agreed changes. The round closes on its deadline, and further changes move to the next round or to a change order.

How do scoping, contracts and NDAs work with an overseas studio?

Scoping starts with a 30-minute discovery call, after which the studio sends a written scope and fee. Work then moves through discovery, direction, design, production and launch assets. If you need an NDA, the studio signs it before work starts, and each scope change goes through a written change order that you approve first.

1. Discovery call. You describe the goal, the audience, the deadline and the budget range. The studio asks about the decisions that will take longest on your side.
2. Written scope and fee. The document lists deliverables, stages, dates, the number of revision rounds and the invoice schedule. Read it as the contract's core: anything missing from it is outside the fee.
3. NDA, if you need one. Name this on the discovery call so the studio signs before it sees confidential material.
4. Approval and kickoff payment. Work starts when you approve the scope and the first invoice is paid.
5. Change orders. A request outside the scope gets a written order with its own fee and dates, which you approve before the studio starts.

Sprints can start within a week if there is capacity. Full projects book out two to four weeks ahead. Brand and website projects ship in four to eight weeks. Our guide to website cost in Ghana explains how scope and price relate.

What are the international payment options when you pay an African studio?

Common routes are a bank wire over the SWIFT network and a payment provider such as Payoneer. A wire can arrive in about a day or take three to five, and intermediary banks may deduct fees on the way. Providers that issue local receiving details can shorten the path. Ask the studio which route it prefers.

The Wise and Payoneer figures describe each company's own service, so check current terms before you pay. Availability depends on the country of both sender and receiver.

How Tribal House invoices

Tribal House quotes North American and global clients in US dollars, European clients in euros or pounds sterling and Ghana-based clients in cedis. Projects invoice in three stages: 40% at kickoff, 40% during production and 20% at final delivery. Retainers invoice monthly in advance.

On a US$2,500 sprint, the stages come to US$1,000, US$1,000 and US$500. On a US$6,000 brand and website project, they come to US$2,400, US$2,400 and US$1,200. Both figures are our arithmetic on the starting prices. Design work is time-based and not refundable, so read the scope before you pay the first invoice.

Put these questions to any studio before you sign:

• Which currencies do you invoice in, and which do you accept?
• Which payment routes do you accept, and who pays the transfer fees?
• What are the stages, and what triggers each invoice?
• What happens to the fee if I pause or stop mid-project?
• How do you handle a change to scope after I approve it?

Who owns the work, and what do you receive at handover?

Your contract sets who owns the work, so ask the studio to state which rights pass to you and when. The US Copyright Office says a copyright owner can transfer all or part of the rights in a work, and the US Code requires a transfer to be in writing and signed by the owner. Laws differ by country.

We cite US law as one example of a rule that asks for a signed document. Section 204 of Title 17 says a transfer of copyright ownership is not valid unless a signed writing records it. Ask a lawyer in your own country what applies to you.

At handover, Tribal House provides:

• Loom walkthroughs that show your team how the finished work fits together.
• A CMS guide for the people who will edit the site.
• A launch checklist that covers the steps on and after launch day.
• A support window of 30 to 60 days after launch, or a monthly retainer. Bugs found in the window are fixed at no extra cost.

Ask each studio for the same list in writing, plus the files you will hold: working files, fonts and their licences, and the accounts for your domain and hosting. See our guide to choosing a design studio in Accra for more questions to ask.

What are the risks of hiring an African studio, and how do you reduce them?

The main risks are the same ones you face with any remote studio: a time gap that slows feedback, payment delays, scope drift and unclear ownership. Each has a contract or process fix. The table pairs each risk with a step you can take before the first invoice.

A named point of contact removes much of the remaining risk. Ask who answers your messages and who covers when that person is away. Studios with one team across strategy, design and build, as Tribal House has, reduce handoffs between agencies. See our services for the disciplines in that team.

What should the first week with a new studio look like?

The first week sets the working rhythm for the whole project. Settle the tools, the call time, the decision maker and the first invoice before design starts. The checklist below takes about a week to finish for most clients.

1. Confirm the written scope, the invoice stages and the currency, and pay the kickoff invoice.
2. Sign the NDA if your material needs one, before you share files.
3. Name one decision maker on your side and one point of contact at the studio.
4. Agree the weekly sync time in both cities, and note the clock change dates for your country.
5. Choose the single place where comments will live, and give the studio access.
6. Send existing assets: logos, brand guidelines, photos, past research and login details for any accounts the project needs.
7. Set the date and deadline for the first revision round.

Hold accounts for your domain and hosting in your own name from day one, and add the studio as a user. That keeps the keys with you at handover.

How do you start a project with Tribal House?

Book a 30-minute discovery call and we send a written scope and fee. Starting prices are public, and clients outside Ghana receive quotes in US dollars, euros or pounds. The table lists the three ways to work with us.

Compare our plans, read the recent projects and contact us with your time zone and deadline. We reply within one business day.