This policy applies to Portfolio Creative (Pty) Ltd, operating at portfoliocreative.co.za. It is written in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA) of South Africa.
1. Who we are
Portfolio Creative is a strategic design studio based in Bloemfontein, South Africa. We operate the website at www.portfoliocreative.co.za.
For the purposes of POPIA, Portfolio Creative acts as the Responsible Party — the entity that determines why and how your personal information is processed.
We collect personal information only when you actively provide it to us or when it is generated by your use of our website.
Information you give us:
Name and email address (when you submit our contact form)
Company or brand name (optional, contact form)
Message content (contact form)
Any other information you choose to include in correspondence with us
Information collected automatically:
Browser type and version
Pages visited and time spent on the site
Referring URL
Device type and operating system
IP address (anonymised where possible)
We do not collect sensitive personal information (such as identity numbers, financial details, health information or biometric data) through this website.
3. How we use your information
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
To respond to enquiries — when you contact us, we use your name and email to reply.
To improve the website — anonymised usage data helps us understand how visitors navigate the site.
To maintain security — log data helps us detect and prevent misuse.
To fulfil legal obligations — we may retain records where required by South African law.
We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information. We do not use your information for automated decision-making or profiling.
4. Legal basis for processing
Under POPIA, we process your personal information on the following grounds:
Consent — when you submit our contact form, you consent to us using your information to respond to you.
Legitimate interest — we have a legitimate interest in understanding how our website is used in order to improve it, provided this does not override your rights.
Legal obligation — where the law requires us to retain certain records.
5. Cookies and tracking
Our website uses cookies — small text files stored in your browser — to improve your experience. We use the following categories:
Essential cookies — required for the site to function. These cannot be switched off.
Performance cookies — help us understand how visitors use the site (page views, time on site). Only set with your consent.
Preference cookies — remember your choices (such as your cookie consent preference). Only set with your consent.
We do not use advertising or tracking cookies from third-party ad networks.
When you first visit the site, you will be shown a cookie consent banner. You can change your preferences at any time by clearing your browser cookies and revisiting the site.
6. Third-party services
We use the following third-party services that may process your data:
Google Fonts — loads typefaces from Google's servers. Google may log your IP address. See Google's Privacy Policy.
Formspree — processes contact form submissions on our behalf. Your name, email and message are transmitted to Formspree's servers and then forwarded to us. See Formspree's Privacy Policy.
Vimeo — hosts our showreel video (homepage only). Vimeo uses a privacy-enhanced mode and does not track you unless you interact with the player. See Vimeo's Privacy Policy.
We do not share your personal information with any other third parties without your explicit consent, except where required by law.
7. How we protect your data
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure or alteration. These include:
HTTPS encryption across the entire site
Access controls limiting who can access submitted data
Using reputable third-party processors with their own security standards
No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure. While we do our best to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
8. How long we keep your data
Contact form submissions — retained for up to 2 years in our email inbox, then deleted unless we have an ongoing relationship with you.
Website analytics — anonymised usage data retained for up to 26 months.
Cookie preferences — stored in your browser for up to 12 months.
We will delete your personal information sooner if you request it, unless we are required by law to retain it.
9. Your rights under POPIA
As a data subject under POPIA, you have the right to:
Access — request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
Correction — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Deletion — request that we delete your personal information (subject to legal retention requirements).
Objection — object to the processing of your personal information where we rely on legitimate interest.
Withdraw consent — where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
Complaint — lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe your rights have been violated.
To exercise any of these rights, email us at info@portfoliostudios.co.za with the subject line "POPIA Data Request". We will respond within 30 days.
We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will reflect any changes. Continued use of the website after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By clicking Accept, you agree to our use of performance and preference cookies.
Read our Privacy Policy.