Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

GMN Studio is a web design studio operating out of Quebec, Canada. We design, build, and grow websites for small businesses and independent professionals.

For any privacy-related matter you can reach our person responsible for the protection of personal information at hello@gmnstudio.ca.

2. Information we collect

Information you give us directly: your name, email address, phone number, business name, project brief, and any files or messages you send through our contact form, email, or scheduled calls.

Information collected automatically: IP address, device and browser type, operating system, referring URL, pages viewed, time on page, and approximate location (country / region) derived from your IP. This is collected through cookies and similar technologies only when you consent to them.

We do not knowingly collect information from children under 14. We do not collect sensitive personal information (health, biometric, financial account numbers).

3. How we use your information

To respond to your inquiries, prepare proposals, and deliver the services you have engaged us for.

To send project updates, invoices, and contractual communications.

To measure and improve the performance of our website (analytics).

To run advertising campaigns (Google Ads, Meta Ads) and measure their effectiveness, only when you have accepted marketing cookies.

To comply with our legal, accounting, and tax obligations.

4. Legal basis for processing

Under GDPR (where applicable) and Law 25, we rely on the following legal bases: your consent (for analytics, marketing, and non-essential cookies), the performance of a contract (to deliver our services), our legitimate interests (to secure and improve the site), and legal obligations (accounting, tax).

5. Cookies & tracking technologies

We use a granular cookie consent banner. Strictly necessary cookies are always active because the site cannot function without them.

Analytics cookies (e.g. Google Analytics 4) help us understand how visitors use the site in an aggregated form. They are only set after you accept analytics cookies.

Marketing cookies (e.g. Google Ads, Meta Pixel) allow us to measure ad performance and show relevant ads. They are only set after you accept marketing cookies.

Preference cookies remember choices such as language and region. They are only set after you accept preference cookies.

You can change or withdraw your consent at any time by clearing the cookie 'gmn-cookie-consent-v1' from your browser, which will re-display the banner on your next visit.

6. Sharing your information

We never sell your personal information.

We share limited information only with service providers that help us run our business, under written confidentiality and data-processing terms. These currently include: our email and hosting provider, our analytics and advertising providers (Google, Meta, only with consent), our invoicing and accounting software, and our website hosting platform.

We may disclose information when required by law, a court order, or to protect our legal rights.

7. International data transfers

Some of our service providers are located outside of Quebec or Canada (notably in the United States and the European Union). When personal information is transferred outside the province, we assess the level of protection in place and rely on contractual safeguards (standard contractual clauses, data-processing agreements) to protect it, as required by Law 25.

8. Data retention

Contact-form messages: up to 24 months after our last interaction.

Active client project files: for the duration of the engagement plus 12 months.

Invoicing and accounting records: 6 years, as required by Canadian tax law.

Analytics data: up to 14 months in aggregated form.

When the retention period ends, data is securely deleted or anonymized.

9. Your rights

You have the right to access your personal information, to ask for a correction, to ask for deletion, to withdraw your consent, to portability of your data, and to lodge a complaint with the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec (CAI) or your local data protection authority.

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@gmnstudio.ca. We will respond within 30 days.

10. Security

We use industry-standard technical and organizational measures to protect your information: HTTPS encryption in transit, access controls, encrypted backups, and reputable hosting providers. No system is 100% secure, but we take our responsibility seriously and will notify affected users and the appropriate authority in the event of a confidentiality incident, as required by Law 25.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes in our practices or in applicable law. The 'Last updated' date at the top of the page always reflects the latest revision. Material changes will be highlighted on our homepage for a reasonable period.