How much for a logo?

That depends.
One question we are asked a lot is - "How much do you charge for a logo?" This is a tricky one along the lines of how long is a piece of string. There are many other questions hidden below the surface.

We have done simple logos for as little as $500 and corporate logo packages for as much as $50,000. For some household name corporations there are reports of half a million dollars or more being paid for their corporate ID package. Is this insane? How do costs escalate to this extent? Coming up with a symbol for a company should be pretty easy, right.



Well, unless I just do a random thing like a pink rhinocerous with a parrot on its back or whatever, there has to be some thought put into the relevance of the imagery, its stated meaning, the concept it is required to communicate and its intended usage. Let's look at some of the hidden questions.

1) What is the product?
2) What is the product's place in the market?
3) Who are the target market?
4) What kind of brand personality should it have?
5) What image does the company want the brand identity to project?
6) How do we satisfy the conflicting interests of all involved parties?
7) How many different approaches will be required to be developed?
8) What are the competitors doing with their brand imagery?
9) What method of illustrating this brand is the best to embrace?
10) How do we avoid cliché?
11) Are we creating a unique symbol for the company as well as text?
12) Where is the symbol going to be used and how?
13) How many colours can we use?
14) How do we accommodate the differing values and opinions of those involved?
15) How do the multitude of parties affected by the new or changed identity know how to correctly utilise the identity?

It's easy to see that this whole process can become very time-consuming, making it difficult to quote a price. It helps if we have, at least, a little understanding of what and who are involved. Or we could simply quote every logo very high to cover ourselves. Of course the better the brief, the better value for money can be achieved for our client.

Funny how it always comes back to the brief.