How much does a logo design cost?
Having a logo for a brand new business might seem helpful when you’re starting out, but it’s not always a necessity.
The idea of having a logo is that it will provide longevity and impact for your business, but it is an investment and is usually going to be expensive up-front. The hope is it will eventually pay-off with creating a loyal fanbase who recognizes your business—not for your logo, but by what your logo represents. This is why branding is so important, it all comes down to how a brand is represented and how it makes people feel. This is fostered through the way your business interacts with the outside world and is built over years of trust and consistency. And the logo is just a shorthand for all this.
If you’re looking to get a logo designed just so you can have something to start your business with, that shorthand doesn’t exist yet and without that foundation, that brand recognition that is built up, a logo can end up being meaningless, mismatched, or confusing to your customer base—which may end up costing you more in the long run by having to rebrand in the future.
This isn’t to say getting a logo right off the bat is inherently bad, but your logo is meant to be a shorthand for a brand that has an established look and feel, so without that foundation, a logo can end up being meaningless, mismatched, or confusing to your customer base.
If you have changed your logo, don’t feel disheartened, in fact most businesses end up rebranding after a certain period of time, but that’s usually when major changes happen within their business that warrant wanting to express a new feeling about their business. That change reflects outwardly in their logo and helps people understand the shift they are wanting to make within.
Mastercard for example, wanted to modernize—like most business have in the past decade or so—to appeal to a younger generation as they grew up. They didn’t want to feel outdated or like something the generation’s parents would identify with. Sometimes these changes are for the better, sometimes they’re… Not so great.
People can usually tell when brands are being authentic with their decisions and when they aren’t, so shifting your brand too early or too late can turn people off completely. That’s why it’s important to know where you are in your business; it can help you determine whether investing in a logo upfront or holding off for when your business is expanding is the right move.
Know your business
Seedling
A Seedling is a business who is just barely getting started. Maybe you have an idea, maybe you’ve started an instagram to promote it and all your friends and family started following you. The point is, you’re not even really off the ground yet, maybe you’ve had a couple sales but you’re still just finding your footing (or growing your roots, maybe?). Since you’re only just starting out, investing now on a logo isn’t super necessary—but getting some direction to start you off on the right foot might be just what you need!
Sprout
A Sprout is a business who can get lots of love from me! You’ve made a few more sales to people who aren’t just friends or family, and you have more and more followers interested in what you’re doing. Now that you’re starting to grow, solidifying your business with a logo can help you stand out from the crowd and help increase that brand recognition.
Bud
Buds are when your business is really starting to take off. Maybe you’re going to markets or selling your products in other stores and you need a solid brand to really engage people with and ensure your business feel cohesive no matter how people interact with it. With your roots more deeply engrained, you can solidify the rest of your brand with a color palette, typography, and graphics to create a more cohesive look and feel.
Bloom
You’ve done it! You have a full-fledged business, maybe you’ve even left your day job because this business is supporting you fully now. You might even have a small team helping you with your day-to-day tasks. Your business is flourishing and you’re ready for full brand design (or rebrand!), plus some extra items, like business cards, to share with others!
If you’re not sure where you are, take our free quiz!
Logo design cost
You might have seen this phrase before:
pick any two: cheap, fast, good
The idea is that if you want something done fast and good, it most likely won’t be cheap. On the other hand, if you want something cheap and fast, it prooobably won’t be good.
It’s this ideal that you have to recognize when you think about pricing. Of course, there are a variety of tools to help achieve a range of design work for really cheap, even free in some cases, but remember that using those tools doesn't always mean it’ll be the best solution later on down the road. Depending on where you are in your business, it can be beneficial and take you where you need to go at the start, but you can’t rely on it too heavily as you grow.
Canva
cheap, fast
Free to use! Great for someone who’s just a little Seedling. You don’t really need a heavy-lifting logo if you’re just getting started, especially if you’re still growing your audience and reputation, placing a logo on it too early can lock you into a specific brand without you being able to grow from it in the future. That’s why an option like Canva, using basic templates, even basic logos, to get your social media presence is more than enough in the beginning. Just like our rule of thumb, Canva is free, and by using templates you can probably make what you need pretty quickly, but that doesn’t always mean it’s going to be the best design option.
Like mentioned before, this is perfect for those just starting out, but don’t rely on Canva too heavily, especially since Canva logo templates are trademarked by Canva and can’t be used as official logo designs. And all Canva templates are built as JPEGs, which mean they’re rasterized files and can’t be scaled up too large, which is bad for creating any sort of display graphics like signs or billboards. All-in-all, this is a great option for those wanting to get their business off the ground and just need something in the meantime, but be sure to upgrade as you grow to avoid any major pitfalls in your branding!
Fiverr
cheap, fast
Services like Fiverr, where designers get paid very minimally to create logos are good if you need something turned around fast, but of course, that doesn’t always mean the quality is going to be high. That’s not to say that designers on Fiverr are bad designers, in fact, there are TONS of very talented designers working there, but the work they’re doing can typically be unethical on two degrees:
Designers are working to churn out logos quickly so they’re not doing much research or experimentation to find a design that works best for your business, which makes for a superficial, unintentional (and possibly unoriginal) logo.
Designers are working long hours to do that research and experimentation to find the best fit for your business, but they’re not charging for that time and instead are charging minimal costs for a logo that took a lot of hours, therefore being unpaid for their time
Most people working on Fiverr are young designers who are still getting started and don’t know how to charge for their work or their worth, so in many cases, they’re being overworked and underpaid, usually not even an increment of minimum wage. Fiverr is really only a good place to go if you’re still in your Seedling phase, just trying to get your business off the ground and, similar to Canva, wanting to get something out there—but as a general rule of thumb, using a cheap, temporary logo is less effective than holding out and saving up for cohesive, effective branding.
Boutique studio
cheap, good
Usually a one person agency, or very small team, working with smaller businesses who are just getting started and growing on their own. Cheap in this case is a relative term. When they compare to large agencies, they’re much cheaper, but not every business, especially smaller ones, can afford boutique branding right out of the gates.
They’re still robust enough to offer full branding services, sometimes even more than that depending on their individual specialty, and ensure your branding will last for a long time. This is a great option for businesses who are in their Sprout phase or higher! Getting a rebrand from a small business can be cost-effective and beneficial to getting what you need for a fair price—while getting a personalized relationship with your designer!
Agency
fast, good
This is typically a full-service company working with an entire team of people, including copywriters, marketers, strategists, and designers, to come up with several brand concepts to present. Each person on the team is an expert in their area and can provide everything from designs to full-blown, intricate websites, marketing and ad campaigns, and more. Agencies are great for developing very in-depth branding, targeting specific markets, and building entire campaigns to help grow your business.
Working with an agency is particularly helpful if you’re in your Bloom phase and need more than just a logo or some branding and are looking to really grow and expand your business into something larger.
How much does branding cost?
So to answer the age old question— how much does branding cost: it depends. If you want to go the cheaper route, it can probably range up to $100. That’s working with either an inexperienced, or unfortunately underpaid, designer who will most-likely deliver a logo without the strategy and longevity behind the design.
On the other hand, full branding can cost you up to around $10,000 depending on whether you’re working with a small studio or agency. And if you’re looking to work with a full-service agency to get even more out of your brand partnership, it could result in something closer to $100,000.
For us, we love working with smaller businesses who are still growing, where the CEO is usually the main person running their business on their own, or maybe with a very small team. That’s why our prices are generally lower than most, so we can stay within this range of working with these smaller businesses and watch them grow from the sidelines. For a full brand design, we typically charge around $3,500, give or take depending on each business’ individual needs.
Get a custom quote for your branding project and we’ll work with you to get a price that feels right for you!