A great logo can help a business project a positive image while a bad
logo can bring a negative impression about a company. For many
companies, a logo is the only identifiable mark a potential customer may
ever see, so it needs to be memorable, descriptive and easily
recognizable. If a logo is the company spokesman, how much is it really
worth?
Cheap logo designs are all over the Internet - logo designs under 0!
logo designs, logo designs, logo designs and even lower!
You will easily find a wide range of prices for logo design on the
Internet. Be careful of cheap logo design offers, some designers may be
using clip art. A logo design that includes a royalty free piece of clip art
cannot be copyrighted. That same piece of clip art could be used on
dozens of other logo designs. A designers portfolio should be displayed
and there should be a wide variety of logo samples. At each, do all
of the logos look the same? Do the majority of them have block lettering
and a swoosh?
Some logo designers charge one flat fee for a logo with no questions
asked. Can you imagine Coca-Cola purchasing a logo design for ?
What a deal! Or how about Bob's bait shop paying 0 for a logo.
There goes the budget! All companies are not equal in size, budget and
usage. All designs are not equal. Does a swoosh take the same amount
of time and effort as creating a detailed motorcycle?
The confusion doesn't stop there. Some logo designers charge
additional costs for extra colors, extra modifications and extra
preliminary designs. You have to get your calculator out just to figure the
final cost of your logo. Do you really know what you are paying for?
How much is a logo design really worth? Ask Coca-Cola, Polo, Nike,
The Hard Rock Cafe, Hallmark or any other company that relies on their
logo as their number one spokesman. Not every company is as large as
these but every company should have a logo that is easy to identify and
stands for the integrity of that business.
A logo design is more valuable to a company than a single spot
illustration. An illustration is normally used once or used for a limited
campaign, whereas a logo is used for years and is placed on business
cards, letterheads, envelopes, web sites, vehicles, buildings and
products. Do you see the difference in value to a company? A logo has
more value than just the hours spent on creating it. It becomes the
companies identity.
With that said, shouldn't a logo be worth more than just the time involved
in creating it? Professional graphic design rates average anywhere from
to per hour. If you see a logo design priced at 5 and that
designer charges per hour for design work, do you assume that
they spent 2.5 hours on your logo? That price would include the time
spent to contact you, the research done on your company and
competition, the preliminary ideas, the changes, the finalizing of the
logo, the file prep for each different format, sending the logo, billing and
allowing you to have all rights to the design. So how much time was
actually spent creating your logo?
My conclusion is that a logo is much more valuable to a company than a
standard illustration so the price should reflect the added value. Many
professional graphic designers would be hard pressed to create a top
notch illustration for under 0 let alone a creative, well designed logo.
So beware of logos priced under 0, you may get what you pay for.
There's even more confusion about logo pricing. Some designers base
their logo rates on several of these factors:
Logo Modifications - You could get charged for each time you want a
change or modification to your logo. If a logo designer asks the right
questions, does the research and stays in close communication with the
client there should be no need for major changes during the creation of
a logo design. Be a good communicator and explain to the logo
designer exactly what you want your logo to be saying about your
business. As a designer, you should get signed approval for each
modification showing that the client was in agreement at the time.
Extra Colors - Printers charge more for extra colors. If a logo designer
charges more for a two color logo than they do for a three color logo, get
a detailed explanation as to why. It only takes the click of a mouse to
add an extra color. In today's world there is very little need for color
separations so there should be no need for a designer to charge by the
color.
Preliminary Designs - A few choices is good, to many choices is overkill.
A logo designer should be able to decide for you the correct amount of
preliminary designs it will require to create your perfect logo. Be leary of
eight, ten and more initial designs. How much time could actually be
spent on each design? If you don't like your first two or three designs
you can easily request two or three more.
If you are on a committe or a board, I assure you that you do not want to
present ten logos to ten different people. You may never get down to a
winning design.
On the other hand, if you need an additional presentation of logos due
to a complete change in direction on the companies part, there should
be an extra fee. An example would be asking for a yellow duck logo
design and changing your mind to a red dog design once the logos are
presented to you.
Adding an identity program to your logo is a legitimate cost. Designing
the business card, letterhead and envelope layouts are normally a
higher priced package. You should receive camera ready files for each
design.
There is a standard reference for pricing graphic design and corporate
identity projects. It is Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, published by the
Graphic Artists Guild. Any logo designer can purchase the book. A
professional graphic designer would have a tough time supporting a
family and a studio designing all of their logos below 0.
I'm not writing this to give exact prices for a logo design because each
logo designers circumstances are different. Amateur logo designers
charge much less to get their feet wet, but slowly increase their rates as
they gain experience and creativity.
The standard logo design rates are based on two major components,
company size and application or distribution size. The majority of logo
designs created over the Internet are created for small companies and
individuals with limited application and distribution uses. Fortune 500
companies normally pay much higher logo design rates and use
advertising agencies.
My conclusion is that the value of a logo should be based on a few
important criteria:
1. Experience of the logo designer
2. Size & budget of the company using the logo
3. Scope and usage of the logo
4. Difficulty of the design
An individual or small company with small to average uses should be
prepared to pay anywhere from 0 to 00 for a top quality,
professional logo design.
What's included with your logo? The worst part of paying for a cheap
logo is finding out that you were not sent the correct file formats for
printing and web. You will then have to pay another graphic designer or
printer to create the correct files. Be aware of what file types you will be
needing and ask your logo designer what file types are included in their
price.
The most common file types needed are AI (Illustrator) and EPS for most
professional print jobs. These are vector format files. These files should
be in a CMYK color format. Vector art allows you to reduce or enlarge a
design to ANY size without losing detail or clarity.
For home use and some print jobs you will need TIFF and BMP files.
These are pixel files and should have a DPI (dots per inch) of at least
300 dpi. 600-1200 dpi is best for professional printing. These type of
files lose their detail when enlarged but can be reduced.
The last file types you will need would be JPEG and GIF. These are
pixel files and are used for web design. They should be in a RGB color
format. Be aware that not all colors translate well on the Internet,
especially GIF files. Ask if the logo designer used web safe colors. You
should receive crisp 72 dpi files for the Internet. A GIF file should be
transparent if you do not want a white box around it when displayed on
your page.
Be sure and ask your logo designer about your logo colors. Ask them for
the Pantone PMS color numbers for each color. You will need this
information each time your logo is printed. This insures that you get the
exact same colors with every printer that you use.
Will you get your files over the Internet or will you receive a CD? Try to
get a CD, it is much easier to take that to your local printer. Ask your
designer how long they keep your logo on file in case you lose your
versions later down the road.
You should also receive all rights (copyrights) to your logo. Since a logo
is a companies identity you will need to own all rights to get a trademark.
Ask for this in writing if you have any doubts.
Ask for the background on the logo designer you choose, you should at
the very least know their name. Do they have a degree? How long have
they designed logos? Is this their profession or a hobby? Where is there
portfolio? Can you contact their other clients? Can you speak to them
directly? With the amount of software available today and the invention
of the Internet, any sixteen year old kid can start his own logo design
company.
In closing let me say that the information above is a personal opinion
and is taken from years of searching logo design web sites and reading
books on graphic design. The prices and information I have explained
here only pertain to the work of graphic designers, not advertising
agencies. An advertising agency handles logo design on a larger scale
and incorporates an entire corporate identity service. Their logo design
rates are many times higher than a graphic designers.
Prices Roll A Rounds Fisher Price
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