How much do you charge for a logo?

Branding and logos are part of our bread and butter at We Are Acuity. But how to approach it? Our Creative Lead Graeme Airey tells you all about it...

It’s a common question and one that’s often debated. Like other industries, the time required to complete the task along with the level of expertise necessary, dictates the cost. So customers need to ask themselves how important their brand identity is to ensure their business’s success, and be honest about it.

If uniqueness or a perfectly tailored design isn’t necessary, AI platforms like Looka, Wix or even Canva can generate smart looking logos for next to nothing; ideal for startups who might want to look at rebranding to match their vision once they’re up and flying.

Or there’s websites like 99designs and DesignCrowd that asks designers to submit ideas for free and only get paid if their design ‘wins’. These routes are controversial because they entice designers to work for free and compete against each other as if thrown together on ‘Design Island’. I can’t think of many industries where work is done for nothing and only paid for if their clients like it.

A better way would be to contact design students and ask if they’d like to hone their skills on your identity, either resulting in something iconic (we all know the story of the famous Nike swoosh), or at the very least you’ll get a design in vector format so it can be supersized across your new company van.

Successful and more established businesses might want to look at the opposite end of the scale and instruct an award-winning branding agency. The agency might want to provide a 200-page bible to describe everything from parking bays to cuddly toys and how the beautifully considered emblem, the 18 different weights of a bespoke typeface and exclusive Pantone® colour palettes must be deployed. This level of craftsmanship doesn’t come cheap because it takes time, think £400,000 for the London 2012 Olympics brand (the Guinness World Record holder of the most expensive Olympics logo).

A logo is the symbolic face of an overarching brand and only one piece of the puzzle – just how many pieces in the puzzle informs the cost as much as how good the creative team is. The logo should be unique and also perfectly represent the company’s vision and values; it should also be simple, work across all media, be recognisable and easy to deploy. The brand’s typeface doesn’t need to be bespoke, nor do the colours, but both need very careful consideration. Then there’s tone of voice, photography guidelines, audio signatures, iconography, UI and UX… and all should work in harmony to provide consistency of style. Getting all this right can hugely benefit your business and help it grow. “Good design is good business” (Paul Rand).

So, if your good business needs good design, get in touch with us at We Are Acuity. But bear in mind we only do well-considered, well-crafted and well-good ROI.

Or if you'd like to read more about Local Marketing have a look at our blog page "Local Thinking': https://www.weareacuity.com/local-thinking-our-blog

#logo #logodesign #branding