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05 May 2010 | 5


“How much is a logo worth”, and “what does a logo cost” are two of the most frequent questions I get asked by clients and other designers.

The truth is that there is no single price that guarantees a good logo; but there is a general rule which is that all jobs are calculated on the same  ratio: Increased Development Time = Increased costs. That can be said for nearly every product or service, which is why the term “you get what you pay for” is generally (within reason) quite true. So how come people can offer a logo for £25?

So if you see a logo for £25.99 you know it’s going to be made pretty quickly. Surprisingly though, the businesses that charge £25 – £250 (you can always find them advertising on Google) are more often than not actually quite large organisations running healthy returns.

This is because they tend to have more sales staff than designers, and the sales staff are the guys who get the largest cut and the company is often built around them. The designers themselves get only a fraction of the overall cost, (often around 25%) so it doesn’t take too much thought to see how much effort a designer is going to put into your logo if your paying them so little. Pay peanuts and get monkeys I think is the term….

They also tend to have different levels of service such as Gold, Silver and Bronze – with the more money your willing to pay them, the more logos they will let you ‘see’. Because of such low fees, designers tend to recycle quite a lot. So if a client orders a Gold package, he will get, lets say 10 logos to choose from. This means at the end of the project there are 9 logos that have been designed, but unused. So the next person to come along and order a logo, stands a good chance of getting some of these leftovers.

This is why you’ll find a lot of the logos in the portfolios of budget companies, tend to be nondescript and quite generic. A lot of swooshes, globes and flying dots It’s perhaps a bit harsh, but of all the designers I have met who work for these businesses tend to be people that are proficient in Adobe software, rather than people with actual experience in the design industry.

This business model tends to attract clients that do not place much (if any) emphasis on marketing and see design in general as an expense, rather than an investment.

Those clients that are a little more educated in the merits of branding & marketing tend to gravitate more towards the independent designer, or the small agency. The main difference between these guys is that these designers tend to have followed a more traditional path into the industry than their budget counterparts (university or art school educated, followed by employment either in a design agency, or as part of a design-team in an organization).

The one thing that really separates these designers and agencies from their cheaper competitors is in the time spent researching and developing logos. Most jobs will typically start with some kind of Q&A followed by research into competitors & target audiences, and these things tend to take time. For want of a better definition, perhaps the best way to sum it up is that this method is more of a “here is what we recommend, and this is why it’s going to be beneficial to your business” rather than “here is an assortment of generic designs we made earlier, pick the one you like best and pay me”.

I am a firm believer in involving the client in the design process, but the basic design of a logo should be based on reason and good design principles, and that can only come from an experienced design professional – you can’t get this from a 24 hour logo.

Remember, good design is business!

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5 Comments | Permalink

  • tahir says:
    May 7, 2010 at 11:24 am

    hey jonny,

    Your blog hits the right notes about the problems faced by professional identity designers. Like me, you’ve probably may have heard the comments like: ‘How much?’ and ‘Is that it?’ during and after the design process which can take days of research and development for a decent job. It can be disheartening at times when dealing with smaller businesses. However, once they realise the effort we put in to this, the easier it will be for designers to be taken seriously.

    Thanks for sharing.
    T

  • admin says:
    May 8, 2010 at 9:21 am

    Cheers Tahir,

    A lot of my small business clients have never dealt with designers or agencies before so they can be a little apprehensive and that is completely understandable. Part of my role is to try and explain the differences between my services and how they differ from a £100 logo company and show them how investing a little more will get their business off to a stronger start.

    I liken it to an accountant, you can get your books done quickly and fairly by going to a student accountant or assistant, but by going to someone with more experience they are going to look over your accounts in more detail and spend more time finding ways to reduce your tax bill.

    The first option is a short term saving that leaves you with a high tax bill, and the second option is a short term investment but overall you save twice as much due to the reduced tax bill.

  • Simon says:
    May 11, 2010 at 7:28 am

    Yeah I think those £25 logo sites are awful, we were looking for a logo last year and decided that it’s a better investment if u spend a bit more!

  • Dan Lewis says:
    May 27, 2010 at 6:46 am

    The real scary thing is that sites such as iStockphoto are now on about offering off-the-shelf logos, which really is belittling our industry!

  • admin says:
    May 27, 2010 at 9:38 am

    It is worrying to think that some business owners are buying logos as a product rather than as a service; but what is perhaps more worrying is that this opens the door to less scrupulous designers who may buy these ‘logos’ from iStock and resell them to their clients for a profit.

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