One question I get asked a lot, is ‘What is a good price for a logo?’. It’s a good question but it’s hard to quantify because it is so variable. So, what is the average cost of a logo here in the UK? Let’s take a look and see if we can shed some light on the answer.
Part of the reason we find it so hard to define an average price is due to the multitude of factors that influence the final price. It is fair to say you can find a logo for your business for as little as £20, conversely, it is not uncommon for businesses to pay in excess of £10,000 for a logo. So why would someone pay thousands when they can get a logo for much, much less? A logo is a logo… right?
With so much influencing the prices you can be charged for a logo, let’s take a look at what you could expect to pay on average.
If you are a small business or start-up, you can aim to pay around £250 - £1,000. But beyond this here is our simple pricing band guide.
As a rule, you can split this into 3 budget ranges:
Low Budget = £150 - £600
Mid Budget = £700 - £4,000
High Budget = Up to £10,000 (or more depending on the scope)
It is possible to buy a logo for less than £150, but in my experience, these tend to be from online logo maker websites or crowdsourcing websites (where many designers pitch ideas and you pick the one you like. In some cases old/unused logos are recycled) These websites have their uses and are an option if you need to save money, but they do tend to be more generic as a rule, and you would be unlikely to get a particularly effective logo from them. In my opinion, if you need to save money, you shouldn’t do it with your logo, which can help up to 75% of customers remember your brand, it is the face of your entire company.
As you can see, the budget for a logo design is hugely varied, so let’s explore why.
Imagine you want to buy a car. You visit a Ferrari showroom and are baffled at how much the cars cost. You can buy a Ford for around £10,000, so why are these sports cars around £200,000 and more. The answer is that they offer additional attributes. Both cars get you from A to B, but the Ferrari gives you something more. The stunning looks, the exclusivity and the performance.
This is true of your business logo too. At a bare minimum it will identify your business, but can it do more? Is it aesthetically pleasing? Does it differentiate your business from your competition? Is it memorable? Does it ‘perform’?
For more information on the attributes a logo should have, Paul Rand (a highly renowned designer) suggests a ‘7-step test’ to determine how effective your logo is). Learn more about the 7-step test.
Let’s explore some of the factors that can affect the price you will have to pay for your logo.
Not all designers are created equal. Some may have less experience than others, some may not have a specific skill in the required disciplines such as brand design, or digital, etc. Obviously, a designer with more relevant skills and experience is far more likely to produce a higher standard of logo. But this isn’t the only factor influencing the quality of your logo.
A logo should represent the brand it is being designed for. It should suit the nature of the business and allow customers to identify it easily. The best way to create a logo like this is to learn as much about the brand as possible, including its values, competition, market, target audience etc. This work is intangible and isn’t ever seen but can easily make up the vast majority of the time taken on a logo design, before a pencil ever touches paper.
One thing that is essential to creating a great logo, is time. Time is required to learn about the brand, and to ensure the design is neat and simplified. A designer offering a £300 logo could still spend more time on it than a designer offering a £600 logo (if the £300 designer charges £40 per hour and the £600 designer only charges £90 for example). This doesn’t guarantee quality, but it can contribute to it.
Today, more than ever, a logo must work in many different applications. It will almost certainly have to be suitable for a website and printed stationery, as well as social media profiles and much more. This means that small variations might be required to improve readability at different sizes or on different media, and in turn, this means additional files will need to be produced.
These extra requirements can take longer to accommodate, which can influence price. In some cases, you will also get a logo style guide or some kind of guidelines for the usage of the logo.
It is not unusual for a designer to charge a higher rate for larger companies. One reason for this is that the audience for the design is bigger, and therefore the cost of getting it wrong increases too. For example, a logo for a small café may be used on a menu and a shopfront sign. If they decided to change the logo a year later, it wouldn’t cost a huge amount to have these items reprinted. However, when BP had its rebrand a few years back, it cost them $5.72m for the logo alone. This is largely due to the many touchpoints they had to consider. Website, literature, forecourts, sponsorships, merchandise, the list goes on, and the logo has to work in all of these applications. This requires a far more intense focus on the brand as a whole, which obviously leads to a higher price. Getting the logo wrong would cost a lot more in the long run, so they invest more from the start to get it right.
At this point it is worth exploring the difference between logo and brand identity. A Logo is a part of a brand identity, which is a part of the overall brand of a company.
A brand identity also includes elements such as brand strategy, positioning and typography etc. These are unlikely to be included in the lower priced logos and as the budget increases you may start to find some of these being included. But in reality, Brand identity will likely start at around £1,500, and can increase to £50,000 or more. (The BP rebrand I previously mentioned was estimated at at total of around $211m… Ouch!)
We like to offer two levels of logo design to our clients which include just the logo, or the logo along with a few extras. Visit our brand page.
Priced at between £470 and £850, this is aimed at small businesses and start-ups who are on a budget. You still get a beautifully crafted logo, designed specifically for your business. But we hold back on the brand strategy focussing solely on the logo and how you will use it.
Starting at £2,195, this package allows for a much more thorough discovery of your business. In addition to the design of your logo, it also includes brand strategy to help drive your business forward and ensure that the brand your logo represents is perceived in a positive way. The key is to understand how you want your brand to be perceived, and then we craft an identity package that reflects that image.
As well as the logo design you will receive a guide on how your business should present itself, from the typography it uses, to the way it speaks to its audience.
So, after this detailed, yet vague explanation… how much should you pay? The answer is unique to your business, its needs and budget. But hopefully, I have helped you understand many of the factors that can influence the price of a logo.
The best advice I can give is to speak to your agency or freelance designer and ask them what they think you will need. They do this all the time and will have a good understanding of what you need for your logo. Most designers are honest and genuine, and more than happy to chat through the details. As a designer myself, I always want to suggest the best option for you because that is also the best option for me.
