How much does logo design cost
Logos play and extremely important part in business and brand identification. They often serve as the first communication for customers and are easily recognizable, some so much so that they are now synonymous with the companies. For a small business looking to buy a logo design, it may be difficult to know what they should expect to pay. Because every logo is unique, it's almost impossible to put a price tag on them and while some companies like Pepsi pay up to $1,000,000 for logo re-design, others like Google paid $0 for the original design. However, there is some information small businesses will find useful in terms of gaging the pricing when they are ready to buy a logo.
Design Your Own Logo
The first option is to not buy a logo design at all, but rather create one yourself. Those handy with drawing can try sketch something or use a piece of clip art. There's even 'online' logo templates that can be bought for around $30. This is obviously the cheapest and fastest option, though it comes with several disadvantages. Nearly all stock image providers prohibit images in logo design and not being able to trademark the logo or have something truly unique may hurt later down the road.
Hire a Professional Graphic Designer
Another option is to buy a logo design from a professional graphic designer. Hiring a professional comes with some great perks like getting the exclusive rights to a custom piece of artwork, having the logo correctly branded across media platforms (i.e. web, print), and positioning and building the brand awareness. A professional graphic designer will also come with a higher price tag, however, and a small business can expect anywhere from $450-$750 and even up to $1500 for more complex designs. You can also choose to buy a simple logo design for roughly $200. There is, of course, also the option of looking for a younger and/or freelance designer that can do the job for around half the price, perhaps garnering and equally well-crafted design. Many companies even outsource logo development work overseas to people working for lower rates in places like India or South America.
Logo Design Contests
A small business can also opt to join a design contest website where dozens of logo options will be submitted and the company only pays for the logo design they want. It's another one of the cheaper options as it is the business that sets the price. While it's worth considering, many times it can result in several generic options since contests entrants are most likely inexperienced designers. Enlisting the help of a design contest will, however, allow you to obtain trademark rights from the designer and there's always the chance you find something you like.
Ready Made Logos
As an alternative option, a business might want to buy a logo design from a ready made logo site. These sites aggregate unused logo designs from graphic designers and sell them to people who are searching for logos. Generally these sites will have logos with placeholder company names across a number of industries. The caliber of these designs vary greatly in quality as well as pricing. While many sites offer designs for less than $100, there's others that offer several options that range into the several hundred dollar range.