This is one of the most common questions graphic designers get from clients; and one of the most difficult to answer without knowing your specific requirements.
Of course this is the same for many services offered by professionals until they know the full scope of the work involved.
Professional designers will customise their quotes and fee proposals to suit your specific needs. For example, let’s say you need a logo for an online venture and you don’t need to have it prepared for use in print reproduction. The price for that job will be considerably smaller than the average job that is for both print and online media.
But let’s talk money and which options you have with it.
Option 1:
You can do the logo yourself (draw a doodle), buy an ‘online’ logo for as cheap as $5.
Pros:
- Cheap and fast
Cons:
- Not having a unique image that you can call ‘your own’ (template logos are that, templates!)
- If the person creating your logo has used ‘clip art’. You cannot trademark your logo. Clip art providers prohibit the use of their images for logo designs, you might be able to get away with it, but why risk your business this way?
- You can see the same image somewhere else.
Option 2:
You can hire a professional graphic designer
Pros:
- Exclusivity and custom made design.
- Your business will have an asset.
- Your graphic designer will make sure your new logo is correctly used (branded) across media, i.e. web, print, etc.
- Positioning and building brand awareness.
Cons:
- Price: professional graphic designers charge professional fees.
In general, pricing design work has a lot to do with:
- The level of expertise and qualifications of the designer (are you dealing with a self-taught ‘artist’ or a professional designer with formal qualifications?)
- Project requirements.
If you have never worked with a professional graphic designer, these articles will help you “10 things to check before choosing your graphic designer” and “How graphic design services are priced”.
Think about your logo not in terms of ‘cost’ but rather, in terms of investing in the visual identity of your brand.
If you want to make the most of your marketing budget, you need to think in terms of “Brand Identity” and not just “having a logo done “.
Also, don’t think of your logo in terms of being an isolated element. Chances are it will never be used alone! Whether printed on your letterhead, used in shop signage or embroidered onto a uniform, your logo is an interactive element of your brand.
At Soul Space Graphic Design, we not only think about a ‘logo’ but about how it will fit in terms of Brand Visual Identity.
As part of your brand identity, we develop unique custom logos. Having a custom made logo means having an asset that you can trademark.
For more information about trademarks visit IP Australia and contact us for a free appraisal of your project.
