To me the identity of an organisation is one of the most important elements to take to market and, much as I understand that costs are vital to a business, what I think organisations need to consider is the value a professionally designed logo brings to their business rather than simply asking “how much do you charge for a logo?”
Logo design uses combination of text and imagery that tells people the name of your small business and creates a visual symbol that represents your vision. It’s a big part of your brand identity and is quite often the first thing a customer will see. A good logo is memorable, differentiates you from everyone else, and fosters brand loyalty so embrace it.
However, logo design can cost a huge amount of money.
For example, when the BBC decided to invest in its brand, it invested £1.8 million. Now, digest that figure for what is basically 3 letters in a row. But….this logo has been familiar to consumers for years. It is minimalistic, clearly defined and most consumers will not associate these letters with reliability and other, positive values.
Well, what about the 2012 Olympic logo? What do you think? How much? What if I said about £625k? Worth it? Can you see the London style of architecture in the design? No? Me neither.
What about the global company Accenture? Yes, the company specialises in strategy, management technology etc, but what about the costs for this? Well…how does about $100,000,000?
So, in a nutshell, what I am saying is that a logo shouldn’t be decided purely on the costs and the time it takes to draw. Your logo is the public face of your company; it is what the organisation represents and simple logos comprised of only essential elements are often the most difficult and also successful.
I have seen companies offering logo design on Twitter for $100, but remember, you get what you pay for. Using a dose of clip art and a bit of a creative font on your text doesn’t make you a designer almost as much as changing a light bulb doesn’t make you an electrician. There are logos like the Nike tick which probably took about 1 hour to actually design, but the thought process and the actual value of creating a clever, professional logo can take months and sometimes years. Therefore, the execution might be quick, but that doesn’t mean that is all you should pay for. Good designers and marketeers train for years to ply trade and this allows them to design things and make strategic decisions and sometimes, asking a designer to make the logo bigger or to change the colour of the typography isn’t actually a decision you are qualified to make!
This all may sound harsh, but it is true. A good designer will take a solid brief and then go through a multiple of ideas and concepts before working up their ideas. Trust them and work with them and above all, pay them accordingly!
