How much is that logo in the window?

“How much does a logo design cost?” is a question many clients ask and every designer has heard. Obviously the answer varies wildly depending on the clients needs and expectations.

An individual or small business will likely spend anywhere from $500 to a few thousand dollars on their logo or brand identity, a medium to large business might break into the tens of thousands while a multinational brand easily spends hundreds of thousands developing their brands mark.

Below are a handful of logos and the development costs of each, these figures are more just for points of interest rather than a buyers guide, obviously your needs and budget will determine the cost of your particular project, be it higher or lower than these examples. But enough of that, on with the article…

Starting with my personal logo design. Obviously I didn’t pay myself to do this, but a lot of time and effort went into getting the design right.

All things considered I expect the development to be worth around $2000 of time and effort. This is, in my opinion, around the high range of what an individual such as myself or a small business might spend to develop their mark.

East Lindey District Council, $16,000. ( It’s not a great design I know, just focus on the price point. )

The University of Southampton, $590,000, no wonder an education is so expensive.

Once you reach this point you’ll inevitably find people saying “wow! half a million dollars for a logo!” All manner of “designers” also come out of the woodwork saying they could have delivered the same result for a mere $50.00.

The reality of course, is that the final mark didn’t cost half a million dollars, the months of research and development did. While this is a serious amount of money to be sure, if a company is netting tens of millions, hundreds of million or possibly billions of dollars a year, spending half a million to get your branding right suddenly doesn’t seem so much.

The London 2012 Olympic Games, $660,000, which despite being a fairly horrible logo seems about on par price wise, for an international event of this scale.

The latest in a long line of Pepsi rebrands, $1 million. Their total roll out of the new brand apparently costing $300 million.

Edinburgh, $1.65 million.

The current Starz logo mark and accompanying campaign supposedly totalled around $25 million.

Finally Posten’s recent rebranding, weighing in at a whopping $55 million dollars. This obviously includes roll out costs, but what a bill for a postal service.

Had a logo designed?

Was the quote/bill what you expected for your level of business? Do the feel the end result was appropriate value for money? I’d love to know.