Why Professional Logo Design Does Not Cost $5.00? or $25.00 or even $50.00!

• November 12, 2010
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• How to choose a graphic designer
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• 2 Comments

• By Sherry Katz

So why does professional logo design not cost $5.00? SkyHawk Studios often gets asked by potential clients, why logo designers have such varied costs. Here is some insight into the answer to that question.

While perusing the web one day, we came across this most excellent article written by Jacob Cass (Just Creative Design), which we feel nails the answer to the cost question. The full article can be read here.

“What Is A Logo?

To understand what a logo is meant to do, we first must know what a logo is. A logo’s design is for immediate recognition, inspiring trust, admiration, loyalty and an implied superiority. The logo is one aspect of a company’s commercial brand, or economic entity, and its shapes, colours, fonts, and images usually are different from others in a similar market. Logos are also used to identify organizations and other non-commercial entities.

It makes me wonder why people have no logo or why they would even bother with a cheap logo design if a logo is meant to do all of these things?

$5.00 (Cheap Logo Design)

Now …. let us now take a look at what quality you can expect from a logo in between the $5 to $200 bracket. The particular case I am looking at today is from a $35 logo design contest that was held on Digital Point Forums.

The “brief” for the logo design project was

“Make a logo for the site ‘Spela Piano’. The meaning of that is Play Piano. This is a site where our members can learn to play piano online.”

Below you can see the responses from the contest, which one do you think won?

You will notice that nearly all of the logos above use free standard issue fonts and don’t assign to the rules of what makes a good logo. IE:  describable, memorable, effective without colour and scalable.

Ask yourself these questions in regards to the logos above:

• How many of the logos can you describe or remember?
• Are these logos effective without colour?
• Are they scalable?
• Do they gain immediate recognition?
• Convey the company’s personality, character or attitude?
• Relate to your clients by conveying a feeling of familiarity and credibility?
• Have association with quality and satisfaction?

I will leave these questions for you to decide.

Professional Logo Design

Now compare these professionally designed logos and answer the same questions as above….

See the difference?

Why are they so different? As outlined in the logo design process of top graphic designers, professional logo designers have an actual design process that involves research, sketching, conceptualising, and reflection and this is why they do not charge $5.00.

The design process of a professional logo designer usually consists of:

1. The Design Brief: They conduct a questionnaire or interview with the client to get the design brief.
2. Research: They conduct research focused on the industry itself, on its history, and on its competitors.
3. Reference: They conduct research into logo designs that have been successful and current styles and trends that are related to the design brief.
4. Sketching & Conceptualizing: They develop the logo design concept(s) around the brief and research. They use creativity and know how to design a logo.
5. Reflection: They take breaks throughout their design process. This lets their ideas mature and lets them get renewed enthusiasm and receive feedback.
6. Presentation: They then choose whether to present only a select few logos to the client or a whole collection.
7. Celebration: They then drink beer or eat chocolate or sleep or start on next logo design. Or a combination.

Do you believe doing all of that costs $5.00?

On that note, did you know that the software to make the logo is USD $700 in itself,   let alone the computer that it has to be installed onto or the costs associated with the essentials… paper, ink and an internet connection.“

We hope the above was insightful to you. Have you ever hired someone to design a logo for you? We’d enjoy hearing both your good and not-so-good experiences.