I think the guys hit the nail on the head here. It's a pretty epic question and great responses.
Simple logo for a start-up business should start around £250-300.00, but depends on other criteria like
I agree, I have a starting price, then it's an hourly rate on top of that. Basically means, that I'll take the brief, calculate roughly how many hours, add it to the £250-£300 and that's the price. I stick to the brief, stick to my time I quoted, and present options, if I go over that, it's back to the client to tell them they have exhausted their time and no more can happen until the bill is settled and a new quote is issued.
It's as simple as that - and people fight it all the time. But at the end of the day I show them a bill I got from a mechanic, and it's a great example, the part was £100 and the labour hours is in black and white, 4 hours labour, and this is paid for. If the mechanic has done their job, and replaced the part, but you decide you want a different part fixed, or replaced, or a fancier attachment for your car, then you get a new quote.
For that reason, my invoices for logos are split into
1) Design Brief | 2) Research | 3) Initial Drafts | 4) Refinement | 5) Finalising
1) Client facing time, discussion and understanding
2) Building a portfolio of rival business logos, or similar business logos to show the client what others are doing in their area.
It can also be used to research shapes in their industry. I recently did an architecture logo and researched building materials in architecture, and used shapes from architecture to make their logo.
Basically - a Mood Board
3) I'll draft up 3 versions of the logo direction I think they want to go to.
4) The client revises one version, usually cherry picking from all 3 which is annoying, but can be that way.
5) Make versions for print (pantone, cmyk) make versions for web/social media (rgb).
Usually, I allow 5 revisions in the quote, thereafter it's £50 an hour to make further revisions, an hour being minimum, even if it's just to add a full stop, it's £50, they are outside their revision quota. I usually allow 8 hours for the revision files, that's more than enough to cover 5 versions. That's back and forth with the client based on their feedback. Version 1 - 5 - and if it's not finished by then, it's outlined in the initial invoice quote that extra charges will incur.
Invoice Sample:
Logo Design - Customer
Design Brief - 1 hour
Research - 4 hours
Initial Drafts - 4 hours
(I build a presentation file out of this - it's usually about 32 pages long)
------£250
Refinement - 8 hours (up to 5 versions)
Finalising Logo - 4 hours
@£50/h (or whatever you charge) £600
Total
£850
And if they don't want to pay - move on. Do not haggle. Do not lower prices.
I refer to the mechanic. You go to a mechanic because they can do something you cannot. The parts are cheap, the labour is the most expensive part.
You don't go to your mechanic and haggle the price. It is what it is.
If you order out food, you don't haggle the price.
If you go to a doctors office you don't haggle.
There is no haggling. There are no price reductions.
If you feel you can persevere, I always say to people, send me some samples of the kind of thing you like and I'll tell you if I can do something similar
That's a great idea!
Oh, and get used to criticism, there will be lots more! Maybe you can post stuff on here for us to see without giving away the name, then we can help a bit more.
Yeh criticism rolls off me. Don't like my design, fine I'll do something else.
Client satisfaction is important. I never take it personally. Just as direction.
I think it is some kind of karmic rule; the freebies are always the jobs that give you the most grief. I could never work out why years ago. I realised that because there’s no cost, there’s no value. People tend to value what they pay for. Unless they are getting something for free that already has intrinsic value; be it an object, or a service.
Amen brother!
As to what you charge. What I charge is going to be different to what Pentagram charge, In turn what you can charge is going to be different to what I would charge. All comes back to value. Without trying to be insulting, but based on what you have said, you have little knowledge and no experience of design. First off (I am so bored by the sound of my own voice saying this over and over to wannabe designers); a logo should not really be designed in isolation. It is part of a larger whole – a company or organisation’s brand. Their identity. It’s about communicating core values.
Yes - my process is built out of necessity and works for me - might not work for everyone else or anyone else.
So many inexperienced, uneducated and hopeful new designers seem to think ‘designing logos’ is a career choice. It is as though logo design is the new black. Some kind of rock and roll cool career. In fact, as I say, it is one part of the more difficult, exacting discipline of brand identity design.
If I had a chance to roll back the clock I would and avoid this industry like the plague (pandemic). It's soul-less and joyless. But I need money. So it's handy that way.
My advice would be to tell them the truth, that you don’t have the expertise to do the job justice and that they will likely need to pay someone to do it, or if it is, for example, a charitable organisation, find an experienced designer with a social conscience who will do it for free or a reduced rate.
Great advice - you can always walk away. Send them your initial drafts and files to send on to the next lucky person working on this wonderful opportunity.
Then, if it is something you want to persue seriously, the get serious about it. Get an proper education, then work in the industry for four or five years. Then you may just be able to fly solo.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but your question comes up time and time again. I’m afraid, learning how to use software from YouTube videos will never make you an effective designer.
Again - solid advice - but 2 years should be enough if you are in the right place - you should know it all in 2 years.
[Blimey, that was a bit of an epic rant, even by my standards!]
I cried. It was beautiful.