Two quotes for a logo. One says 200, the other says 2,000, and neither explains the difference. That is a normal starting position, and designers are not being cagey when it happens. The word "logo" covers everything from a single image file to a documented system, and a one-line quote has no way of telling you which is on the table.
So before comparing numbers, it helps to know what the numbers are attached to.
1. Three things people call a logo
A logotype is a name in bespoke lettering. Coca-Cola. Google. No symbol at all, just the name drawn deliberately.
A brand mark is the symbol on its own. A tick. An apple. These work without a single letter, but only after years of everyone learning what they stand for.
A combination mark is both, and it is what most small and mid-sized businesses should want. The symbol earns recognition slowly; the name does the work in the meantime.
Ask which of the three a quote covers. Then ask whether a version without the symbol is included, because a combination mark rarely survives being shrunk to a favicon.
2. A logo is not a brand
The brand is what people think of you: whether the work is good, whether the invoice matched the estimate, how the phone gets answered. None of that is drawable.
Visual identity is the layer in between. Logo, colours, typefaces, how photography is handled, and the rules that keep them consistent when four different people are making things.
The practical version of the distinction: if one person makes every document, a logo is enough. If several do, and the results never quite match, the missing piece is rules rather than a nicer mark. That is the difference between commissioning a logo and commissioning branding and visual identity, and it is worth settling before anyone starts sketching.
3. The files that should arrive
Most quotes go quiet here, and this is the part that decides whether you are emailing the designer again in March.
Concepts and revisions. How many directions you see. How many rounds of changes are included before extra ones get billed.
Variants. One logo is never one file. Full colour, single colour, black and white, and something that survives a dark background. Skip these and the first print job brings you straight back.
Vector artwork. .ai, .eps, .svg, .pdf. Vector scales from a business card to the side of a building with no loss. If the handover is a .png and nothing else, you have a picture of your logo, and the first printer you approach will ask for the real thing.
Raster exports at a few sizes with transparent backgrounds, for the web and for social profiles.
Usage rules. A full brand book if the scope justifies it, one page if it does not: minimum size, clear space, what is not allowed, and colour values for both screen and print.
Ownership, in writing. Who can use the mark, who can modify it, and what happens if you change designer. Settle it in the contract, not in an email eighteen months later.
4. What moves the price
At the low end: one concept, few revisions, basic files. Fine for a business that needs a mark and is not planning to become a household name, as long as nobody pretends research went into it.
At the high end you are paying for the decisions made before anyone opened a drawing app. Market and competitor review, several developed directions, the mark tested at real sizes in real places, and documentation that lets other people use it correctly.
| What moves it | Why |
|---|---|
| New mark or redesign | A redesign inherits constraints; a new mark starts from nothing |
| Scope of delivery | Mark alone, or mark plus rules plus applications |
| Concepts and revisions | Every extra direction is real work before a choice gets made |
| Research | Reviewing the market before the first sketch |
| Who is doing it | A designer starting out and an established studio do not price alike |
Logo generators do what they advertise, and the output usually looks fine. What they cannot give you is exclusivity: the same template is one click away for anyone, competitors included. Vector artwork and clear rights to the result rarely come with it either.
5. Redesign, or start again
Redesign when the mark still carries recognition and only the execution is in the way. Too fiddly at small sizes. Collapses in one colour. Unmistakably drawn in a particular decade.
Start again when the business has become something the mark no longer describes, or when it sits uncomfortably close to a competitor's.
The test, when it is a close call: with no mark at all today, would you commission this one? Yes, with tidying, means redesign.
Colour is the exception to all of this, because it is the easiest element to change and therefore the one most often changed for no reason. A separate article on choosing a brand colour covers how that decision should be made.
6. Questions worth asking before you sign
How long will it take? Two to four weeks is reasonable for a straightforward mark, longer once guidelines and applications are in scope. The drawing is rarely what holds things up. Waiting for a decision usually is.
Is a brand book worth it? Only one person making materials, and a page of notes will do. More than one, or an outside printer involved, and written rules pay for themselves quickly.
What if none of the concepts land? That is what the agreed number of concepts and revision rounds exists to cover. A clear brief and a few examples of work you admire make it much less likely.
What about a logo generator? For something temporary, yes, and there is no shame in it. Before the mark goes on packaging or a vehicle, check the vector artwork and the rights.
Is the expensive one better? Not automatically. A higher number usually buys more research and more delivered material rather than a better-looking mark. Ask for the written list of deliverables and compare those instead.
