The Guide to Branding OR Why I Won’t Design Your Logo for $50
Posted by derekbender | Filed under Design
As a freelancer and occasional traveler of the freelance design listings, I constantly read of people needing logos for their startup business, band t-shirts or a myriad of other reasons, all well deserving of a logo to represent them. I love to do logos and branding work so I’m usually excited to hear about this kind of work, that is until the end of the post where the budget is usually listed.
I am constantly disappointed by the way people treat the idea of trying to get a logo. Clients offer $50 and think its a great deal to the designer, when the truth is if a person offers a real designer that kind of compensation, the designer will spend 20 to 60 minutes on the design and throw it out to the client and call it done. I suppose this is okay if the client doesn’t care.
A true logo takes time, thought and energy. A logo starts with ideas, namely ideas from the client. With careful thought, those ideas are shaped by the designer, along with their own, to create a first draft or a few rough logos. From there a client gives input and then the designer does a series of revisions until the final logo takes shape. This process takes time. And with the an average rate of $40 to $70 per hour for freelance design, it doesn’t take a mathematician to realize that this is bad deal for the designer.
What about a student? Surely a student could do a logo for $50 with no problems, right?
The reason a student is a student is because they are in still in school, and if they are in school it means they are also still learning. So why would you stake your company, band or product’s face on a yet untrained person? That is what a brand is. A face. And you want your company to present the best possible face, right? I thought so.
Already put on my desktop! Keep...