Working through my to do list and met with design professional for a company logo to use for business cards, ads, signs, website, basically for everything having to do with our business.
I am being quoted $3000-8000 for this work. Did anyone else use a design professional or just make up a design yourself?
I am having a hard time coming to grips with this expense. Your thoughts and comments are appreciated.
Go to Elance.com
Post your project. Let them know what you want the logo to be like. Tell them that you want to see mock ups… and that you will need the logo in vector format as well as high resolution gif and jpgs. You also want any adobe illustrator or adobe photoshop files (with layers) for future updating. You will want a 1, 2, 3, 4 color versions, as well as a black and white version.
Place the job, with a max pay of $250.00 and watch the mock-ups come in. Then choose a graphics designer and work with them to get what you want. You can send me the other 5k, and I’ll take a vacation to come visit your new store when you get it open 
-Scott
How many hour is this company going to spend on designing the logo? If it takes 30 hours (which is waaaaaay to many) you are paying $100 to $250 per hour. I hardly pay my lawyer or accountant that much. I would look elsewhere or do it myself.
A friend of mine has a graphic design company and does top of the line work at an affordable price. His company is Slick Ricky Designs. Go to www.slickricky.com The owner’s name is Rich. He has a lot of samples of his work and testimonials on his website. He does an awesome job. I’m sure he will match or beat anyone’s price. Tell him that Roger sent you. Whether you use Rich or not, please don’t spend $3000-$8000 on a logo, that is way too expensive! Good luck.
Thanks everyone, you all have reaffirmed what I was thinking. The price is way out of line.
The worst part is this is a neighbor of mine doing this work from home. Does prefessional work and must be proud of it. I thought I would get the “neighbor discount”. Looks like instead I got the “good neighbor jack your price up” price point.
Your neighbor may be used to getting paid that amount – but that doesn’t mean you should pay it.
Thanks Roger, I just shot an email over to Rich on this project. I really appreciate the tip. I knew I could count on this site to point me in the right direction.
Scott Hack - Thanks as well, love to have you come by when we open and watch me pulling my hair out. Its all good times!
3000-8000 is quiet high for any design firm. (Unless the package includes market research and Public Relations)
developing a corp ID takes more than design, it’s all about the markets preception of your company and wheather or not your signage delivers your message!
I think I can help you out… I love doing designs… web/graphic design and pizza are my passion… send me a PM and let me know what u looking for… I can put something together for u to see if u like it and we take it from there… the money… i’ll leave it up to u if u like it… how’s does that sound???
Do you have a college nearby?
Find a student who is willing to make some cash. I got a great logo, very professional for $350 by a free lance college guy.
Look on my website and see what an artist sketched one night at dineer on a napkins with two ball point pens. It is the core of our identity, brand and marketing theme. (it’s the graphic with a face)
We paid him some pizza, and we have been ecstatic about it since it’s creation (we used to be Nick’s Pizza Stop). You can get very good and talented design work if you look for it. There are many proced for small entrepreneurs and some priced for corporate entities expecting high-priced hired graphics guns. Find the best quality at your price point . . . not unlike shopping for pizza
I used logojeez.com and I am very happy with the design I wound up with. It cost me right around $400 or $500 with a complete stationary setup as well.
there are a few different places on ebay with prices from$20 and up.
I’m a professional designer – I’d love to charge that much – shop this around – creativity is most important – tempered with some experiance.
And never pay too much upfront – the pay should match the progress. Finally, the portfoilo says the most about the talent – make sure that you are working directly with the designer – not some order taker.
Logo, business cards, ads, signs, and website? Does this include a menu as well?
$3000 to $8000 is a very reasonable cost to get this all done depending on where you are coming from. There are different levels of expertise just as there are different levels of anything – cars, clothes, homes, pizzas.
There is a big difference between something that Disney might develop and what your local mom & pop indi might do.
You can certainly get the job done for a few hundred dollars as people attest here, but its not like you are getting the Mercedes S Class for the Honda Accord price.
Look at different company’s portfolio’s and choose the ones that appeal to you. Personally I am skilled in graphic design and have a good appreciation for it, but if this is not one of your strong suites have someone who is help evaluate it.
There are a lot of companies out there with poor products that have gone very far because of a great brand image and marketing campaign. I’m not a coffee drinker, but anyone in the coffee business will tell you that Starbuck’s coffee is not a quality product but enough people sure think it is. They sure know how to market and brand their product/s.
Make sure you check references too. Don’t want to invest money in a company that you can’t depend on for future products after you’ve made your initial deposit.
i just got one created
it turned out very good and cost me 300
logolab dot com
check it out the guys name is alex
just let him know paul referred you
FYI - I was just messing around on officedepot.com and found that they will design a logo with a base price of $300.
that would be stupid to pay that much…I had a customer do ours for freebies and it was top-notch
This is what I was hoping to do with my neighbor, but I guess he is not interested by stating his price. I think I have been given enough support from others and tips on where to go to get something done.
I am thinking that investing a minimal amount in something decent is better than spending a ton of money but having to cut back on equipment etc. to open the shop. It is a trade off on the old, must have vs. nice to have list.
go to logolab youll be happy