The Small Business Owners' Guide to Buying Logos Online
Starting a new business is exciting. After you put together the basics, you will soon be looking for a logo designer near me for your new business. There are thousands of places to get a logo design. Learn more about average price ranges, file formats, resolution, printing your design, and other basics to getting a logo. There are many considerations in creating a company logo, we hope this will help you navigate the myriad of options.
What's in a price ?
So what's the deal with all these cheap logos. Everywhere you look on the net, you will see logos that vary in all sorts of price ranges. There are pre-designed logos that go for as cheap as $9.00 . Wondering why some are $500.00 and some are under $10.00 ? This article aims to help you understand the different types of logos out there, some of the considerations when picking a logo, and some of the pitfalls that may befall small business owners.
Most of us have the attitude that you get what you pay for. Unfortunately in the hairy world of logo development this is not true. Professional logo designers price their designs based on a combination of their own estimate of their self worth and going market rates. It's up to you to decide how much you will actually pay for your logo design.
Our advice is to start with a price range that you are willing to pay. Once you have an ideal price range for company, then you can begin to look for logos and companies that fit into your budget. The following chart is a guide you may want to use in judging how much you should pay for a logo design.
$5 - $10 - This should cover template, and clip art web logos. You will be hard pressed to find a professional designer who will make a custom logo for you at this price.
$20 - $50 - Some discount logo places will design a custom logo for this price. However you are not likely to find a company who will make a 100 % unique design for this price. The colors, text, and shape combinations will be unique. Don't worry about clip art being used as long as you can change any color of any element of the design. Beware of designers who can't change color schemes of a logo - that's a sure-fire sign of a template being used. Also, for this price you deserve a logo that has not been resold.
$75 - $100 - This is the average price of a unique custom logo on the web. You will find higher prices at design firms that are not web based. For this price you still probably won't get a hand drawn logo, but you will definitely be getting something on a higher level. You should expect multiple revisions and a customer satisfaction guarantee of some sort.
$200 - $500 - Now this is the high end of logo design. For this price your graphic designer should cater to your every logo need. Expect to get exactly what you ask for. You should be able to get custom artwork drawn for this price. Your logo should have every aspect of it be unique. At this price range you may even request to have custom fonts developed for your company.
What about a Web Logo ?
A web logo is a logo design developed specifically for web use. This means that it will probably be very colorful, only come in regular image formats such as jpeg, gif, png etc. These logos are not suitable for printing purposes. They are perfect fr use if you just have a web based project that requires a logo design. Don't get a web logo if you are looking for a logo to use for your company outside of web -based mediums.
Pre-designed Logo
This logo type is also called pre-made, or predesigned and occasionally template - although it does not mean template logo. These are designs that have been created already. You will see what the logo looks like already and all that's left to do is insert your company name and / or slogan into the design. This is the most convenient option for small business owners. Pre-designed logos offer you the most ease when searching for a design. This way you find one you like and already know what the end product should look like.
Template Logo
Beware the template logo! They are logos designed off of pre-designed templates. Unless a design company explicitly states otherwise, assume that these are resold to multiple customers. This means that someone out there might have your logo as well. If you are not too worried or are not considering trade marking your design, you can consider this format. Template logos can look just as good as other formats, but make sure you understand what you are purchasing.
Custom Logo ?
This type of logo is the unique design. It might include a designer hand drawing something for you. Or it might include just whatever concept you have for your logo design. These are the most expensive of all formats, but if you want to use your logo for life, for trade marking, printing, etc then you will want to go this route.
File Formats?
Have you been feeling overwhelmed by all the file formats available for logos. Want to know what's the format that you need? Curious about what formats your web developer will need? Before we list the formats - let's explain the difference between vector and non-vector formats. Vector images are 100 % scalable. Images look OK when scaled downwards but scaling upwards to make them bigger is another story! If you are getting a logo design - always go for the option that includes a vector-based file format. There's no use to a logo that's so small you can't print it on your stationary or put it on a sign. Non vector-based formats cannot be scaled upwards. This means that the size you get is the best it gets!
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