On other hand, if you need an additional presentation of logos due to a complete change in direction on companies part, there should be an extra fee. An example would be asking for a yellow duck logo design and changing your mind to a red dog design once logos are presented to you.

Adding an identity program to your logo is a legitimate cost. Designing business card, letterhead and envelope layouts are normally a higher priced package. You should receive camera ready files for each design.

There is a standard reference for pricing graphic design and corporate identity projects. It is Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, published by Graphic Artists Guild. Any logo designer can purchase book. A professional graphic designer would have a tough time supporting a family and a studio designing all of their logos below $200.

I'm not writing this to give exact prices for a logo design because each logo designers circumstances are different. Amateur logo designers charge much less to get their feet wet, but slowly increase their rates as they gain experience and creativity.

The standard logo design rates are based on two major components, company size and application or distribution size. The majority of logo designs created over Internet are created for small companies and individuals with limited application and distribution uses. Fortune 500 companies normally pay much higher logo design rates and use advertising agencies.

My conclusion is that value of a logo should be based on a few important criteria: 1. Experience of logo designer 2. Size & budget of company using logo 3. Scope and usage of logo 4. Difficulty of design

An individual or small company with small to average uses should be prepared to pay anywhere from $300 to $1500 for a top quality, professional logo design.

What's included with your logo? The worst part of paying for a cheap logo is finding out that you were not sent correct file formats for printing and web. You will then have to pay another graphic designer or printer to create correct files. Be aware of what file types you will be needing and ask your logo designer what file types are included in their price.

The most common file types needed are AI (Illustrator) and EPS for most professional print jobs. These are vector format files. These files should be in a CMYK color format. Vector art allows you to reduce or enlarge a design to ANY size without losing detail or clarity.

For home use and some print jobs you will need TIFF and BMP files. These are pixel files and should have a DPI (dots per inch) of at least 300 dpi. 600-1200 dpi is best for professional printing. These type of files lose their detail when enlarged but can be reduced.

The last file types you will need would be JPEG and GIF. These are pixel files and are used for web design. They should be in a RGB color format. Be aware that not all colors translate well on Internet, especially GIF files. Ask if logo designer used web safe colors. You should receive crisp 72 dpi files for Internet. A GIF file should be transparent if you do not want a white box around it when displayed on your page.

Be sure and ask your logo designer about your logo colors. Ask them for Pantone PMS color numbers for each color. You will need this information each time your logo is printed. This insures that you get exact same colors with every printer that you use.

Will you get your files over Internet or will you receive a CD? Try to get a CD, it is much easier to take that to your local printer. Ask your designer how long they keep your logo on file in case you lose your versions later down road.

You should also receive all rights (copyrights) to your logo. Since a logo is a companies identity you will need to own all rights to get a trademark. Ask for this in writing if you have any doubts.

Ask for background on logo designer you choose, you should at very least know their name. Do they have a degree? How long have they designed logos? Is this their profession or a hobby? Where is there portfolio? Can you contact their other clients? Can you speak to them directly? With amount of software available today and invention of Internet, any sixteen year old kid can start his own logo design company.

In closing let me say that information above is a personal opinion and is taken from years of searching logo design web sites and reading books on graphic design. The prices and information I have explained here only pertain to work of graphic designers, not advertising agencies. An advertising agency handles logo design on a larger scale and incorporates an entire corporate identity service. Their logo design rates are many times higher than a graphic designers.

I could go on but, if you identify yourself with most of these phenomena, then you probably should shop offline. If, like me though, you find many of them irksome, you might consider shopping online instead next time!