What you need to know about hiring a brand designer, the breakdown by budget, and how to find one that is the right fit for you.

Picking someone to design your brand is TOUGH. It’s so challenging to put your brand in someone else’s hands and to trust them to get it right the first time. We’re here to help you figure out what you need, and fill you in on everything you need to know about hiring a brand designer.

BRAND CHECKLIST

Before we get into the details, let’s see if you even need any help! If you have a current brand, we created a brand checklist (for FREE!) that you should download below. It includes:

• Checklist for essential brand elements, broken down into sections of the brand (i.e. brand vision, copy + verbiage, logo assets, stationery, graphics, image assets, website musts)
• Extra helpful resources that keep your brand consistent throughout your client experience
• A quiz to help you evaluate which areas of your current brand need some love, or to validate if your brand is spot on!

Knowing exactly where you need to improve in your brand is extremely helpful when deciding whether or not to hire a brand or logo designer.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR BRANDING PROJECT

You already figured out from the checklist download above where you need the help, so what’s next? If you realized you are in need of at least a new logo, start here:

A brand is more than just a logo. To have a strong, recognizable, and effective brand, you need more than just one pretty logo. We can design those for you all day, but your business still needs:

• Effective workflows,
• A user-friendly and mobile-optimized website, and
• Consistency between ALL areas of client communication

SO what does all of this overwhelming information mean for you?! There are OPTIONS. It all depends on how much you want to work on it yourself or hire someone to do it for you.

PROS AND CONS FOR HIRING A BRAND DESIGNER

Creating the Brand Yourself

The potential pros:

• Not on anyone else’s timeline
• Can design it to be exactly how you want it
• Saves cost on hiring a designer

The potential cons:

• Unsure if optimized or sized correctly
• Can lead to technical or formatting issues
• May take longer or cause time wasted if not done correctly
• Not as customized or creative of a design
• May not know next steps or HOW to use your brand effectively

Hiring a Professional

The potential pros:

• Will save time and money (if done correctly)
• Typically a longer-lasting brand
• Completely customized, creative design
• Optimized, sized, and formatted correctly for all platforms
• Additional brand advice and tools for continued success

The potential cons:

• A higher monetary investment
• Stress about finding the right designer for you

BRAND BREAKDOWN BY BUDGET

Everyone has a different budget and different priorities when it comes to their specific branding needs. Here is a breakdown of the generalized cost of what you can typically get within each budget.

$50 – $200:

You will most likely not be able to hire a professional brand designer within this budget, but if you need some branding basics, Creative Market is a great place to start! Search for the type of logo you are looking for and there may be a perfect option for you to be able to download and make your own.

$200 – $800:

There’s a chance you could find a newer designer who is starting out or building their portfolio in this budget that could help you! We do always mention getting it right the first time, and you may want to take heed of this price point.

$800 – $1,200:

This is a great budget to have when first starting out, if you don’t need *too* many things, but just want the roots to a good brand, and build on top of it over time. Many designers sell semi-custom, pre-made, or templated versions of logos and/or websites, which may suit your needs!

$1,200 – $2,000:

In this price range, you’ll be able to hire a professional brand designer for a customized brand. Having a good logo designer that supplies you with what you need to further succeed will be essential if you’re at this price point. Our tip: don’t settle for only a logo – make sure there’s also a submark, a square logo, font files, logo specs, and social media files.

$2,000-$4,500:

The next tier up would be more than the brand element basics, but also a designer that can set you up with branded graphic templates, stationery files, and essentially a full brand build-out. If you want to pay someone to do it right and totally set you up with your brand, keep this budget in mind. Note: this is about the price range you want to be in for a great brand OR website. If you want both, you can set the expectation for yourself that it will be another $2k-$5k investment.

$4,500-$10,000:

It’s going to be hard to find someone REALLY GOOD that will be able to give you a full brand build-out and a beautiful, optimized website for under this price range. Our Full Branding Package is within this range, and includes branding graphic templates, stationery files, logos, and more. If you’d like us to create your website for you, too, we offer a Website Add-On for an extra fee. We’re here if you want us to take care of it all for you, in one place! Take a look at our branding and website packages if you want it done right, or schedule a free consultation!

QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN HIRING A BRAND DESIGNER

• What is the turnaround time?
• What do you need from me before we start?
• Why is it worth the investment if I hire you?
• What is your design process like?
• What are all of the services that you offer that you can help me with? Do you have recommendations for other services that you don’t offer?
• What happens if I’m not satisfied with the initial designs?
• What files are included with the logo design?
• How do you know if we’ll be a good fit?

IT WILL FEEL RIGHT WHEN…

Just like they say: “when you know, you know”…

You’ll be able to tell if you vibe with the designer or not. Our process involves a lot of initial homework from you, which is something we always set the expectation for on our call. Are you someone that hates homework and wants a quick logo? Then our design process probably isn’t for you, which is okay! Just know that when hiring a brand designer, ask those questions above and you’ll have a good idea as to if it’s a good fit.

Want to see if we’re a good match?