$500 is not *that* expensive. There are those who charge several more, even in the 1k (think about major corps , even though the logo looks really simple and would take a few seconds to duplicate lol).
I don't we have the knowledge to fully understand why it's worth $500 There must be marketing techniques places in the logo and such. May I ask how many mock-ups of different logos you mother had to go through?
A logo done professionally isn't simply just a graphic. Like I said before, there's consultation with the client, which can take hours. Designing several mockups, concepts, sketches, etc. Taking something through to completion, with revisions, tweaks, making sure it works in gray scale and advertising materials. The logo is the identity of a company, the brand. The designer must know design theory, how to design a logo that can be easily recognized, scaled to different sizes, work in different mediums. Not to mention the time taken in securing the job in the first place. I err on the generous side, but a logo done professionally could take: 2-3 hours of consultation 6-8 of sketches/mockups/brainstorming 3-4 of taking a concept to completion, with revisions (where the 'consultation' time really adds up!) for a total of 11 - 15 hours. That's a minimum. Most will take much longer. If you're solely freelancing, there's no way you can live on a salary of $10. You don't get the benefits, medical coverage, insurance, etc. of an employee. Freelancing rates are ususally in the $40+ range for designers. That's $440 - $600 a logo at minimum. Of course, if you're doing it for fun and not to make a living, if it's not your sole income, like most people here (and myself), by all means charge less.
Well put Grimsqueaker. Basically if you're serious about making a living doing this then don't undersell yourselves. If someone asks you to 'knock up' a logo for $10 then don't spend more than $10 of your time doing it because you'll set a precedence for future jobs and you'll soon run out of motivation when you start thinking that your creativity is being valued at next to nothing. However,I can understand if you're just starting out and want to do some 'real' logo jobs just to get some good work in your portfolios then I can understand doing it for low fees. As long as it's part of your long term goals to develop a good reputation then I think that's ok.
Agreed, everyone has to start out somewhere especially if they have no actual schooling. One must experiment. However I find it's sometimes quite difficult to raise your fees once you start too low. How many 'designers' do I see here stuck in the $5 -$10 rut? Once people know how much you charge, they'll assume that's what you work for, and they'll assume that's all you're worth. It's also frustrating once you've built up a client base to raise prices - you'll lose quite a lot of them because they're just looking for the cheapest fish in the sea.
I have to agree with grimsqueaker. That's why it's best to NOT put prices on your site I suppose you could place in packages (cheap to more expensive ones) People get what they pay for right?
I think your work deserve more than that price.What can you do with $5 and $10 nowadays?You deserve more than that. Azim
I think you just have to be true to yourself and set a price based off of that...dont worry if its for a company that is going to make millions or a company that may never amount to anything.... treat every job and client the same regardless, you will build good customer relations and word of mouth sometimes can go further then the actual talent at hand... Look at the "logos" selling for 5-10 dollars if you can honestly tell yourself that your work is better...well then its easy, charge more...if your work is some what equal to then you know what you can expect for your work... You have to understand that it's a flooded market and ALOT of competition and when that happens you kinda just have to get in where you fit in... Rome wasnt built in a week my man, all those graphic/web designers you see charging thousands for thier work didnt do that over night...at some point they were giving out FREE LOGOS just to build up a portfolio... like I say, its a tuff market you have to get in where you fit in...
that must be a difference if you try to sell the logo offline and online.These two methods are absolutely different.For an example, in my country, people pays more than $500 just doing a logo. I don't know it's worth enough, by they have the money
very good points. However if you plan on doing business through DP your prices are goint to have to be pretty low, because there is awesome talent here charging very little