corporate design costs
Branding

Corporate Design Costs: What Should You Expect?

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“First impressions matter” – This saying is not only valid on a first date, but in many areas of everyday life.

This is also true in marketing.

How the potential customer perceives your products or service offerings or your company is strongly related to your corporate design. If this is strategically and visually well-designed, it can bring immense added value.

But now we come to the core questions: How much does good corporate design cost? How much do entrepreneurs have to invest?

In addition to the price framework, in this article, we also want to clarify other questions around corporate design and what this actually entails.

What Is Corporate Design?

Corporate design is sometimes also referred to as graphic branding or visual identity and describes the visual appearance of a company or brand, which is intended to build a bond with customers, partners, and employees.

Corporate Identity vs. Corporate Design

When it comes to corporate design, there is no way around corporate identity. The latter is about more than visual appearance and impact. Corporate identity (also known as CI) reveals the identity of your company.

It is not about an identity that is ascribed to a company from the outside, but the one it gives itself. It is about values, attitude, corporate philosophy, and guiding principles, which make up the corporate identity.

Corporate design is now designed to follow and emphasize this identity. The brand appearance is thus determined by the corporate identity and visually implemented by the corporate design.

It should be noted that corporate design is an ongoing process that requires constant further development. Over time, both the media such as social media platforms, and the target group change. Therefore, it requires constant adaptation.

What Does Corporate Design Entail?

To ensure consistency, corporate design guidelines are usually written down in a manual, which is also known as a style guide. When changes occur, this is updated and adapted.

The following aspects can be defined there:

  • Logo design: How is the logo designed and in what relationship should it appear to other design elements? Are there any no-go’s for the use of the logo?
  • Slogan: If there is a slogan (also called a claim), the appearance is recorded (color, font, size, etc.).
  • House font: Corporate design also includes a uniform typeface, e.g. for the website, e-mails, flyers.
  • Images: Rules can also be defined for the image world, so that recognition value is created through these.
  • Color scheme: Part of the corporate design is the definition of a color scheme to be used.
  • Materials: If print media are not to be left out, the choice of materials naturally also plays a role in corporate design.


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Why Is Corporate Design So Important?

Corporate design is crucial to how your company or brand looks to potential customers.

A uniform appearance from the business card to the website not only creates recognition value but also radiates professionalism. The clear appearance, which adheres precisely to design guidelines, also creates trust among existing customers.

The consistent appearance stands for security and continuity. It signals to customers that they are still dealing with the same brand with which they have had good experiences before.

A successful corporate design not only ensures recognition value alone but also successful visibility in general. Adapted to the target group, they can be directly addressed through colors, images, fonts, and much more.

Another aspect here is also the possibility to stand out from the competition through a sophisticated corporate design. You can give your brand a character that makes it special.

Corporate Design Costs: How Much Should I or Do I Have to Invest?

The question of how much good corporate design costs are not easy to answer, and especially not in a blanket way. There are a number of factors that play a role, such as the scope of services, the time required, and rights of use.

Another criterion is whether you turn to an online service on the net, a freelancer or an agency. For example, the prices for the creation of a logo start at 100€, but can also quickly climb into the five-digit range.

Costs of Logo Design

Let’s first stay with the design of a logo when we turn to the costs. Start-ups or entrepreneurs should not dig too deep into their pockets here. A professional logo can be created for just a few hundred euros. A model in which the graphic designer initially receives a smaller budget, but shares in the success in the form of usage rights, could also be suitable here.

For larger companies, where the logo is part of an extensive design concept, the price will also be correspondingly higher. In general, you can choose between three options when it comes to logo design:

  • Online logo generators: there are platforms on the net that create a logo for as little as 100€. Due to the low cost, the amount of work required to create the logo is reduced as much as possible: Often, already existing templates are modified, which means that the individuality is limited. Online logo generators can be very satisfying, but they can also be very disappointing. Here it is questionable whether the money is well invested.
  • Professional freelancers: With freelance graphic designers, the prices for creating a logo start at about 700€. In advance, wishes, ideas and goals are discussed so that the freelancer can design a suitable logo based on them. Experienced graphic designers include existing style guides of the corporate design.
  • Corporate Design Agencies: Professional agencies usually go one step further and include market analysis and research on competitors in their work. Prices for the creation of a logo start at about 2.500€ and have a lot of room for improvement.


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Corporate Design Costs

If you would like to design more than just a logo, but your entire visual identity, this will naturally involve more costs. Here, too, there are strong price differences, depending on the size of the company and the range of services included in the offer. To give you an idea, we would like to give you some examples.

If you turn to a specialized branding agency as a start-up and want a professionally created but small corporate design including a logo, you can already expect very good results for 1,000€-3,000€.

If it should be a little more extensive, and you would like to have business cards, flyers, and invoice templates designed for a small or medium-sized company as well as image motifs to choose from, you can expect a price range between 3,500€ and 4,500€.

If you want the full program for a large company where the corporate design needs a major overhaul, you will encounter costs starting at 20,000€. For this price, you can expect to include logo and slogan development, the entire corporate design, promotional materials, and a style guide manual.

How Much Does a Designer Cost?

If you don’t want to go for package deals like the examples above, some graphic designers also offer work still on an hourly rate. Many professional designers follow the fee guidelines of the AGD, where the hourly rate is currently 90€.

Corporate Design: Freelancers vs. Agencies

If you want to put the corporate design for your company or brand in professional hands, the first question is whether to hire a graphic design agency or a freelance designer.

We take a look at both forms with the advantages and disadvantages that come with each.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Agencies

Advantages

While there are design agencies that consist of only one person, this tends to be the exception. In most cases, agencies consist of a team of several specialists and this is exactly where the serious advantage lies.

Due to the size of the agency, even complex orders can be served, where the work is passed on to the various specialists in the team.

Disadvantages

What is an advantage on one side, can also become a disadvantage on the other. The size of the agency can lead to long lines of communication, where information may be lost between the client and the agency.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Freelancer

Advantages

Freelancers are independent professionals who offer their services to the client. The freelance designer has no employees, but does the jobs himself.

This means that the discussion and execution of the order remains with one person. Consequently, the graphic designer can tell you directly in the preliminary meeting his ideas, but also tell you what will not work. The contact is very direct and personal.

Disadvantages

On the other hand, the capacity is therefore much lower. The complete development and creation of a corporate design therefore takes much longer or may not be possible for one person alone.

Conclusion

With both freelancers and agencies, there are good and bad. It is therefore essential to do good research for the right choice. If you do decide to use an agency, Sortlist can help you make the right choice. With us you will find the best design agencies around the world.

When it comes to budget, it all depends on the scope of work and your ideas. However, since the character of your brand is at stake, you should be aware that it can be well worth spending more money if you get high-quality work in return.

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