The Business of Logo Design: Pricing and Scope

Pricing design work is one of the skills design school doesn't teach. Most designers either underprice their work (out of insecurity or competitive anxiety) or overprice it (because they've heard stories of large agency fees and assumed they apply). Both approaches cause problems.

My pricing philosophy is based on value delivered and scope clarity, not on hours worked.

Value-Based Pricing vs. Hourly

Hourly pricing has a fundamental problem: it penalizes efficiency. A designer who can solve a problem well in 20 hours gets paid less than one who takes 40 hours to reach a worse solution. This creates wrong incentives and misaligns the client's interests with the designer's.

Value-based pricing aligns the fee with the value the work creates for the client. A logo for a one-person freelance business has a different value than a logo for a company launching nationally. The scope of deliverables might be similar; the value created is very different.

Defining Scope Precisely

Vague scope creates expensive problems. A contract that says "logo design including revisions" is an open-ended commitment. A contract that specifies "logo design including three initial concepts, two rounds of revisions, and final delivery of specified file formats" is a defined scope.

I define scope precisely:

Number of initial concepts: I typically present one direction. If the project calls for exploring multiple directions, that's scoped and priced separately.

Rounds of revision: Two rounds of revisions is my standard. Additional rounds are available at an additional fee.

Deliverables: Exactly what files and formats are delivered. Every item that's in scope is listed; everything not listed is out of scope.

Approval process: Who has the authority to approve work? If approval requires multiple stakeholders with potentially conflicting input, that's scoped differently than a single decision-maker.

Revision Limits Protect Quality

Unlimited revisions sounds client-friendly. In practice, unlimited revision processes often produce worse outcomes than limited revision processes. When revision rounds have no limit, projects drag, direction drifts, and the designer eventually produces work that incorporates so many conflicting inputs that it doesn't represent a coherent design direction.

Limited revision rounds, with a clear process and scope, produce better outcomes. They force the client to consolidate feedback and make decisions. They keep the project moving.

The Kill Fee

I include a kill fee in every contract: a percentage of the total fee (typically 25–50%) that's due if the project is cancelled after work has begun. Kill fees protect against the time and creative investment made before a project is abandoned — not uncommon in logo work when strategic decisions change.

Clients who resist the kill fee concept are often clients who haven't fully committed to the project. That resistance is a useful signal early in a relationship.

When to Walk Away

Not every project is worth taking. Clients who dispute the brief, who want to "see some concepts" before contracting, who've been through multiple designers before reaching me — these are signals worth evaluating.

I've turned down work I could have taken. The projects I've declined are not the projects I regret missing. The projects I've taken despite red flags almost always confirmed the red flags.