You can spend as much or as little as you want on a logo, though more money doesn’t always necessarily mean better quality. If you can afford a designer, great. If not—never fear. With some diligence and effort, you can partly (or entirely) make a logo that will look great
Hire a designer
Depending on their experience and location, hiring a designer will likely range between $150-2000. While you can hire inexpensive designers remotely, expect to pay $1-2k for an experienced designer in the US.
Be sure to check out a designer’s work before you commit so you have a sense of whether or not they’ll be a good fit. Instagram, Behance, and FB groups like Freelancing Females are all great places to find designers.
Semi-custom branding
There are logo templates for purchase on Etsy, Creative Market, or professional designers. This will not be 100% original to your brand, since others will likely have used the same template, but will have a clean, professional look. These usually range from $5-250.
There are also some websites like Looka that will walk you through the self-design process based on elements they have already designed. This ranges from $20-65 and you’ll walk away with semi-custom branding that you helped design yourself.
DIY logo
The visual graphic design app Canva provides thousands of logo templates, many of which are free. With a small learning curve, they can be quick and easy to customize.
Things to remember:
Best practice is to always have your logo in a PNG file with a transparent background. Looka and any pre-designed logo templates will deliver your files to you this way–make sure your designer offers it this way as well.
Canva’s free version does not offer you a PNG with a transparent background, so you can either sign up for a trial of Canva Pro or wait until you know the background color of your website header, footer, and anywhere else your logo might be placed and create a copy of your logo in Canva with the exact same color background. This way your logo should blend in perfectly with your website and marketing materials.
I am the founder of VIRTUALCOPIA Business Collective and a self-employment enthusiast. I hope to inspire others to take a leap into their own entrepreneurial journeys while providing resources and support, and facilitating a community.