Why are Logos so Expensive?

In the late 1800s, during a court case brought against an art critic, the painter James McNeill Whistler was asked how he could charge so much for a portrait that only took him two days to complete.

The quick-witted painter replied that he did not ask for that amount based on the time that he worked; he asked for it instead based on “the knowledge of a lifetime.”

Whistler ended up winning the case, because whether in painting a portrait, operating on a patient, or creating a company logo, most of the value someone provides isn’t determined by the time they put in, but by what their prior knowledge and training allows them to do with however much time they work.

The old-school motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, had a pithy way of saying this—namely:

“You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.”

I always liked that quote—and it explains in part why logos can be so costly. 

After all, they’re not even created based on what one person has managed to learn over a lifetime. 

A great logo leverages the accumulated knowledge of a staff of people. 

There’s the typography expert, the font fanatic, who: 

• knows the difference between serif fonts and sans-serif fonts, 
• focuses on the effect of different spacing between letters, and
• understands the ways different fonts evoke different emotions

There’s the color expert, who:

• knows which colors go well together and which one’s don’t,
• geeks out on the characteristics various colors are associated with, and
• understands the ways different colors evoke different emotions

There’s the researcher, who:

• has a wide database of what kind of logos work for various companies,
• groks what makes one company different, what sets it apart, and
• communicates that knowledge clearly to everyone in the team

There’s the account manager, who:

• understands the three c’s of brand strategy, 
• knows how to keep a team of creative people working together, and
• keeps them focused on the end goal

All of these people, along with artists, bring their experience to the creation of a logo.

Oh, and it goes without saying that…

A great logo also takes time to create 

Just because the accumulated knowledge and skills of a team determine most of the value of what’s ultimately created, these things don’t transfer without the time and effort of all these people working together.

For example, it takes time to understand a business and its place in its industry, to meet up and brainstorm, to try one thing and then another, to get feedback from the company, to revise and revise and revise until, at the end, a logo exists that is simply perfect.

All these things add up and, of course, are ultimately reflected in the price of a logo—which may seem expensive at first and which may also make you wonder:

Can’t AI make logos for really cheap?

The answer to that is yes.

AI can make logos, and make them cheaply, but the result is often not memorable, and it often doesn’t fit with what the company is trying to do and what their brand represents.

Worse still, AI logos can feel like a 2020s version of slapping Clip Art on a business card or a website—something that destroys credibility.

The old saying that “good work ain’t cheap, cheap work ain’t good” often applies here. As does the saying, “buy cheap, buy twice.” Either way…

You get what you pay for.

What companies truly want, what your company may want, is to have a great logo—one that’s simple, memorable, fitting, versatile, unique, and timeless. 

A logo that adds almost instant credibility to your business and more than pays back your initial investment over time.

Are you looking for a logo like that? If so, whenever you’re ready, let’s talk about how to make that happen.