how do you charge for a Logo design?

[Lorraine Buchan]

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[Martin Pearson]

I wasn’t really meaning artwork charges Lorraine, we dont charge for artwork generally but have talked about it quite a lot considering the time it can take.
What I mean is actual Logo/Image design when a customer comes to you with nothing or sometimes a name and you design a Logo that he then uses for everthing, vehicle livery, business cards, letterheads etc.

[Paulsad]

This is true of general print business as well – people seem to expect artwork/ideas for free and from the smaller business they usually get it.
I have a pal who runs a studio in a large print/design business and they charge top rates for both creative time and actual computer time. Everything involving any of their peoples time is costed.
On another tack after many years in print/design I’ve learnt to hold back on expressing too much of my opinion – often what you may think is a great idea for a logo/design gets the thumbs down in favour of some horrid gaudy unworkable theme that "my lad knocked up on his p.c. at ome"

[Lorraine Buchan]

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[Paulsad]

Personally I’ve always been as helpful as possible in sending out a customer’s logo – after all it’s their logo. If I’m seen to be unhelpful by the customer then that may risk any future business from them.
Why some printers hang onto logos may be for other reasons i.e. they may not have been paid.

[Andrew Blackett]

What we do is this:

If its to be printed, providing it is of reasonable quality, we don’t charge any extra for the setup. I only charge for the amount of vinyl and ribbons involved.

If it is to be engraved or cut, we charge anywhere between £10 – £20. It may seem a good thing to charge more at the time, but you are more likely to get the customer back if you give them a competitive quote.

ANDY