How much does it cost to design a school logo?
Do you need to create a new school logo? Or make-over your existing school brand but aren't sure what's involved? As school branding experts, we work every day with schools, academies and trusts, helping them create school branding that meets their needs.
This article talks about what we mean by school logo design, costs, and what's involved.
Let's jump in.
What do we mean by school logo?
Your new logo is an integral part of your brand, but it is just your signature or your name from a messaging perspective. A new logo is rarely created as a stand-alone item; it is usually part of a brand identity (also called corporate identity) package that goes beyond the logo to consider many other elements that make up your organisation’s visual identity. This includes considerations for marketing designs, in-house documents, stationery, colours, typeface, signs, message, images and many other areas. Strong brands have very well-developed corporate identities that are clear, consistent and well-managed.
How much does a school logo cost?
How much you pay for a new school logo will vary according to your needs and how much brand development you want your designer to create. For a simple logo-only service from a professional graphic design agency, you can expect to pay between £500 and £1250. If you need a full branding package, this can rise, on average, to between £1250 and £2500. Top creative agencies will often cost more than this, and there is now a multitude of freelancers who may charge less. It is always worth checking the level of service you are getting for your money.
How much does a trust logo cost?
Similar to designing a new school, or academy logo, how much you end up paying for your trust branding will depend on several factors; the agency you select, the clarity of your initial brief, the number of schools in your trust, and how you want to integrate your trust branding into each school.
We have seen an extensive range of costs, from £1500 to upwards of £12k. The variety in prices can be down to agencies not fully understanding branding requirements at the MAT level, agencies that are more familiar with corporate clients, or both. On average most trusts pay between £2500 and £4000 for a branding package, which would include a reasonably comprehensive style guide document that explains how to use your new logo/identity and consideration for individual school branding.
What to expect when creating your school or trust logo
There are several crucial stages in creating a new school identity, and it's best to allow yourself the time to go through each step, even if you already think you know what you want.
Define
This stage is where you work out why you need a new school logo and what it needs to say about you. Avoid the temptation at this stage to start designing or thinking about details. Instead, write down a summary of what a successful logo should project about your organisation. Do you want it to carry any special significance or tell a story, or is simplicity more important? The more precise you can be, the easier it will be for your designer to understand your objectives and write a creative brief that will meet your needs.
Explore
Once you and your designer have defined what you need, they will usually work on some initial concept designs. At this stage, they are exploring graphic solutions to your creative brief, doing research, ideating and collaborating internally to screen flawed ideas. You might have given them some initial ideas of logos that you like, but you should allow them free reign at this point to explore many other angles to see if a better solution exists. Design is about asking questions and seeing things from a different perspective, so this is a crucial stage where new concepts can be discovered and incubated. It can be tempting to rush through this phase but applying some patience will always yield more robust ideas.
Consider
Once your designer has created some initial designs, they will present them to you. It is essential at this stage to take some time at this point for consideration. It can take a few days at least for you to absorb new ideas (or longer for more radical designs) and let them sink in. Giving yourself time to let each idea grow on you will help you visualise your potential new branding, allowing you to give more constructive feedback that will lead to a better final solution. If you don't like anything at this stage, then it's important to say that. The design process is not an exact science. Sometimes, first ideas can miss the mark, especially if the initial brief is ambiguous or open to interpretation (always take the time to define).
Develop
Once you have selected your preferred concept, your designer will get to work refining and developing your final logo. You may still go through multiple iterations in this stage. Remember, design involves asking questions, so expect the process to raise questions about using the new logo that you may not have considered. Once they have explored everything included in your school/trust logo project's scope, you will need to approve the final set of logos.
Fulfil
The final stage is making sure that you receive all of the files that allow you to use your new logo or brand identity. You should receive a set of logo files that include your logo mark, crest, various logo lockups (a fancy way of saying your logo mark and school name), and any other extras you may have agreed, such as letterheads or business cards etc. Always make sure you receive a vector version of your logo, such as an EPS file, which is the 'master' file that can be reproduced at any size without loss of quality. Although you may not be able to work with it in-house, most third-parties (designers, signwriters, marketing agencies etc.) will want you to supply them with this file when they are working with your brand.
How long does it take to design a new logo?
As with many things that involve creativity, there is no hard and fast rule here. The length of time will usually loosely follow the price you are paying. Cheaper usually means faster because your designer is not allowing for as much time to consider, idea and fully develop the logo. Conversely, more expensive options will allow for more time at each of the stages. They may even include additional time for dedicated research, consultation or polling.
When thinking about the project timeframe, the other factor is how long you need to consider, share ideas with your stakeholders, and gather any relevant feedback. If you need to work to a fixed endpoint, then it will be useful to have a conversation with your designer as soon as possible and then agree and stick to defined project milestones for the key stages.