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A logo design is an integral part of the branding process, as it can help carve out a memorable corporate brand. This is the reason corporations are now diverting heaps of funds towards brand identity development. More and more money is now being spent on the creation of corporate logos and redesigns. But the amount is mostly justified by the novelty of logo design ideas and the strength of logo design process used by designers.
However, not all valuable brands were built out of expensive logo designs. We all are familiar that the price paid for the Nike Swoosh was a paltry $35, but the same logo is now the basis for one of the most successful brands in the corporate world. Same is the case with the logos in the UK market. Although the cost and price of corporate logos are not usually disclosed to the public, I strived to locate the prices of as many logos as possible from the UK.
Here are the prices of 10 logo designs from UK market that I managed to find.
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June 4th, 2010 at 1:58 am
Impressive
By the way, am I missing smth or why Office of Government of Finance (OGF) has the OGC in the logo?
June 4th, 2010 at 2:15 am
Staggering! I think I’ll adjust my pricing from now on :p
June 4th, 2010 at 2:23 am
Its actually – The Office of Government Commerce.
Rotate the logo 90 degrees clockwise, suddelnly its priceless
June 4th, 2010 at 2:43 am
Turn the OGC logo clockwise 90 degrees.
June 4th, 2010 at 3:04 am
It refers to who actually paid for the logo. You will see that the BBC Three logo is also for ‘OGF’.
June 4th, 2010 at 3:22 am
Spin the OGC logo 90 degrees clockwise, and what do you see?
June 4th, 2010 at 3:27 am
As a graphic designer I am quite frankly disgusted. I think I could do better in my sleep. Why don’t these big corporations open up the design to the public as a competition. There is no better way to create ownership and pride in a company if it supports the customers it services. Take the London Olympic games for example, the logo designs that the general public submitted out of disgust at the logo were far more suited to the event.
June 4th, 2010 at 3:40 am
It now has the BBC Three logo…
June 4th, 2010 at 4:12 am
Wow! I wonder how much would cost logo to my site
June 4th, 2010 at 4:47 am
Cos if you turn your head sideways it looks like….
June 4th, 2010 at 5:17 am
@LuckSF: OGC has to be a joke (turn your head sideways).
You’ve not labelled the BBC one correctly – and does that cost cover all their logs or just BBC 3? Same goes for the NHS.
June 4th, 2010 at 5:42 am
if you turn your head to the side the OGC logo looks likes a stick figure jerking off….. lollz
June 4th, 2010 at 6:34 am
I have to say lollercoaster has a point…
On a serious note, why do companies pay so much for a design. If the Nike Swoosh was only $35 and is so successful, why do companies need to even pay anything near £1000, let alone BP’s stupendous £4.6million. I’d say that was a needless waste of money, when perhaps my art student cousin could have done something along those lines for a twenty, in his homework…
June 4th, 2010 at 6:48 am
Wow, BP really paid a lot for that logo. I agree with Jason, Nike logo was 35 bucks, and BP is paying MILLIONS? Give me a break!
June 4th, 2010 at 7:18 am
[...] Click here to see all UK logo price tags 3d, Advertising, Animation, Art, Blog, Celebrities, Decoration, Design Articles, Icons, Identity, Illustrations, Inspirations, Photography, Product Design, Technology, Tutorials, Web Design [...]
June 4th, 2010 at 7:27 am
12 grand to 60 next to the NHS logo, 4.6 million for bp. I’m in the wrong racket, where do I sign up to submit my childish scribbles?
June 4th, 2010 at 7:51 am
Thanks everyone for the comments.. sorry for the logo title slip-ups
@LukeSFr @mik…thanks for pointing out the mistakes. They have been fixed now.
June 4th, 2010 at 8:30 am
[...] Famous UK logos with their price tags!! 12 Famous UK logos with their price tags!! | Logo Design By LogoGuru.co.uk Logo Designer – Logo Design || Graphic Design Blog || Logo Design || Logo Designer || Graphic [...]
June 4th, 2010 at 8:57 am
[...] A logo design is an integral part of the branding process, as it can help carve out a memorable corporate brand. This is the reason corporations are now diverting heaps of funds towards brand identity development. Read ahead [...]
June 4th, 2010 at 9:00 am
@ Jayson:
“On a serious note, why do companies pay so much for a design. If the Nike Swoosh was only $35 and is so successful, why do companies need to even pay anything near £1000, let alone BP’s stupendous £4.6million. I’d say that was a needless waste of money, when perhaps my art student cousin could have done something along those lines for a twenty, in his homework…”
Sure, why don’t you tell your boss that you start working for $ 5 / hr? He would be happy and maybe the company would profit from this.
June 4th, 2010 at 10:01 am
[...] Source:http://www.logoguru.co.uk/blog/famous-uk-logos-prices/ [...]
June 4th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
It’s not the complexity and creativity of logo design work, but the revenue of the company that needs the new logo, and maybe the urgency of making the new logo.
June 4th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
This article is so informative and inspiring. And also reminds us to pay attention on A to Z points for designing a logo. Without it, brands might have a negative perception (learn from OGC). Thanks for sharing =D
Regards,
CAVLENT brands
June 5th, 2010 at 7:04 am
Oh dear Burnley seriously made an error. But at least they got a good deal.
June 13th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
I don’t mean to be rude, but I feel that some of the views expressed here (e.g. Jason) seem to come from people who simply don’t understand the design process that happens behind the scenes.
Although I don’t agree with price-tags of this magnitude, I will back up brand designers to no end.
The brand of a company is essentially their life-force, it has to encompass everything they are, do and will be; to me at least, I see that as a terribly big responsibility to take on.
Yes, essentially all that supplied is the logo…but it doesn’t just simply appear from nowhere. Research and client correspondence, paper iterations of ideas, carrying the idea onto screen and then the laborious process of refining and polishing that idea.
I’m not a brand designer myself (Front-End Developer), but I see my fellow colleagues (inc. 2 brand designers) slaving over the creation of new brands.
The bottom line is, that time has to be billed.
And by the way, the Nike Logo probably cost $35 because it’s ‘inspired’ from Newport Cigarettes.
June 14th, 2010 at 1:12 am
I like how the OGC one looks like a man jerking off when you tilt your head to the left.
June 14th, 2010 at 5:52 am
Absolutely ridiculous price tags for a brand/identity design!!
Seriously, where would any design studio or freelancer get off charging millions for a brand? I always believed you should get paid for the hours and work put in, not based on who you’re designing it for.
How many decades did it take to design the BP Logo then to justify an invoice of 4.6 million? Honestly??
Some serious rip-offs going on there
June 14th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Keep in mind this money didn’t strictly go towards the hours spent illustrating. The reason these are so expensive is because of the research and consulting that goes into them along with the attention the agency gives to the client.
Think of where and how these logos will be seen. Also think of what they will or will not do for the company in the long run. Suddenly the logo steps outside the actual design work.
That’s the difference between a logo and a brand.
June 21st, 2010 at 3:43 pm
If you feel the prices above are unjustified, you simply need to educate yourself on the benefits successful branding brings to a company or organization.
The fact that businesses spend billions on marketing & design should be proof enough that it works.
Logo design, graphic design, celebrity endorsements, branding, advertising et al – they are all investments. £400k for a logo may seem a lot because your incorectly viewing it as an expense rather than an investment.
Investments make money.
June 21st, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I would also add that the prices you see thrown around here and in papers isn’t ever the true cost. BP is a good example – the £4.5 Million is actually the cost of the market research behind the rebranding, not a reflection of time spent conceptualizing an idea.
You must also consider the impact of a large rebarnding for a company teh size of BP, they had to have everything rebranded from oil rig worker uniforms to business cards to truck livery.
June 23rd, 2010 at 5:01 am
“My kid could do that for his homework”
Oh yeah?
Sure, a kid with a crayon might scribble a blob and hey, that’s cool.
But you have to keep telling him not to use the red crayon because that’s the competitors colour. Or the blue, that’s too bank. And the yellow is too soft.
Then you have to tell him that it won’t work in mono because there’s too many gradations.
Then you have to tell him to tidy up the type because nobody can read it. And then it has to be done in three languages because it’s a global brand with a tagline.
Then he has to do a version that works with embroidery and seating covers and food packaging.
After all that he needs to manage a team of 20 designers and artworkers to assemble all the hard and soft legacy communications collateral and re-brand everything before the launch deadline which has been moved forward to coincide with the annual report so they can show the design illiterate accountants what they spent the money on.
And all this while needing a big poo and then a play with Ben 10.
June 23rd, 2010 at 5:09 am
People who know nothing about how graphic design and branding works, shouldn’t comment on how much it costs because you don’t know what you’re talking about.
July 17th, 2010 at 1:31 am
Brand Name and Logo Design is crucial part of Branding and Re-branding. It consist of special process and thorough research work. So don’t think of high cost.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:37 am
You don’t make it clear whether these price tags are just for logo design or for the re-branding process. Brand research and development can be a lengthy and expensive process, but even more costly is the ‘roll-out’ of a new brand – especially for a global corporation (just think of the cost of producing printed materials, signage etc for an organisation with thousands of sites around the world). It would be good to know exactly what these figures represent and the sources of your information.
September 6th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
[...] we glance at some of the famous logo designs, we will find a trend of red being used in fast food and restaurant logos. This is because of the [...]
December 14th, 2010 at 8:47 am
[...] that you have a little text, maybe a graphic, some colors and you create a logo. Tell that to BP who spent £4,600,000! BP isn’t the only one spending millions on logo designs. Pepsi [...]
February 10th, 2011 at 2:47 am
The naivety shown in some of the comments on this page really is quite embarrassing. Of course, the selection is geared towards perceived public ‘failures’, rather than fair comparison, but this is only to be expected…
Sadly, none of the price tags are actually correct. The fees shown will equate to the entire project, including research, usage guidelines and implementation, as well as numerous other elements of the corporate identity/branding exercise. As JDHobbs and JPink have correctly indicated above, none of the above clients paid for simply the ‘end product’.
Of course you won’t display this message AGAIN as you KNOW you are misrepresenting the facts.
February 11th, 2011 at 4:29 am
@Jeff Gillian… Let me remind you that I clearly mentioned at the end of the post:
“Please feel free to correct any inadvertent errors in the above figures.”
Of course I would display your message like I approved the rest of the negative comments as I have always encouraged feedback from my readers.
As for the rest of my readers…Please let me remind you that the facts shown here are all from the internet, I simply compile them for your leisure. Any mistakes and errors are purely inadvertent and you are free to correct them.
June 11th, 2011 at 2:48 am
The budgets here will obviously depend on the time the development takes but also the value of the IP or Intellectual Property. It is right that BP should pay a fortune for their rebranding because their brand is staggeringly profitable.
But even so the BP logo will have taken many months even years to rebrand, they have to create many versions to begin with. Then the brand guidelines as to how it applied on everything from literature to petrol pumps all over the world. its not just about creating a little pattern and then saying there you go..
Whoever said “my nephew at art school could do one of his squiggles..” needs a kick in the head
June 29th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
[...] in a label. For example, after the BP oil spill BP spent an insane 4.6 million dollar budget to re-design their logo. Absolutely every detail, the tinniest angle, color, consumer reaction is geared toward making you, [...]
December 18th, 2011 at 9:51 am
It’s very easy to say “Oh I can scribble something like that” or “Oh my art student cousin could have done that in his home work”
There are many people who say the same thing about the Paper Clip and Safety Pin. Very often things look very simple after someone else has created them and spent incredible energies simplifying them. The Simplest and cleanest ideas are the most difficult to generate. As a designer I always start with a very elaborate idea then spend hours trying to prune it down to the simplest form possible without loosing the essence of the idea.
I am surprised at Sheena’s comment about being paid “only for hours and work put in” / Labour. Perhaps the finished artist who refines the ideas in preparation for production, yes, but, definitely not the designer. People need to understand what business designers are in. We are not in the business of rendering. A true designer is in the business of selling ideas, rendering (in whatever form) is just a means of sharing the idea with the world.
So, what value does one place on an original Idea that is supposed to contribute (significantly) to a corporation’s profits (In hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions)?
I also disagree with Sheena’s belief that all companies should be charged equally. The reason is, whilst this may be ok for the majority of time and skill based work such as layout and illustration, the true value of an idea depends on the person to whom it is being given and on the time at which it is being given. This may explain the poverty fee paid for the NIKE logo, the disigner probably had no clue of the value of his idea to his client. ( It would be interesting to findout the value of the new logo and launch campaigns to Nike profitability)
And yes, there are thousands of designer’s out there who could have created perhaps an even better logo for bp, and even for much less, but, fact is , you cant hire every body and what designers charge depends on what value they place on their ideas and what processes they go through to arrive at those ideas. The fact that bp agreed to pay means they agreed on the value of the work done, I seriously doubt that this figure was forced upon them.
I will end by reminding everybody to think of the Paper Clip and Safety pin before rushing to criticise ideas that appear to be simple. Just becasue something appears simple, it does not necessarily mean that the process of arriving at that idea was equally simple or that its value should be directly propotional to its simplicity.
Also remember that you are making your judgements with the benefit of having seen something. Designers have nothing but a blank peace of paper infront of them when they start. What would you produce given a blank piece of paper and a written brief? Could you have designed the paper clip or safety pin, if yes, how long do you suppose it would have taken you?
There is also something else people seem to forget or seem to be unaware of when they criticise designers – and that is, the Brief to Designer and Client Interference.
Before I criticise any designer I always try where possible to findout his brief and his initial submissions to client. This is the only way to truely judge a designer; everything after the initial submissions may be contaminated by client interference.
February 23rd, 2012 at 5:37 am
Bloomin’ Nora, £4.6 million for that BP logo??? What were they thinking!!!