A cheap logo rarely stays cheap. It just moves the cost further down the road, to the point where you’re paying a second designer to fix inconsistent files, redraw a mark that doesn’t scale, or build a brand identity around a logo that was never meant to carry one.
Quick Answer: What Logo and Brand Design Actually Costs
Prices vary hugely depending on what you’re actually buying. DIY tools like Canva or Looka are free to about €50 and produce generic, template-based results, fine as a placeholder but not something you’d want to build a business around. Freelance marketplaces typically run €50 to €300, though at that end you’re often getting an adapted stock icon rather than an original mark, and full ownership rights aren’t always included (figures from Simply Design’s Irish pricing guide). Professional logo design packages generally start from around €350 upwards, delivering original concepts, proper vector files and colour variations.
Full branding, not just a logo but a colour palette, typography system and brand guidelines, is priced differently again. Basic branding packages for startups and sole traders tend to run €500 to €2,000. Standard packages, the most common choice for growing Irish businesses, typically fall between €2,000 and €7,000 and include logo variations, a colour and font system, and messaging or tone of voice guidelines. Advanced branding, built for businesses planning significant expansion with deeper research and a full multi-channel design system, generally starts around €7,000 and can run past €20,000 (figures from VIMAR’s 2026 Irish branding pricing guide). None of these numbers are fixed, agency experience, project complexity and what’s actually included all move the price.
A Logo Is Not the Same Thing as a Brand
This is where a lot of businesses lose money without realising it. A logo is a mark. A brand is everything that mark has to work inside: your website, your signage, your social posts, your invoices, your van livery, your Google Business Profile photos. A logo designed in isolation, without any thought for how it needs to scale down to a favicon or work in a single colour on a delivery van, tends to fall apart the moment it leaves the original file it was designed in.
That’s why a genuine brand design service isn’t just handing over a PNG. It should include the logo in multiple formats and colourways, a defined colour palette with actual hex and CMYK codes, font choices, and usually some guidance on how the whole thing is meant to be used, so whoever builds your website or prints your signage isn’t guessing.
What Should Be Included in a Proper Logo and Brand Design Service
- Original concept work. Not a stock icon with your business name typed underneath it.
- Vector source files. Usually AI, EPS or SVG, so the logo can be resized to any size, from a business card to a shopfront sign, without losing quality.
- Colour and monochrome versions. Full colour, single colour, and reversed (white on dark background) at minimum.
- A defined colour palette and font pairing. With actual codes, not just “the blue one.”
- Full ownership rights. You should own the finished mark outright, not be licensing it from the designer indefinitely.
- Some form of usage guidance. Even a simple one-page guide prevents your logo being stretched, recoloured badly, or placed on backgrounds it was never designed for.
Where Cheap Logo Projects Usually Go Wrong
The most common problem isn’t that the logo looks bad on day one, it’s what happens six months later. A business finds out the designer only delivered a low-resolution JPEG, so the sign maker or web developer can’t actually use it properly. Or two different freelancers on a marketplace deliver near-identical marks built from the same stock library, and a competitor down the road ends up with a strikingly similar logo. Ownership is the other quiet risk, some very cheap arrangements don’t clearly transfer full rights to you, which becomes a real problem if you ever want to trademark the mark or sell the business.
None of this means cheap is always wrong. It means you should know exactly what you’re getting for the price, in writing, before you commit.
When a Simple Logo Is Genuinely Enough
Not every business needs a full brand system on day one. If you’re testing an idea, running a very small side project, or you need something functional fast while you validate whether the business works at all, a clean, simple logo without the full guidelines and colour system can be a perfectly reasonable starting point. Where it stops being enough is once you’re investing in signage, print, a proper website, or paid advertising, at that point inconsistent or badly built brand assets start costing more in wasted design time than a proper brand package would have cost upfront.
How Astory Media Approaches Branding
Astory Media is based in Dundalk, Co. Louth, and branding is handled as part of the same process as website design, photography and video, rather than as an isolated design job. The aim is a consistent look across your website, your Google Business Profile, your printed materials and anything else customers see, not just a logo that looks good on its own in a portfolio.
You can see branding alongside Astory Media’s other services on the services page. If you want to talk through what a logo or full brand identity would realistically involve for your business, you can reach the team on +353 87 193 2111, by email at hello@astorymedia.ie, or through the contact page.
FAQ
Do I need a full brand identity, or just a logo?
It depends on how much you’re using it for. A single logo file can be enough for a very early-stage business. Once you’re printing signage, building a website, or running ads, a proper colour palette and set of guidelines usually saves money in the long run by keeping everything consistent.
What file formats should I actually receive from a logo designer?
At minimum, a vector file such as AI, EPS or SVG, along with high-resolution PNG and JPEG versions for everyday use. If you only receive a single small JPEG, you don’t have a usable logo yet.
Can I redesign my logo without losing brand recognition?
Often yes, particularly if the update keeps the same core shape, colours or name treatment while refining the execution. A full rebrand is a bigger decision and is usually only worth it if the current mark is actively working against the business, rather than simply looking dated.
Do I own my logo once it’s designed?
You should, but it’s worth confirming in writing before the project starts. Full ownership matters if you ever want to trademark your mark, sell the business, or switch designers later without starting from scratch.
