WHAT THINGS COST
When should a new business get its brand identity designed?
Early enough that the website is built on it, and not so early that it is designed for a name nobody has settled.
Short answer · updated
Before anything that carries the brand. The $1,200 Brand Identity takes two weeks, so launching with the $3,500 Website behind it is $4,700 and five weeks if the two run back to back; a $1,200 Landing Page instead of the Website makes it $2,400 and three weeks.
Why the identity comes first
A website, an advert and a set of product visuals all have to show some typeface, some colours and some version of the mark. If the identity does not exist yet, those choices get made anyway, quietly, inside whichever piece is built first, and the others then have to match decisions nobody reviewed as decisions.
The identity package makes them once and writes them down: the mark and its lockups, a type and colour system, usage guidelines and an asset pack in every format. The package page describes the website as usually the next purchase, and the Website package builds a custom design system, which is better started from an identity than from nothing.
What has to be settled before it starts
The name. Naming is not in the Brand Identity package; if the name itself is still open, say so and it is quoted separately. A mark drawn for a name that then changes is two weeks spent on something that has to be redone.
Trademark search and registration are also outside the package, and the package page says they should be treated as the legal matter they are. Checking that a name is available to use is worth doing before it is drawn, not after the signs are printed.
What two weeks produces
The brief covers what the business is, who it talks to and which brands you admire and why. The direction step shows a small number of genuinely different routes rather than many variations of one idea. The chosen route is then built out into type, colour, spacing and lockups, and finished as written guidelines and every file format you will be asked for.
The guidelines are the part that stops the identity decaying later. They are what a printer, a freelancer or a second designer is handed so that the result looks like it came from the same place.
Two ways to sequence a launch
Identity and then a single Landing Page is the shorter route: it is one offer, one page and the system behind it. Identity and then the Website is the longer one, and the right one when the business has to explain itself across several pages in an order. The table below adds the published prices and delivery times for each.
The sums assume each package starts when the previous one is delivered. The packages do not say they can overlap, so these are the longest cases. Each delivery clock starts on the first working day after payment clears and the brief is submitted, and pauses whenever we are waiting on you, so a late name or late feedback lengthens the plan even though the price stays fixed.
When the identity can wait
If you already have a mark, colours and rules you apply consistently, you do not need to buy them again. If the business is still finding out whether anyone wants the offer, the $1,200 Landing Page on its own is the lowest-priced test of it that we sell, and the identity can follow once the idea has survived contact with customers.
What does not work well is buying neither and letting the first piece of work invent the brand by accident. That is the situation the identity package is priced to prevent.
Worked example
| Order of work | Prices added | Total | Delivery added up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand Identity | $1,200 | $1,200 | 2 weeks |
| Brand Identity, then Landing Page | $1,200 + $1,200 | $2,400 | 2 weeks + 7 days = 3 weeks |
| Brand Identity, then Website | $1,200 + $3,500 | $4,700 | 2 weeks + 3 weeks = 5 weeks |
| Brand Identity, then Website, then Visual & Video Pack | $1,200 + $3,500 + $450 | $5,150 | 2 weeks + 3 weeks + 5 days = 40 days |
Each delivery time is the published one, added as if a package starts when the one before it is delivered. The packages do not say they can overlap, so this is the longest case. Each clock pauses whenever we are waiting on you.
Included and not included
What each package lists as included, and what its page lists as not included.
| Package | Included | Not included |
|---|---|---|
| Brand Identity$1,200 |
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| Website$3,500 |
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| Landing Page$1,200 |
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What moves the number
- Adds to the total
- The name itself if it is not decided, packaging or print artwork, and trademark work, which is a legal matter and not ours
- Pushes it down
- Nothing on the identity itself. Choosing a Landing Page instead of a Website is what makes the launch cheaper and shorter
- Changes the timeline, not the price
- How quickly the brief, the name and your feedback arrive
Frequently asked questions
Is this just a logo?
No, and that is the point of the price. A logo on its own is the cheapest part and the least useful without the system around it.
Do I own it?
Yes, once the final payment clears. Third-party fonts stay under their own licences, and we tell you which ones those are before you are committed.
What if I need a second page later?
You keep the design system, so a second page is cheaper than starting again. Ask for a quote rather than buying a second landing page.
When does the delivery clock start?
A delivery time starts on the first working day after payment clears and the project brief is submitted, not on the day of payment. If we are waiting on content, access or feedback from you, the clock pauses for that time.
What happens if I am slow to send content or access?
If we are waiting on content, access or feedback from you, the clock pauses for that time. If we cannot start because you did not send the content, access or approvals we asked for, we hold the project open for 90 days and remind you twice. After that the project closes and 50% is refunded, because the slot was reserved and not resold.
When do I pay?
Fixed-price work is paid in full before it starts. Monthly work is paid monthly in advance and can be stopped at the end of any paid month. Prices are in US dollars.
The packages behind these numbers
Each one lists its full scope, what it excludes and how the work runs.
- Brand Identity A logo is not an identity. This is the whole system. $1,200
- Website A site of up to 7 pages with a real information architecture. $3,500
- Landing Page One page built to convert, designed and coded from scratch. $1,200
The studio behind them: Ads, brand & media, Web design & development.