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Brand Identity Cost Calculator

A realistic budget for a brand kit: logos, color palette, typefaces, guidelines and applications, based on complexity and how many touchpoints you need.

The project

What a real brand kit includes

A decent brand kit isn’t just the logo. People pay €800 for a logo and then find out they need variations for dark backgrounds, a simplified version for the favicon, a color system with HEX, RGB, CMYK and Pantone, commercially licensed typefaces, presentation templates, usage specs so third parties don’t wreck the brand, and tone-of-voice guidelines. That’s the kit. And it multiplies the cost of the logo alone by 5.

That’s why this calculator breaks the cost down by layer: logo, full system, guidelines, applications and licenses. You’ll see which part costs most at your provider level, and the surprise is almost always in the applications, not the logo.

Why the provider levels cost so differently

  • Junior freelancer (1×): 1–3 years of experience. Makes solid logos but without strategy. Risk of endless iterations.
  • Senior freelancer (2.5×): 5+ years, a proven portfolio, their own method. Asks questions before starting. The sweet spot for most small businesses.
  • Specialized studio (5×): 3–8 people, a defined process, strategy before design. Good for brands that will compete in crowded categories.
  • Top agency (12×): covers research, brand strategy, naming, and the visual, sonic and verbal system. For companies with >€5M in revenue or raising investment.

Common budgeting mistakes

  1. Asking for 5 quotes at different levels without understanding why they differ. An €800 quote and an €80,000 one are not the same thing.
  2. Not budgeting for the internal rollout (business cards, website, presentations, social). The rollout often costs as much as the design.
  3. Forgetting commercial typeface licenses. Using «downloaded» fonts without a license is illegal, and it gets noticed.
  4. Accepting the first proposal without aligning expectations with a mood board.
  5. Asking for «something creative» without a brief. The vaguer the brief, the pricier the revision rounds.

What to do with the number

If the budget is higher than you expected, don’t cut the brand guidelines: that costs you more the following year. Cut applications instead (do the critical ones first and the rest once the brand is validated), or move up a provider level to cut revision rounds. A senior freelancer who wraps the project in 8 weeks often costs less than a junior who drags it out for 6 months.

Typical examples

  • • Pre-seed B2B SaaS startup: senior freelancer, medium complexity, 4 applications, light guidelines. ~€6,000–10,000.
  • • Established small business (e-commerce): specialized studio, medium complexity, 8 applications, full guidelines. ~€25,000–45,000.
  • • Company with >€5M revenue, several products: top agency or studio, high complexity, 12+ applications, full system. ~€80,000–250,000.
  • • Freelancer’s personal brand: junior freelancer, simple, 2 applications, no formal guidelines. ~€800–2,000.

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