What a visual identity engagement includes
A logo project with me is rarely just a logo. Most engagements include:
- Brand strategy foundation — positioning, audience, and voice work that determines what the mark needs to communicate before any sketching begins
- Logo system — a primary mark plus variations for different contexts (horizontal, stacked, icon-only, reversed)
- Color palette — primary and secondary colors with hex, CMYK, and Pantone values
- Typography system — headline and body typefaces selected to carry the brand voice
- Brand guidelines — a working reference document that keeps the identity consistent across every touchpoint
- Core collateral — business cards, letterhead, and any other launch-day materials
The process typically takes four to eight weeks from first conversation to final files, depending on scope. Every project starts with a strategy conversation — not a mood board, not a questionnaire, but a real discussion about who the business serves, what it sells, and how it wants to feel.
How much does a logo and visual identity cost?
A logo and visual identity project typically runs between $3,000 and $12,000, depending on the scope of the engagement. A focused logo-only project sits at the lower end. A full visual identity with strategy, guidelines, and a stationery package sits at the upper end. Every proposal is scoped to the specific business — there are no generic packages, because no two businesses need exactly the same deliverables.
Selected logo and identity work
Patrick Iverson has been designing logos and brand identities from Santa Fe, New Mexico since 2001 — mark-making for businesses of every size, from solo founders to multi-billion-dollar manufacturers. Below is a selection of recent identity work.
What do I actually receive at the end of a logo project?
A logo system rather than a single image: a primary mark plus the variations real life asks for, horizontal, stacked, icon-only, and reversed for dark backgrounds. With it comes a color palette specified in hex, CMYK, and Pantone values, so the color holds on a screen, on a press, and on a sign; headline and body typefaces chosen to carry the brand voice; a brand guidelines document; and the core collateral you need on day one, usually business cards and letterhead. Files come in the formats the work actually calls for, vector and raster, for print and for screen, so SVG, EPS, and PDF alongside PNG, JPG, and TIFF.
What is a brand guideline, and do I need one?
It is the reference document that keeps an identity consistent across every touchpoint. It records what the project decided: which version of the logo goes where, the color values, the typefaces and what each is for. You need it the first time someone who was not in the room has to use your brand. A printer, a sign shop, a web developer, a new marketing hire. Without a guideline each makes a reasonable decision, and a year later the brand looks like four brands.
How many rounds of revisions are included?
The number is written into your proposal rather than fixed in advance. A focused logo-only project and a full identity system do not need the same amount of back and forth, and a package built to cover both fits neither. Every proposal here is scoped to the specific business, and the revision rounds are part of that scope, so the number is settled before the work starts instead of argued after it.
Can I get just a logo, or do I need the whole identity?
You can get just a logo, and that is what sits at the lower end of the range above. Worth knowing what a mark alone does and does not do, though. A logo identifies. The color, the typography, and the rules for using them are what make a business recognizable across a storefront, a website, an invoice, and an ad. If the budget reaches the mark and no further right now, take the mark. The rest can be added later, on the same strategy.
Why does the process start with a strategy conversation instead of a mood board?
Because a mark cannot be judged until you know what it is supposed to do. The first conversation is about who the business serves, what it sells, and how it wants to feel, not about which images you happen to like. That gives both of us a standard to hold the work against later. “I like it” and “I do not like it” are difficult to design from. “It has to look established enough that a referral trusts it before they call” is not.
If you are weighing a new identity, or living with one that no longer fits, tell me about the business.