Primary mark
The full logo as your brand lives on a website header, business card, or email signature. Horizontal or stacked, whichever fits your category's conventions.
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§ · logo design
Logo design. Not from a template.
Custom logo design with a responsive mark system, favicon stack, and social avatars built for every surface your brand shows up on. Delivered in 3 weeks; every file you'll ever need.
A logo is a system, not a picture.
A finished logo is the primary mark plus a responsive variant, a monogram, color treatments for light and dark, and clear-space and minimum-size specifications. Template and AI-generator logos produce one static file, which is why they look fine on the pitch deck and break everywhere else — favicon, app icon, embroidered merch, foot-high trade-show sign. The difference between "cheap logo" and "custom logo" is the system, not the time spent on the primary mark.
in short
- A logo is a system, not a picture: primary mark + responsive variant + monogram + favicon stack + color treatments + brand sheet.
- Three engagement tiers: Essential (2 weeks, primary mark), Logo System (3 weeks, most common), full Brand Identity (6 weeks).
- Trademark pre-checked against USPTO TESS + WIPO Global Brand before locking direction.
- All files delivered: SVG + PNG (1x/2x/3x) + PDF + EPS + source Figma file. Full copyright transfers on delivery.
- Re-brief clause: one additional direction round at no cost if initial three miss. 70% refund if re-brief also misses.
Every file. Every surface.
Six deliverables make up a complete logo system: primary mark, responsive variant, monogram, color treatments, favicon stack, brand sheet. Each lands a specific surface — the responsive variant for mobile nav, the monogram for favicons and app icons, the favicon stack for cross-browser device coverage.
Responsive variant
A simplified version for small sizes where the full mark becomes unreadable. Usually the monogram or a compressed wordmark. Critical for mobile navigation.
Monogram / icon
The mark reduced to one letter or one shape, for favicons, app icons, social avatars, and any square placement. 90% of digital surfaces need this.
Color treatments
Full-color, single-color black, single-color white for dark backgrounds. Plus brand-color versions if your palette extends beyond black and white.
Favicon stack
16px, 32px, 48px PNGs plus apple-touch-icon at 180px and Android Chrome at 192 and 512. Every modern browser and device covered. Favicon generator handles smaller brands DIY.
Brand sheet
One-page PDF with clear-space rules, minimum sizes, incorrect-use examples, color values in HEX/RGB/CMYK/PMS, and file-delivery map. The document your vendors need.
Three engagement shapes.
A logo can be the lightest possible deliverable (just the primary mark) or the heaviest (full mark system plus brand book). The right tier depends on what surfaces your brand has to land on. Pre-launch DTC needs a full system; an established brand replacing a worn-out logo needs the mark plus favicon stack.
tier 01
Essential
2 weeks. Primary mark + 2 color variants + standard file formats. Right when the logo is one of many things on the to-do list and the brand isn't shipping merch yet.
- · 3 directions, 2 iteration rounds
- · SVG / PNG / PDF / EPS
- · Full + single-color treatments
- · Source file (Figma)
- · Full ownership transfer
tier 02
Logo system
3 weeks. Full mark system. Primary + responsive variant + monogram + favicon stack + social avatars + one-page brand sheet. The right call for most operating businesses.
- · All Tier 01 deliverables
- · Responsive mark variant
- · Monogram for favicon / avatars
- · Favicon stack (5+ sizes)
- · Social avatars (square + LinkedIn)
- · Brand sheet PDF (clear space, sizing)
tier 03
Full brand identity
6 weeks. Logo system + type scale + color tokens + voice + brand book. Right when the logo is one piece of a broader brand build.
- · All Tier 02 deliverables
- · Type scale (Display + Body)
- · Color tokens + accessibility check
- · Photography & illustration direction
- · Voice + tone guide
- · 30-page brand book
See brand-identity
Brief locks. Then sketches.
A logo design that hits the brief in week 1 ships in week 3. A logo that ignores the brief in week 1 ships at infinity. Most logo redesigns we inherit failed at the brief stage, not the visual stage.
days 1-3
Brief workshop
60-minute workshop covering brand archetype, tone, audience, category conventions to lean into vs. break, and 5-10 reference brands you admire (and 3 you don't). Output: a written brief signed before any sketching.
days 4-7
3 directions, rough
Three distinct directions sketched in Figma. Black-and-white only at this stage so the silhouette decision is clean. Each direction comes with a 1-paragraph rationale tying it back to the brief.
days 8-12
Refine winner
Chosen direction refined across the mark system. Color introduced. Two iteration rounds with the client; we keep notes on what changed and why so the trail back to the brief stays visible.
days 13-17
System build
Responsive variant, monogram, favicon stack at every size, social avatars (square, round, LinkedIn banner crop), single-color treatments. The work that turns a logo into a system.
days 18-21
Brand sheet + handover
One-page brand sheet PDF (clear space, minimum sizes, incorrect-use examples, color values in HEX/RGB/CMYK/Pantone). All file formats. Source files. Ownership transfer document. Done.
Six failures. All preventable.
Six patterns cause most logo failures in practice. No responsive variant. Gradients in the primary mark. Hyper-specific imagery that locks the brand. Trendy typography. Single-format delivery. Trademark not pre-checked against Madrid Monitor or EUIPO TM Database. Each one is preventable in week 1 of the engagement, not week 12 of a vendor scramble.
01 · No responsive variant
A long horizontal wordmark fits the website header but disappears in a 32-pixel favicon. Without a monogram or short-form variant, the brand is invisible on mobile nav, app icons, social avatars, and merch.
02 · Gradients in the primary mark
A mark that depends on a gradient breaks on embroidered merch, single-color print, and any black-and-white photocopy. Gradients are an alternate treatment, not the primary form.
03 · Hyper-specific imagery
A coffee cup in the logo means the brand can't expand into pastries without a logo redesign. A house in a real-estate logo prevents pivoting to property management. Pick a metaphor general enough to grow into.
04 · Trendy typography
A type-trend that defines the moment defines the moment. The 2008 web-2.0 reflective gradient logo, the 2018 sans-serif rebrand wave — both look dated 5 years later. Choose typography with a 30-year shelf life.
05 · Single-format delivery
A logo delivered as one PNG is unusable for trade shows (vector required), embroidery (single-color required), and Apple App Store (1024px source required). The deliverable is the format set, not one image.
06 · Trademark not pre-checked
A clean logo that turns out to closely resemble a competitor's registered mark is a months-long legal headache. We run USPTO TESS and WIPO Global Brand checks before locking the direction.
Six answers.
The questions teams ask most before booking a logo brief: how custom differs from template/AI, timeline, file formats delivered, copyright ownership, what if no direction lands, and pricing.
How is custom logo design different from a template or AI generator?
A template or AI tool produces a static image. Custom logo design produces a mark system: the primary logo, a responsive variant for small sizes where the full mark becomes unreadable, a monogram or icon-only version for favicons and app tiles, color variants for light and dark modes, and clear-space and minimum-size specifications. Templates do not come with that system, which is why template logos look fine at one size and broken everywhere else. The mark system is the work.
How long does logo design take?
Three weeks for the Logo System tier. Week 1: brief workshop, competitor audit, direction exploration (3-5 distinct directions as rough sketches). Week 2: chosen direction refined across the mark system with 2 iteration rounds. Week 3: responsive variants, favicon stack, social avatars, file delivery in every format. Faster than 3 weeks is possible for the Essential tier at the cost of fewer directions and no favicon/avatar stack. Slower usually means the brief was too vague; the brief workshop is designed to prevent that.
Which file formats do you deliver?
SVG for web and scalable use, PNG at 1x, 2x, and 3x for every size you will ship (16px favicon through 1024px app icon), PDF for print and vendor packets, EPS for legacy printer requirements. Every file is delivered in three color treatments: full-color, single-color black, and single-color white for use on dark backgrounds. Source files (Figma or Illustrator) are included so your in-house team can make minor adjustments without coming back to us. No watermarks, no trial files.
Do I own the logo once it's delivered?
Yes, full copyright transfers to you on final delivery and payment. The contract explicitly assigns all rights, including the right to modify, license, trademark, and use the logo in any context or medium without further permission. We retain the right to show the work in our portfolio and case studies with your permission, which most clients are happy to grant. You are never paying for a license; you are paying for ownership.
What if I don't like any of the initial directions?
The brief workshop in week 1 is designed to prevent this by aligning on brand archetype, tone, and visual territory before any sketching starts. On the rare occasion that happens anyway, the contract includes a re-brief clause: one additional round of directions at no cost if none of the initial three feel right. If the re-brief round also misses, we refund 70 percent of the fee and you keep nothing.
What does logo design cost?
Three tiers. Essential (2 weeks, primary mark + 2 color variants + standard files) is the cheapest. Logo System (3 weeks, primary + responsive variants + favicon stack + social avatars + brand sheet) is the most common and what we recommend for most operating businesses. Full brand identity (6 weeks, logo system + type scale + color tokens + brand book) sits in /services/brand-identity/ and is the right call when the logo is one piece of a broader brand build. We send a written scope and fixed-price quote within 48 hours of the brief call.
Three weeks. Every file.
30-minute brief call. Written scope and fixed-price quote in 48 hours. Full ownership on delivery.
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