Logo design and brand identity
If the brand on the business card, the website and the Instagram profile looks like three companies, the problem is not taste but system. I build the system, not just the mark.
Why the brand looks different in every place
On the business card the mark is one thing, on the website slightly another, in the Instagram profile a third, and nobody remembers which file is the right one anymore. The second most common case: the logo was good in its day but was never meant for the places it goes today - an app icon, video captions, a print on a jacket.
The result of logo design is one mark; brand identity is the system it lives in: colors, fonts, layout principles, photo style and usage rules. Without written rules every material is made anew, from memory, and a year later the company has four different greens.
I start with the question of what you will do with the mark. If the answer is a business card and one social media page, a full brand book is a wasted budget. If the answer is 12 vehicles, two stores and export to Estonia, saving on the system means paying twice a year later.
Logo - one mark, its horizontal and vertical versions, a monochrome version and an icon for small sizes.
Brand identity - logo, color palette, typography, graphic elements, photo style and usage rules.
Brand book - a document that fixes all of the above in writing, so that a year later nobody argues about which version is correct.
Logo design price and the price list for other brand work
The difference between 500 and 700 EUR is scope: one mark for one company costs 500 EUR, while a mark that immediately needs sub-brands, multilingual versions or product line labeling costs 700 EUR.
I invoice with 0% VAT because I am not a VAT payer. Payment is split in half - 50% before the work starts, 50% after the files are handed over; for the full brand book at 3000 EUR we split it into three stages.
| Service | Price | Timeline | What is included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Logo design (3-4 concepts) | 500-700 EUR | 2-3 weeks | Brief, research, 3-4 concepts, 2-3 rounds of revisions, all file formats |
| Refining an existing logo | 200 EUR | 3-5 business days | Redrawing in vector, fixing proportions, spacing and colors, a file set |
| Brand book - small version | 350 EUR | 5 business days | 8-12 pages: logo versions, clear space, minimum size, colors, fonts, restrictions |
| Brand book - medium or large version | 500 EUR | 10 business days | 20-40 pages: additional layout principles, templates, photo style, graphic elements |
| Full brand book with strategy | 3000 EUR | 6-8 weeks | Positioning, tone of voice, full visual system, templates, print specifications |
| Print materials (business cards, brochures, packaging) | 120-900 EUR | 3-10 business days | Layout, print-ready PDF with bleed, coordination with the printer |
The process step by step and realistic timelines
The most important stage is the first: a 45-minute conversation about what your company sells, to whom, and how it differs from three competitors you name yourself. Without it a logo remains a matter of taste, and matters of taste cannot be finished - they can only get tiresome.
I do not show 15 variants. Three or four concepts mean three or four different ideas, not one idea in five colors, and I show each one in a real context: on a business card, in a website header, on the side of a vehicle or on packaging. The only thing that stretches the timelines in the table is the speed of your answers.
| Stage | Timeline | What I do | What I need from you |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Brief and research | Days 1-3 | A 45-60 minute conversation, a visual audit of competitors, a description of directions | Answers to 10 questions and existing materials |
| 2. Concepts | Days 4-8 | 3-4 distinct concepts, each shown in real use | One choice and a specific comment on what bothers you |
| 3. Revisions | Days 9-12 | 2-3 rounds of revisions on the chosen concept | A consolidated opinion, not five separate emails |
| 4. Files and handover | Days 13-15 | Vectors, PNG, PDF, SVG, color codes, favicon, social media sizes | Confirmation that the version is final |
| 5. Brand book | +5-10 business days | Usage rules, examples, restrictions, templates | A list of the places where you will use the brand |
What a brand book is and when it is really needed
The size of the book grows with the number of people using the brand. The small version at 350 EUR has 8-12 pages: logo versions, minimum size, clear space, color codes and restrictions. The medium one at 500 EUR has 20-40 pages with layout principles, templates and photo style. The full one at 3000 EUR starts with strategy - positioning, target audiences, tone of voice - and only then comes the visual part.
If all the design is made by one and the same person, the book can wait. As soon as someone else starts making the materials, the book pays for itself in the first month.
How the concepts come about: colors, fonts and checks
I do not choose a color by what I like: first I find out what the direct competitors already use. If everyone in the industry is blue, blue is a safe and completely invisible choice. Then I check whether the color survives print - a bright green on screen often drops by two shades on paper, so I fix it in Pantone and CMYK values as well.
I choose fonts with a license that allows using them five years from now, and for every project I write down the license type. This is where the nastiest surprises come from: a new designer opens the file, the font is missing, and the whole layout falls apart.
I run every mark through three checks: is it legible at favicon size, 16 pixels, does it work in one color on a black background, and can it be cut in vinyl without details that break off. A mark that fails even one check I do not show at all.
Which files you receive
Vector sources .ai and .eps - from these any size of material can be produced, including a facade sign.
An SVG file for the website - sharp on any screen and small in size.
A print-ready PDF with fonts converted to outlines.
PNG with a transparent background in three sizes and JPG on a light and a dark background.
Favicon and social media profile images in the correct sizes.
Color codes in CMYK, RGB, HEX and Pantone as text, not as an image.
A list of fonts with the license type and a purchase link.
One mark that reads from twenty meters on a truck and from thirty centimeters on a business card.
Work you can look at and verify
Box Latvia brand identity. A logistics brand where the mark has to be legible both on the side of a truck from 20 meters and on a business card from 30 centimeters. Orange on a dark background was chosen for visibility, not for taste.
Apmeklē.lv brand. The identity of a services platform where the main requirement was that the pictogram works at app icon size.
Digitālais Dzintars. A renewed brand for a digital culture platform in Liepāja: the poster and playbill system was more important than the logo. The opposite case is LimeBit and DarbaGuru - digital product brands where the first test is the favicon at 16 pixels.
The rest of the work - more than 50 logo and identity projects since 2008 - is in the portfolio section.
When a new logo is not worth making
Some conversations I end with the advice to change nothing. A new mark for a company its clients already recognize means losing the accumulated recognition and paying to redo the materials on top. If the mark exists only as a blurry JPG, that is a redrawing job for 200 EUR, not a new logo. I have written separately about when one person is not the right choice.
Print materials and packaging
A brand becomes real the moment you can hold it in your hands. Business cards, folders, brochures, catalogs, signs and packaging cost 120-900 EUR depending on the scope: a double-sided business card is closer to the lower end, a 16-page catalog or a packaging series closer to the upper.
I prepare a print-ready file with bleed, the correct color profile and verified resolution, and I agree the paper weight, lamination and fold positions with the printer myself. Digitālais Dzintars and Box Latvia are two projects where the print part was larger than the logo itself.
What makes working with me different
I am one person with 18 years of experience. The one you talk to in the first conversation is the same one who draws and then builds the website.
I do not abandon the brand the moment the files are handed over. I build websites, sort out SEO and visibility in AI answers and connect AI agents, so I design the mark with a view to how it will look in a website header, in Google results, in an ad banner and on an invoice.
Clients are in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and the USA; several have worked with me for years: Estire, MLM Cargo, ARM Metals, Tavasdurvis, Box Latvia, Tenter, Universal Solutions, Improvement, Lucky Punch, Lauvas Zobs, Valis Stomatoloģija, Cafeteria, Forevolt.
How we start
Write to connect@gatisdesign.com and tell me three things: what the company does, where you will use the mark and when you need it. I reply within one business day with a price and a timeline, not with a questionnaire.
If you are not sure whether you need a new logo or refining the existing one for 200 EUR is enough, send me the current mark.
Questions
How much does logo design cost?
How long does logo design take?
What is a brand book and do I need one?
How many rounds of revisions are included in the price?
Which files do I receive after the work?
Can the logo be registered as a trademark?
What happens if I do not like any of the concepts?
Write to connect@gatisdesign.com and tell me what the company does, where you will use the mark and when you need it. I reply within one business day with a price and a timeline.