A logo design company in Ahmedabad that plans for the printer as well as the screen

Most logos fail in boring, predictable ways. Thin lines vanish on a visiting card. That gradient which looked lovely on the designer's MacBook prints as a muddy smudge on a carry bag, and nobody notices until 2,000 bags are sitting in the godown. We're a logo design company in Ahmedabad that also builds websites and runs ads, so we see where logos end up. We design for those places from day one.

Fonts come much later. First we talk about your buyers and the five or six competitors they compare you with, so choosing a concept becomes a business decision, not a vote on which colour your cousin likes (in family firms the cousin always has an opinion).

What do you receive from a logo project?

Three concepts, two revision rounds and a file pack your printer, signage guy and web developer can all use without phoning you for "the proper file". That's the short answer.

The longer one? The three concepts really do go in different directions (we don't send one idea in three colours), and each comes with a written note on why. You get two revision rounds on the one you pick, though most projects settle in one. At the end there's a folder with AI, EPS, SVG and PDF masters, PNGs and JPGs at web and print sizes, and full colour, one colour, black and white-on-dark versions. Colour codes come in CMYK for the printer, RGB and HEX for screens, plus the nearest Pantone for signboards and T-shirts. We add horizontal and stacked layouts, a square icon for WhatsApp, Instagram and Google Business Profile, and a favicon.

Then there's the brand sheet. It isn't a formality; it's the page that stops the next vendor stretching your logo or swapping your blue for whatever blue he had open.

Logo only or full brand identity: which package do you need?

Just starting out, or still testing the idea? Take the logo only and keep the money for stock. Identity work makes sense later, when packaging goes to print, a showroom opens, or you're pitching distributors and hiring people who'll make brochures while you're busy elsewhere.

Plenty of clients take the logo now and add stationery later. That second phase costs less. The thinking's done.

How much does logo design cost in Ahmedabad?

Somewhere between Rs 8,000 and Rs 35,000 for a logo with us. Identity work costs more, obviously, since there's more to make. And where in that range you'll fall mostly comes down to research time and whether we end up hand-drawing letters (Gujarati ones take longer).

Why such a wide market, though? You'll find logos for Rs 500 on freelance marketplaces and for several lakh at the big Mumbai studios. The Rs 500 version is usually a template icon delivered as a JPG, which is fine right up until somebody asks for artwork for a 10 foot hoarding on SG Highway. The lakh-plus version comes with strategy decks most small firms don't need yet.

What pushes our number up? Mascots, for one. Also custom-drawn wordmarks, Hindi or Gujarati script next to the English, and crowded categories like pharma or food where checking for lookalikes simply takes longer.

We quote a fixed price after one call, and the same scope gets the same number whoever walks in.

Online contest, freelancer or agency: how do they compare?

A contest site gets you lots of options cheaply, with very little thinking behind them. A good freelancer can be excellent, but if they fall ill or take a full-time job, that's your designer gone. An agency costs more than a freelancer and gives you a process, proper files and somebody who answers the phone next year.

To be fair, some very good logo designers in Gujarat work alone, and one with a strong portfolio and a written contract is a sensible choice. I'd never tell you otherwise. Our pitch is simple. The people drawing your logo also build your site and make your ads, so the brand doesn't drift.

How we design a logo

1. Discovery call, 45 to 60 minutes. We ask what you sell, who buys it, which price band you sit in and which competitors you keep losing deals to. We also want to know where the logo will actually live, whether that's shop signage, a product label, a mobile app icon or the top of a GST invoice.
2. Research. We pull together competitor logos and look at the icons everyone in your category already uses. That's how we avoid giving an organic brand the fifth "leaf in a circle" on the shelf.
3. Concept presentation. We put all three on mockups you'll recognise, like your visiting card, a shop board and your Instagram grid. I like doing this on a call. Two minutes of me explaining saves a week of emails.
4. Revisions. Two rounds on the concept you choose. Please collect feedback from everyone who matters (partners, family members in the business) and send it in one batch, not as five WhatsApp messages spread over four days.
5. Testing. We check the logo at 16 pixels, in one colour, on dark and light backgrounds, and on paper. Yes, we actually print it.
6. Final delivery. Files, colour codes, the brand sheet and the signed copyright assignment all go into one shared folder that you own.

Who owns the logo once it is paid for?

You do, completely. Once the final invoice is paid we sign a written copyright assignment that transfers all rights in the final artwork to your business, and we hand over the editable source files too.

Why fuss over a piece of paper? Because in India the designer is usually treated as the first owner of a commissioned logo's copyright, unless somebody signs it over in writing. Most businesses never get that paper, and it bites when they file a trademark or sell up. The concepts you didn't pick stay with us, and we don't resell them.

Can you help with trademark registration?

On the design side, yes. The actual filing goes to a trademark attorney, because that's legal work and we'd be kidding you if we said otherwise.

What we do is look through your category, and the public trademark records, for anything that looks too close for comfort. Then we hand over artwork sized and formatted the way the application wants it. No attorney yet? We'll introduce one we've worked with. They advise on which classes to file in (a namkeen brand and a software company file in very different classes) and deal with any objections the registry raises.

One practical tip: use TM once you've applied, and (R) only after the mark is actually registered. Using (R) early is an offence, and we have seen a client's packaging reprinted because of it.

Do you design logos for clients outside India?

We do, mostly for small firms in Australia, the UK, the USA and the UAE who want a proper process without London or Sydney studio fees. The work is identical. Three concepts, two rounds, the full file pack, and the written copyright assignment, same as for a client in Satellite. Discovery and the concept presentation happen on a video call, and our 10 AM to 7 PM IST day catches the Australian afternoon and the UK morning. For the US, we'll take an early or late call.

A few things get extra attention for overseas brands. Is the name already in use in your market? (We'll look, but your trademark attorney there should still search properly.) Does the colour carry an odd meaning locally? Will the letterhead print on US Letter as well as A4?

There's no fixed dollar price for logos; you get a custom quote after the call. If you need a website too, our pricing page lists the overseas packages.

Redesigning an old logo without losing recognition

Keep what people recognise, fix what's broken. We see it most with firms that have run 15 years on a logo somebody's nephew made in CorelDRAW, the original file long lost.

So first we ask customers and staff what they actually remember. Usually it's a colour, or the way the name's written. That stays. The hairline strokes, the seven colours, the tagline stuck inside the mark: those go. Some logos need a light touch and some need surgery, and you'll hear our honest view on which before we draw anything.

Frequently asked questions