Design & Branding: What Price for a Graphic Charter?
Last update: 1 June 2022 at 06:03 pm
5.00/5What is the budget for a graphic design ? What is the price of a graphic charter to design a solid brand image?
As a reminder, a graphic charter is a working document gathering all the fundamental rules of use of the graphic signs that constitute the visual identity of a company or a brand.
In this article, we explain how to design your graphic charter, what are its components, and what is the budget to plan!
Moreover, we can advise you the best graphic design agencies.
What Is the Purpose of a Graphic Charter?
The main purpose of a graphic charter is to homogenize all your print and web graphic creations (flyers, website, posters …).
Indeed, if the graphic charter is well established and transcribed on the various media and social networks, then it allows an immediate identification by consumers. Let’s take the example of Coca-Cola, the visual identity of the brand is recognizable internationally and by everyone.
Therefore, when creating a graphic charter, your main goal should be to establish a visual identity that is recognizable at first glance. This will create confidence while marking the minds of potential prospects.
But then, how to do it? First of all, before arriving at a complete, effective and faithful graphic charter for your company, you must go through a certain number of steps.
The Steps to Create a Graphic Charter
As stated above, your graphic charter will allow you to announce the color of your communication.
It will be the main element that will allow you to implement your entire communication strategy. It is thus necessary to think well upstream, internally in the company, before seeking to make many estimates or to ask communication agencies for a service.
What does it consist of ?
- logotype
- color palette (with pictograms if necessary)
- fonts or typography
- attribute and image
- guide of the conditions of use of these elements on any support (print and web)
- sometimes also: realization of business card, flyer…
Stage of Reflection (Main Idea, Activity Definition…)
This first step is one of the most important in order not to lose time in the implementation of your graphic charter. Rules must be defined in order to present a clear project, with defined ideas to a graphic designer.
The designer will need them during the design phase, which can be very complicated if a company does not give details about its expectations.
This wastes time for the designer, but also for the company, which may not be satisfied with the first proposals and will see the price of the service increased.
Good Practices to Follow
To avoid wasting time, you must :
- First, define your main objective as a company
- Then, you will have to define a target and try to make a presentation of it (including the following characters: desire, needs, expectations…)
- Then, it is important to try to make a visual proposal, you will be the best placed to imagine a visual identity for your company. So, get your pencils and don’t be afraid, you don’t need to be Van Gogh to express what you want through sketches, visuals or even better a moodboard (which you can easily create on Pinterest by adding different inspirational photos to a board)
- Finally, you’ll need to describe your values as well as what’s against them. This way, the graphic designer will be able to identify more concretely with your company and will therefore be able to highlight these values in the graphic charter.
So ask yourself the right questions.
Some Sample Questions
- What are the main objectives of the brand/company?
- What emotions do you want to transmit to your targets through your graphic charter?
- What values do you want the client to perceive through your graphic choices?
- What themes or universe would you like to emphasize? Why or why not?
- What colors would best represent you? Why or why not?
- And for the logo, do you have any ideas…? Things to avoid?
- What adjectives best define my business/company values?
- What is in opposition to the values I want to convey?
During this phase, you will need advice that will allow you to work on the content of your graphic charter in accordance with the expectations of your target.
You can propose to your entourage, your targets or partners to answer surveys (on Google Forms for example) which will help you to refine your project.
Do not hesitate to use your social networks during this step!
Choosing a Service Provider
Now that you have defined your objectives and expectations for this graphic design, you must choose your service provider. For the creation of a graphic charter, there are two possibilities: choose an independent graphic designer (freelance) or a graphic design agency.
This is what we explain to you just below with the list of pros and cons for each of these choices.
Freelance
First of all, a freelance graphic designer can be a good solution if you want the whole graphic design process to be managed by the same person from start to finish.
Communication will be the biggest advantage. A freelance graphic designer is an expert in logo and graphic design and his ability to listen and exchange will be of great quality for you.
It is rare that a freelance person leads several projects at the same time. Thus, the graphic designer will be able to give all his time to your project and your requests.
In order to choose your freelancer, you can base your choice on the portfolio, the contacts and the professionalism on the networks. By doing a simple search on LinkedIn, for example, you will find many graphic designers offering their freelance services.
Finally, if you hesitate between several graphic designers, compare the quotes and choose the most advantageous for you!
Graphic Design Agency
Communication agencies are full of talented and experienced professionals in the field, especially when it comes to graphic design.
The reputation is therefore one of the advantages of agencies. This will allow you to see all their creations, as well as the companies they have worked for.
To make the right choice, it is important to look at what each provider can offer you and to talk about it internally.
Access the list of the best graphic design agencies.
Drafting of the Specifications
Once you have chosen your service provider, you will draw up a set of specifications outlining all the important points that will make up your graphic charter. This document will have to be completed during your first meeting with the graphic designer and will be crucial for the rest of the project.
To anticipate this, we suggest that you fill out a document that we have concocted and that will allow you to be ready for your face-to-face meeting with the graphic designer that you have chosen.
The Price of a Graphic Charter
The more elements a graphic design includes, the higher its price will be. Indeed, if you only want to create a logo and a color palette, then the price will not be the same as for a design including the creation of communication supports such as flyers or banners.
The Quote
It is generally a daily rate that is applied on the estimates. This one is included between $300 and $700 according to the experience and the fame of the graphic designer.
An estimate of the time spent on the creation of the charter should be given. The reflection phase, which we indicated in the first part, will allow you to reduce this time by half since you will already have an idea of your project and of what you want concretely.
So don’t miss out! Even with this, you will have to foresee that different proposals will be made regarding the charter, this should be included in the price as well.
The budget can also increase with all the additional services, such as those we have mentioned throughout the article, but also the printing of basic documents of the company which can be taken into account by the graphic designer in his estimate.
Graphic Charter Price
To be sure to have a unique brand image, it is important to dedicate a good budget for graphic design.
You can define a budget internally and then review it during the different meetings you will have with graphic designers.
You will also need to analyze the quotes you receive.
It is necessary to count at least $600 for the graphic charter alone. If only for the creation of a logo as well as the typography and the colors used.
Indeed, the prices for a logo in a SME are, in general, around $350 and $900. You also pay the graphic designer for the hours he will spend on your charter.
Thus, a complete graphic charter will include a budget between $700 and $10,000 (or more). It depends on your expectations and the size of your structure.
Budget according to the size of your company (general data):
TPE : $2000-4000 HT
SME : $3000-$5000 HT
Large company : $5000-$11,000 HT
Budget for additional services (approximate):
- Business card: $200-$350 (excluding VAT)
- Flyer, A3 PDF format: $250-$500 HT
- Flyer, A4 PDF format: $300-$600 (excluding VAT)
- Poster: $350-$750.
Web
- Showcase website: around $1700
- E-Boutique and blog: around $2000.
- Responsive website, E-Commerce : around $3400.
- Banner: $200-$600
- Newsletter: $250-$550.
The graphic designer will take into account these elements when he will establish your estimate. You can then discuss with him to understand all the costs.
But by seeing the information above, we hope to have enlightened you about the budget to allocate to a graphic charter.
Don’t forget that some providers offer excessively low rates. This allows them to attract clients without having the means to ensure quality work.
Do not fall into the trap of cheap services. Look for people with a good reputation and a satisfactory portfolio to show you.
Conclusion
Thus, whether you are a small business, a small or large company, the creation of a graphic charter is essential.
It requires a visual identity easily recognizable and which is to be set up with a professional graphic designer.
He will be able to guide you throughout the process of creating the charter. He will produce a user’s guide of all the elements composing the charter so that you can use them correctly.
A graphic design agency can help you.
It’s up to you!
