Business · 4 min read · July 2026
What to send a designer before asking for a quote
Most enquiries I get say "how much for a logo?" and nothing else. The honest answer is a range so wide it's useless. Five pieces of information turn that into a real number on the first reply.
This is not designers being difficult. The same word covers jobs that differ by a factor of ten — "a logo" might mean one mark for a WhatsApp profile, or a full identity going onto packaging, uniforms and four branch signboards. Until the designer knows which, any number they give you is a guess they will later have to revise, which is where the awkward conversations come from.
Send these five things and you will get a fixed price, a date, and a much better sense of whether this person is any good.
01
What the business does, in one line
Not the sector — the actual thing. A designer needs to know whether you sell to walk-in customers, to other businesses, or to buyers who will never meet you, because that changes every decision that follows.
Instead of "we are in textiles": we wholesale cotton shirting to retailers across Tamil Nadu.
02
Where it will appear
This is the single most useful thing you can send, and the one almost nobody does. The list of places a design has to live determines how much work it is far more than the design itself does.
Shop signboard, delivery boxes, staff shirts, Instagram, and the invoice we email.
03
Your deadline, and why
A date with a reason behind it is treated differently to a vague soon. If you have a launch, an exhibition or a festival, say which — it tells the designer what can be sacrificed if time gets short.
Needed by 15 October because our stall at the trade fair opens on the 18th.
04
What already exists
Old logo, existing colours, photographs, previous brochures, competitor material you like or hate. Send it even if you think it is bad — knowing what you are moving away from is as useful as knowing where you want to go.
Attach the current logo file, two photos of the shop, and one competitor's brochure.
05
A budget range
Not a precise figure. A range, honestly stated. This is the difference between a quote that fits your situation and one that gets negotiated down by cutting things you did not know you were losing.
We have somewhere between ₹20,000 and ₹30,000 for this.
On sharing your budget
Clients hold this back because they assume the quote will expand to fill it. Some will. But a designer who knows you have ₹15,000 can tell you what ₹15,000 genuinely buys, or say plainly that your brief needs ₹40,000 and let you decide — before either of you spends a week finding out.
Withholding the budget does not get you a lower price. It gets you three rounds of email.
A range is fine. "Somewhere around ten to fifteen thousand" is all anyone needs to scope sensibly.
A message that works
Copy this, change the details, send it to as many designers as you like.
Hi — we run a wholesale shirting business in T. Nagar, selling to retailers across Tamil Nadu. We need a new logo. It will go on our signboard, our delivery boxes, staff shirts and our invoices. Deadline is 15 October, because our trade fair stall opens on the 18th. Attaching our current logo, two photos of the shop, and a competitor's brochure we quite like. Budget is somewhere between ₹20,000 and ₹30,000. Can you give me a price and a date?
Six lines. Any designer can price that accurately, and the ones who reply with a fixed number and a date rather than "let's discuss" are the ones worth talking to.
Related reading
Try it on me.
Send those five things and you'll get a fixed price and a delivery date the same day. If your brief needs more than your budget, I'll say so rather than quietly cutting scope.