Ask three people how much branding costs in Canada and you can get three quotes that differ by a factor of ten for what sounds like the same brief. Nobody is necessarily overcharging. They're usually quoting different jobs that all happen to be called "branding".
So before any number, here's what the word can be covering. Then I'll give you our own working figures for the part we do, and the costs that tend to arrive after the design fee is paid.
What "branding" can mean in a quote
A logo and files. A mark, a few colour and format variations, maybe a one-page guide. The smallest job, and the one most people picture.
A visual identity system. The logo plus typography, a colour palette, an imagery style, and templates for the things you actually produce: signage, social posts, invoices, vehicle graphics. Much bigger, because it's designing a system rather than a symbol.
Naming. Finding a name, checking it isn't already taken, and testing it with real customers. A separate piece of work, and worth doing properly. The Canadian Trademarks Database is free to search and a sensible first check (sourced from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office).
Positioning and messaging. Deciding who you're for, what you want to be known for, and the words you'll use to say it, before anything is designed. This is the layer that decides what the logo has to say in the first place.
A quote at the low end and one ten times higher are often just item 1 on its own versus items 1 to 4 together. When you compare quotes, compare the lists, not the totals.
What we charge, and what we don't do
Here are our own working ranges for the two brand projects mayans.STUDIO takes on. They're our figures, not a survey of the market, and they aren't on our pricing page yet, so treat them as working ranges rather than published prices.
Positioning and messaging: $1,250 to $2,000, typically two to three weeks. Who you're for, why you're the obvious choice for them, and the core messages your website, ads and staff can all use.
Full brand strategy: $3,000 to $4,500, typically four to six weeks. Positioning plus your story and brand voice, written down so anyone who writes for you sounds like you.
Both are one-off projects anyone can buy, priced before tax. On a monthly plan, brand strategy is included only in Partner, our top tier. The timelines are typical rather than promised: the number of decision-makers, how quickly feedback comes back, and whether we interview your customers can all stretch them.
And to be plain about it: we don't design logos or visual identity systems. That's skilled design work, priced separately by a designer. What we hand a designer is the brief: the positioning, the voice, and direction on mood, imagery and colour, so they're designing something that says the right thing.
Why positioning comes first, even on a tight budget
If you can only afford one piece this year, make it the words. A good designer can't fix a business that doesn't know what it's for, but clear positioning makes every later design decision faster and cheaper. It's like drawing up the floor plan before ordering the signage: you can build without one, you just tend to pay twice.
If that's the piece you're missing, it's the brand strategy and positioning work we do.
What a small or medium-sized business can usually defer without regret:
A full identity system, if you already have a decent logo and mostly need consistency.
Custom photography, until you know what story it has to tell.
A rename, unless the current name is genuinely holding you back: confused with a competitor, hard to spell, or not legally available.
The costs that arrive after the design fee
This is where branding budgets quietly double. A new identity isn't finished when the files arrive, because every place the old one lives has to change.
Signage. Storefront, window decals, sandwich boards, anything on the building.
Vehicle wraps, whether you run a fleet or one van.
Reprinting. Business cards, menus, forms, packaging, uniforms.
Your website. New colours and type are rarely a simple swap: templates, images and sometimes structure change. That's often a project in its own right, and I've broken down what a small business website costs in Canada separately.
Your Google Business Profile and social profiles. A new logo, new cover photos, and descriptions that match the new messaging.
Ask for those as line items before you sign anything. When the proposals land, read them line by line: what's included, what's excluded, and who holds the files at the end.
So when you look at your quotes, which of the four jobs is each one actually pricing?