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£3,000–£30,000: UK Brand Refresh Costs and the 25% IPO Fee Rise

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Most UK brand refreshes land between £3,000 and £30,000, with a simple logo tweak starting around £500 and a full agency-led identity plus website running into the tens of thousands. Large, multi-channel programmes can exceed £50,000 once technical and accessibility work is included. Whatever band you’re in, build trade mark fees into your budget from day one, especially with the IPO’s fee rise landing on 1 April 2026.

TL;DR:

  • Costs for a UK brand refresh typically range from £500 for a basic logo update to over £30,000 for full agency-led strategies and website rebuilds, with multi-channel projects exceeding £50,000.
  • The main cost drivers include the scope of research, website complexity, physical touchpoints, technical rebuilds, and approval processes, which can significantly increase the final bill.
  • Statutory costs for trade mark applications and renewals will rise by around 25% starting April 2026, and planning the timing of submissions can save hundreds of pounds.
  • Agencies often differ in scope and pricing, so requesting itemized quotes that specify deliverables, timelines, revision allowances, and third-party costs is vital for accurate comparison.
  • A staged approach to planning and pricing, focusing on scope matching your business stage, helps prevent overspending on unnecessary design features or missing key statutory expenses.
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Table of Contents

Typical UK cost bands for a brand refresh

Knowing the band you’re aiming for makes every other decision easier. Here’s how the market actually splits, from a quick polish to a full-scale programme.

Freelance or entry-level refresh: roughly £500 to £2,000. This band usually covers a logo update, a basic colour and font refresh, and perhaps new business card artwork. It suits a sole trader or micro business that needs to look more credible without touching a website or wider marketing materials. The trade-off is limited strategy work: you’re paying for execution, not research or positioning.

Small agency refresh: roughly £2,000 to £8,000. At this level you typically get a proper identity system, including logo variations, a colour palette, typography rules, and templates for things like letterheads, social media and email signatures. This is the sweet spot for a growing small business that has outgrown its original branding but doesn’t need a full strategic overhaul. Expect a handful of revision rounds and a short discovery phase rather than extensive stakeholder research.

Full agency refresh: roughly £8,000 to £30,000. This band adds brand strategy, deeper audience and competitor work, a complete visual identity, and often a new or rebuilt website. Agencies working at this level usually run structured workshops, produce brand guidelines documents, and manage a staged rollout across your marketing materials. This is where most established SMEs with a genuine growth plan end up, particularly when the website needs rebuilding alongside the identity.

Three UK brand refresh cost bands

Large-scale programme: £50,000 and upwards. Costs escalate here because the work moves well beyond design. A Design Week report on the GOV.UK rebrand put the reported project budget at approximately £532,000, a figure that drew criticism focused mainly on the logo itself. In reality, that budget reflects research, accessibility testing and technical rebuild work across a huge multi-channel estate, not the visual mark alone. Few UK SMEs will ever need a programme at this scale, but it illustrates why headline branding costs can look alarming when the bulk of the spend sits in infrastructure rather than creative output.

What pushes a project from one band to the next is rarely the logo itself. It’s usually:

  • The amount of strategic research and stakeholder consultation required
  • Whether the website needs a full rebuild or just a refresh
  • How many physical touchpoints (signage, packaging, vehicles) need updating
  • The number of approval stages and revision rounds built into the contract

Agency fee models vary too. Some work on fixed project fees, others on day rates or retainers, and sector reporting notes that simple logo projects often start in the low thousands while full corporate identity programmes can run into six figures depending on scope. Knowing which model an agency uses before you request a quote makes the numbers far easier to compare.

What drives the price: the scope items that cost the most

The headline band only tells you so much. What actually moves your invoice up or down is the detail inside the brief. These are the areas worth scrutinising before you ask for a quote.

  1. Brand strategy and research depth. A short internal workshop costs far less than a project involving customer interviews, competitor audits and multiple stakeholder rounds.
  2. Visual identity complexity. A simple wordmark with one colour variant is cheap to produce. A full system with multiple logo lock-ups, icon sets and usage rules for print, digital and signage takes considerably longer.
  3. Digital work. A website rebuild, CMS migration, accessibility remediation and SEO structure work are usually the single biggest line items in a refresh budget.
  4. Content, photography and motion. New photography, video or animated brand assets add production costs on top of the design fee itself.
  5. Packaging and physical rollout. Updating packaging, vehicle livery, signage or retail fit-outs multiplies cost because each physical format needs its own artwork and print production.
  6. Technical implementation. Building templates, front-end components and integrations with your CRM or booking systems adds development time beyond pure design.
  7. Approvals and revision rounds. The more stakeholders involved in sign-off, and the more revision rounds built into the contract, the longer (and costlier) the project runs.

Digital work deserves particular attention because it’s where budgets most often balloon unexpectedly. Rebuilding a website properly, including accessibility work, can dwarf the identity design fee itself. Our own breakdown of UK SME website costs sets out price bands for exactly this kind of work, which is worth reading alongside your identity quote.

Pro Tip: Ask your agency to price the website and the identity separately, even if you plan to commission both together. It makes it far easier to see where your money is actually going.

A brand refresh isn’t finished once the design work is signed off. If you’re introducing a new name, logo or strapline, trade mark protection is a statutory cost that sits entirely outside your design fee, and it’s one of the most commonly forgotten line items in a refresh budget.

The Intellectual Property Office publishes a fee table for trade mark applications and renewals, and these amounts are rising. The government has confirmed that fees for designs, trade marks and patents will increase by an average of 25% from 1 April 2026, with the new fees applying to submissions made on or after that date. The statutory basis for the increase sits in SI 2026/183, which sets out the revised amounts form by form, including the standard TM3 trade mark application fee rising from £200 to £250.

One figure worth building into every refresh budget: the IPO’s confirmed fee rise averages 25% across designs, trade marks and patents from 1 April 2026, which means a submission filed a week earlier or later could cost a noticeably different amount.

When you pay matters as much as what you pay. Transitional rules mean an application submitted before 1 April 2026 is charged at the old rate, while anything filed on or after that date attracts the new fee. If your refresh timeline straddles that date, it’s worth asking your agency or trade mark agent to help you plan submission timing deliberately.

Beyond the statutory fee itself, many businesses also commission a professional clearance search or instruct a solicitor to check for conflicting marks before filing, which adds a separate professional fee on top of the IPO charge. For a typical SME refresh, a sensible working total might be your design budget plus roughly £250 to £500 in trade mark and clearance costs per class of goods or services registered.

Sample staged budgets and timelines for UK SMEs

Abstract ranges only help so much. Here’s how three realistic UK projects might actually break down, with the assumptions made explicit so you can adjust them to your own brief.

Example A: micro or local business refresh. A sole trader or small local business commissioning a logo polish, updated stationery and minor website tweaks typically spends in the £500 to £1,500 range, completed over 2 to 4 weeks. This assumes no new website build, no photography commission and a single round of revisions. It excludes trade mark registration, which would be an additional cost on top.

Example B: growing SME refresh. A business with five to fifteen staff commissioning a full visual identity, template set and a mid-sized website rebuild (roughly 8 to 15 pages) typically budgets across these buckets:

  • Brand strategy and identity design: £3,000 to £6,000
  • Website design and build: £4,000 to £10,000
  • Templates, stationery and rollout assets: £500 to £1,500
  • Trade mark application and clearance: £450 to £750

Timelines for this scale usually run 8 to 14 weeks from discovery to launch, assuming moderate stakeholder involvement and standard revision cycles.

Example C: professional services or multi-site organisation. A business operating across several locations, or a professional services firm with compliance considerations, commissioning a full identity, a larger website with content migration, and structured stakeholder workshops typically sits in the £15,000 to £40,000 range, running 4 to 6 months. This band assumes multiple stakeholder groups requiring sign-off, photography across several sites, and integration work with existing booking or CRM systems, all of which add time rather than just cost.

The jump between Example B and Example C rarely comes from the identity design itself. It comes from the number of people who need to approve each stage, the volume of content that needs migrating, and the technical integrations that have to be tested rather than just built. If you’re planning a staged rollout similar to Example B or C, our guide to small business rebrand costs and staged planning walks through how to sequence spend so cash flow stays manageable.

Sample staged budgets and timelines for UK SMEs — overview diagram

How to get quotes you can actually compare

Agency quotes often look wildly different not because one is overpriced, but because they’re quoting different scopes. A tighter brief gets you tighter, more comparable numbers.

  1. Write a brief that names every deliverable. List exactly what you expect: logo files, brand guidelines, number of website pages, content migration, and any print or signage assets.
  2. State your timeline and non-negotiable dates. If you have a launch event or trading deadline, say so upfront so every agency prices against the same constraint.
  3. Ask how many revision rounds are included. Some agencies offer unlimited revisions within a project phase; others cap rounds and charge for extras.
  4. Ask who owns the final files and IP. Confirm you receive source files and that intellectual property transfers to you on final payment, not just usage rights.
  5. Ask about third-party costs separately. Stock photography, premium fonts, hosting and trade mark fees should be itemised, not buried in a single lump sum.
  6. Ask about accessibility and SEO scope explicitly. A website quote that doesn’t mention WCAG compliance or on-page SEO structure is probably not including either.

Red flags are usually easy to spot once you know what to look for: a quote with no itemised deliverables, a timeline described only as “ongoing”, or pricing marked “TBC” pending a conversation that never quite produces a number. Build a simple spreadsheet listing each deliverable down one side and each agency’s price against it, and you’ll see within minutes which quotes are genuinely comparable and which are missing whole categories of work. A phase-by-phase website redesign checklist covering SEO and WCAG 2.2 considerations is a useful cross-check if your refresh includes a website rebuild. Where possible, ask for milestone-based billing tied to specific deliverables rather than a single upfront invoice, which reduces your exposure if a project stalls partway through.

How we plan and price a UK brand refresh

A brand refresh process can be staged into four collaborative steps: discovery, where goals and audience are mapped; design, where concepts take shape with client input at each stage; refinement, where revisions mean you’re never stuck with a direction that doesn’t feel right; and delivery, where full files and ongoing support are provided if needed.

That staged structure maps directly onto the cost bands covered above. A business in the entry-level band typically moves through discovery and design quickly, with a tighter deliverables list. A business commissioning a full identity and website rebuild spends longer in discovery and refinement, because more stakeholders and more channels mean more decisions to align on.

We keep surprise costs to a minimum by agreeing scope and deliverables before work begins, then billing against fixed milestones rather than open-ended hours. If your project needs to expand mid-way, that’s a conversation and a revised quote, never a silent addition to the final invoice. Our step-by-step rebranding guide for UK businesses in 2026 sets out that staging in more detail, including how we sequence identity work ahead of website build so each phase informs the next rather than duplicating effort.

Why most cost guides miss the point

Most advice on this topic treats cost ranges as the answer, when the real skill is matching scope to your actual growth stage rather than your ambition. Businesses consistently overspend on visual identity complexity they don’t yet need, while underbudgeting for the website rebuild and the statutory trade mark costs that follow. The IPO fee rise landing on 1 April 2026 is a small example of a bigger pattern: the costs that catch people out are rarely the creative fees they negotiated hard over. They’re the fees nobody mentioned until the invoice arrived.

If you take one thing from this guide, prioritise getting an itemised deliverables list before you compare a single price. A cheaper quote missing accessibility work, trade mark costs or file ownership isn’t actually cheaper, it’s just an invoice with gaps still to be filled in later.

— Kukoo

Ready to plan your own brand refresh budget?

Whichever band your project sits in, there’s a service built for it. A logo polish or full visual identity suits businesses in the entry or small-agency bands who need a credible, consistent look without a full strategic overhaul. Growing SMEs moving into the full-agency band typically pair that identity work with our Fix, Steady, Secure and Scale website plans, which cover everything from ongoing maintenance to a complete rebuild.

Kukoocreative

When you request a quote, you will be guided through your brief, a realistic timeline will be confirmed, and an itemised breakdown of deliverables provided before any work begins, so you know exactly what you’re paying for and when.

  • Logo only or Visual Identity, for businesses needing a credible refresh without a full website rebuild
  • Web Design & Development, for a full site rebuild alongside your new identity
  • £25 Website Speed Improvement, a small, specific fix if your existing site just needs a technical tune-up

Get in touch through our services overview to start the conversation, or head straight to our logo and identity page if you already know which stage you’re commissioning.

FAQ

How much should I charge for a branding package?

Pricing depends heavily on scope, but UK agencies typically charge £2,000 to £8,000 for a small identity package including logo, templates and guidelines, rising to £8,000 to £30,000 for a package with full strategy and website work. Freelancers often price lower, reflecting a narrower deliverables list.

How much does logo design cost in the UK?

A standalone logo project in the UK typically ranges from £500 for a simple freelance refresh to several thousand pounds for a full agency-led identity system with multiple variants and guidelines. The price difference usually reflects how much strategy, research and variation work sits behind the final mark.

How much does branding cost?

A full UK brand refresh typically costs between £3,000 and £30,000, covering strategy, visual identity and rollout assets, with large multi-channel programmes exceeding £50,000. Public reporting on the GOV.UK rebrand shows how a large-scale project budget can run into six figures once accessibility and technical work are included.

Freelance logo design in the UK commonly starts around £440 to £750 for a considered, revised design, while agency-led logo work within a full identity system is usually priced as part of a larger package rather than standalone. The right figure depends on how many concepts, revisions and final file formats are included.

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