How Many Hours to Make a Logo Sting?

Ahoy!

I’m curious how many hours a decent logo sting takes to create. I appreciate that it will vary considerably based on the complexity of the work, and a template that may have taken ages might sell less than a template that was whipped up in a day, it’s always a bit of a dark art. But is there an average that it usually takes for people? 10 hours, 25, 50, 100, 200?

I’m thinking of hiring somebody to create one or more logo stings for me that I can add to my portfolio. I’m good on the technical side of After Effects, but I’m not that good when it comes to design, or planning out a project, or envisaging what a great logo sting template would look like.

I’m thinking of this as a kind of investment, as I’m hoping to do a bit of travelling next year, looking for where I’m going to live, and it would be nice to boost my monthly sales figures a bit with a solid AE project in my portfolio. I pay out a bunch of cash for somebody to make it, and then hopefully it’s paid for itself after 3/6/9 months and then it’s pure profit.

I guess the benefit for the person making the template would be guaranteed payment and less risk, although they’ll probably make less than they might have done over the long term. I guess the total price depends not only on how long it will take, but how much the freelancer in question charges… so the upper and lower amounts could vary considerably, but any idea what I should be expecting to pay for this kind of thing?

$100, $250, $500, $1000, $2000?

And if anybody would be interested and has a rough idea of price for me, then feel free to drop me a line through my profile.

Ta very much!

Scott

it takes between an hour and a lifeTime :slight_smile:

I’m looking forward to seeing one of these lifetime templates! It’s going to instantly blow people minds into smithereens. That’s what the author will be hoping anyway, he’ll probably read the first comment after it being approved, as he takes his last breath at the end of a life devoted to creating the holy grail of logo sting templates. What does that comment say?

“Such a great project, I wish you many sales!”

1 Like

@SpaceStockFootage

I think it’s not quite that easy… and this is the big X factor about Videohive.

Sometimes, those projects that take half a day to knock together sell like crazy and sometimes those works of art that took 4 weeks hardly sell at all. It’s a mixture of a killer idea that appeals to our mysterious, nebulous audience; being in the right place at the right time (wherever and whenever those things are respectively) and maybe about taking a big risk in doing something bigger, better, more time-consuming or more costly. This is a risk that authors take with their time, and the idea is that with enough templates over a long enough period of time, it should just about pay for itself. But it’s important to enjoy the work too, or use it to try some new ideas or techniques, or learn design, or learn After Effects, or build a portfolio… because the idea that the projects will pay for the time they took is certainly not a sure thing.

The problem with what you’re talking about is that you’re taking that risk not with your time, but with hard cash. The proposition is all about profit and with little added value to yourself. If you make some money on it, great! But you’re just as likely to lose money.

If you’ve got some money you want a return on, there are better high-risk investments than what you’re talking about. And at least at the roulette table it’s over quickly. :wink:

Oh… and hard figures.

A talented motion designer will generally cost anything between $250 and $1000 / day. Depends on speed / experience etc.

Logo stings usually take somewhere between half a day and a week to put together. All depends on complexity. 2.5D animation + lens flare = a couple of hours. Beautiful 3D fluids animation transitions seamlessly into the logo + “fleets collide”* moment might take several days.

  • “the fleets collide” - fable has it, the shortest and most expensive line of a film script ever!

Yeah, I guess it’s a ‘how long is a piece of string’ kind of thing. Obviously it’s twice as long as half a piece of string, but that doesn’t really help much.

Daily rates sound about right. I charge $400 for an eight hour day. $600 if I can get away with it and $200 if I’ve got nothing else on and it seems like an interesting project.

I guess the concept is the big thing, and what will dictate how long it’s going to take. It is risky though… say I pay out $1000 and it gets hard rejected! Could always use it for clients I guess.

Cheers!