Logo design for Texas businesses.

Original marks drawn from a real brief, tested at favicon size, and handed over with a signed assignment of copyright — the document a Texas trade mark registration specifically does not give you.

What is different about commissioning a logo in Texas.

The design work, nothing. A mark for a Fort Worth contractor is drawn on the same principles as one for a Manchester joinery firm — it has to read at 16 pixels, survive one colour, and still look deliberate in ten years.

What differs is that Texas has two trade mark registers sitting on top of each other, and most business owners only know about one. The federal USPTO register is the one everybody has heard of. The Texas Secretary of State runs a second, state-level register under the Business & Commerce Code, on its own renewal cycle. Businesses trading only inside Texas frequently register with the state, assume that is the whole picture, and are surprised later.

The trap underneath both of them is the same one this studio exists to close. Neither register gives you the artwork. The Secretary of State says so directly — it registers trade and service marks, and does not register copyright. Registering a mark establishes rights in a brand signal. Owning the drawing is a separate question, settled by a written assignment. Every Dygram project ends with one, on every package including the cheapest.

The four Texas-specific things worth knowing.

Two registers, not one
Texas registers marks at state level through the Secretary of State under Business & Commerce Code chapter 16 — separate from the federal USPTO register. State registration covers use within Texas; interstate trade is what the federal register is for. Plenty of businesses want both, and they are two applications, not one.
Five-year terms, not ten
A Texas state registration renews in five-year terms. Federal registrations run on a longer cycle, so if you hold both, the renewal dates will not line up and the state one comes round first. Diary them separately — a lapsed registration is not something anyone reminds you about.
Registering a mark is not owning the drawing
The Secretary of State is explicit that it registers trade and service marks but does not register copyright. So a Texas registration is evidence of rights in the mark as a brand signal, and says nothing about who owns the file. That gap is what the signed assignment closes, and it is why we issue one on every project rather than as an upsell.
A DBA is not a trade mark
An Assumed Name Certificate lets you trade under a name. It grants no trade mark rights and stops nobody from using something similar. The same goes for entity-name availability — clearing the register means the name is free to incorporate under, not that it is free to brand with. They are three different questions and they get conflated constantly.

What you receive

Every project hands over the same set.

There is no Texan-specific version of the deliverables — a logo has to survive the same tests wherever it trades.

Vector sources you can open and edit, raster exports at the sizes people actually need, one-colour and reversed versions, and a signed assignment of copyright naming your company.

Send your brief
  • Primary, secondary and stacked lockups
  • Black, white and one-colour versions
  • Vector source files (AI, EPS, SVG)
  • JPG and PNG at every size
  • Signed copyright transfer document

Pricing

Three packages, billed in USD.

We quote in dollars rather than a fixed local price, because a fixed local price would be wrong the week after it was written.

Basic — $90

A business that needs one good mark and every file to use it, without the extras. 1 concept, unlimited revisions and the copyright assignment.

Standard — $175

Most brands. A real choice of directions, plus what you need to launch on social. 2 concepts, unlimited revisions and the copyright assignment.

Premium — $295

A launch or a rebrand, where everything has to match from day one. 4 concepts, unlimited revisions and the copyright assignment.

Questions

The ones Texan clients actually ask.

Should I register my logo with Texas or with the USPTO?

That depends on where you actually trade, and it is a question for a trade mark attorney rather than a design studio. The short version: the state register covers use inside Texas, the federal register covers interstate commerce, and businesses that do both often file both. What we can tell you is that either application will ask for the artwork, and the vector files we hand over are what gets submitted.

Does a Texas trade mark registration mean I own the logo?

No, and this is the most common misunderstanding we see. The Secretary of State registers marks; it states plainly that it does not register copyright. Registration gives you rights in the mark as a brand signal. Ownership of the artwork itself moves by written assignment — which every Dygram project includes, naming your company.

How often do I have to renew a Texas registration?

State registrations renew in five-year terms. The federal cycle is longer, so if you hold both they will fall due in different years. Check the current position and fees at sos.state.tx.us before you rely on any date — we do not quote filing fees here because they change without notice.

I filed a DBA. Is that enough?

An Assumed Name Certificate lets you trade under the name. It is not a trade mark and it does not stop a competitor down the road using something close to it. If the brand matters, the DBA is the beginning of the paperwork rather than the end of it.

You are not in Texas. Does that matter?

For the design work, no — and we would rather say that plainly than pretend to an address we do not have. This studio is in Pakistan and works with clients in London, New York and Sydney on the same terms. What it does affect is the clock: Texas is ten to eleven hours behind us depending on the season, so a message sent from Dallas mid-morning reaches us that evening. In practice that means one considered reply per day rather than a back-and-forth, which is why the brief stage is thorough. Average reply time across 2,604 projects is about an hour.

Do you charge Texas clients differently?

No. Packages are $90, $175 and $295 in USD, the same everywhere. Your card converts at the day's rate.

Working from somewhere else

Trading in Texas? Send the brief.

Tell us what you are building and we will come back with questions, a timeline and a price. First draft in 24–36 hours.

Start your project