The $20,000 MrBeast logo auction isn't as ridiculous as it seems

The world's biggest YouTuber is in the news again, and this time it's not for a controversial business or branding venture. An original pencil sketch from the brainstorming session that led to the design of the MrBeast logo has come up for auction, and its estimated value is raising eyebrows.

Heritage Auctions' guide price for the 4x4 inch sketch on a sheet of stained and creased paper is $20,000. On social media, people are suggesting that's a bit ridiculous for what the auction house says was a 10-minute job. But is it really?

MrBeast, AKA Jimmy Donaldson, started his channel on YouTube in 2012. His increasingly elaborate productions featuring challenges, game shows and enormous giveaways have earned him over 521 million subscribers and helped to reshape expectations around what independent digital content creation can be. He's since created a global media brand, launched branded snacks and even expanded into youth-focused financial services.

A recognisable part of his brand identity since 2018 is the blue cat logo with the magenta lightning bolt trailing from its eye. One aspect that makes the price estimate for that original sketch surprising is the anonymity of the design's authorship.

A logo isn't like art, where the artist's name is a large part of what defines its value, but iconic designs do often have known creators. We know that Carolyn Davidson designed the Nike swoosh, for example, or that Milton Glaser created the I love NY logo, the original drawing of which is in the MOMA.

In the case of the MrBeast logo, Heritage Auctions mentions only an "artist" and a "design team".

"According to its provenance, MrBeast initially used a generic image found online before being advised to develop an emblem that would be uniquely his own," the auction house's description says. "Working directly with the design team, he described what he envisioned. A brainstorming session ensured with MrBeast and the design team.

"The soon-to-be YouTube sensation indicated he wanted a big cat vibe and the artist's first attempt produced this drawing during an approximately ten-minute session. MrBeast approved the design, establishing the visual identity that would accompany his extraordinary rise to online prominence."

MrBeast, who is reportedly not involved the auction, told Wired earlier this year that he "put very little thought" into the logo design.

“When I was a little kid I just kind of designed a tiger, and here we are,” he said. “My name, my logo, probably should have had more thought behind it, I’ll admit it.”

Does that make $20,000 a ridiculous price? The fact that the sketch took 10 minutes is neither here nor there. A drawing isn't inherently worth more the longer it took to make. The auction house will be gauging that its value comes from the design's contribution to the MrBeast phenomenon and, for better or worse, its connection to a significant part of modern pop culture history.

How much is a logo worth anyway?

A sketch of a logo isn't a logo. It doesn't confer rights over the intellectual property or its use, which is where the real value is. But some of the comments about the auction indirectly revive the eternal debate about how much a logo is worth.

Some graphic designers do quote for work based on time. But time alone is a problematic way to price logo design work when you consider the potential value that the mark can create for a brand (see our guide to pricing creative work).

Nike's worth over $50bn (down from a peak of $264bn in late 2021). What would it be worth without the Swoosh? Carolyn Davidson was famously paid $35 for the original design, charging a rate of $2 per hour in 1971. She was later gifted shares after Nike went public, perhaps recognising that she had been severely underpaid in terms of the value her design created.

Some designers charge according to who they're working for and where the logo will appear, not how long the process takes. The branding of a local coffee shop doesn't need the same process and the same amount of assets as a multinational bank (or the world's biggest YouTuber?). The Pepsi logo redesign of 2008 reportedly cost $1 million, but the brand did get a ridiculously psuedo-scientific manual to help justify that cost.

The MrBeast logo sketch is part of Heritage Auctions’ October 23 – 25 Fall Sports Catalog Auction.

Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.