Free logo design is often not “free”.

If you think that my resistance to free logo design tools is that they cut into my work you are only part-right.

My main gripe is that it often leads to poor design solutions that don’t have your audience and brand at heart. You can spend hours with generative AI and software tools and not make any real progress while you could have been doing paid work.

The result is a hit to the bottom line as you stress about not getting results. That’s why I argue that stress free logo design is better than free logo design.

So, how does a trusting a human with your logo project make it stress free?

A graphic designer can actually taste things.

By using abbreviation “AI” we avoid the “artificial” bit. To me, that’s the most important part of the name.

It doesn’t laugh, taste, touch, see, cry, have culture, or make leaps between unrelated ideas to form something fresh.

It responds to prompts based on what has come before. You could argue that’s what creatives – and all humans – do: take ideas from different reference points and combine them in new ways, and in new situations. A favourite quote of mine springs to mind: “Originality is dependant upon the obscurity of your sources.” – John Hegarty

A key part of the creative process is identifying these sources and interpreting them through the lens of our individual experience and the project brief.

Stress Free Logo Design Example:

For a hospitality business like Corte Campana, AI can only spit out a hundred pizzeria logo options, but it doesn’t know how it feels to sit in the restaurant or eat a pizza.

It’s never been hungry, and it can’t appreciate the product beyond parts and form. So while it might offer some inspiration, what qualifies it to be trusted with something like a visual identity?

A real person can absorb these experiences and communicate them through a design project.

The thought of trying to prompt an AI tool into a genuine, human interpretation of something as normal as eating is already giving me a headache…

A designer thinks ahead.

Well constructed vector files are key to good signage, and non-pixelated print. From experience, one place where generative / free logo design tools have issues is the move from the digital space into the real world.

It often seems like these tools convert to vector when needed rather than building vector files purposefully from the start. As a result you can end up with strange configurations and artefacts in your files.

They may be small, but they add up to make things less focused and make it harder to communicate quality through you visual identity.

Human logo designer example:

Experienced human designers know that a logo and visual identity should reflect the quality of a product or service. Attention to detail really matters, even if those details are purposeful imperfections.

Investment in time and detail tells your audience you are truly serious about what you do. And using a designer who builds strong vectors from the outset, relieves the pressure of having to fix less-than-perfect logo files on a tight deadline.

A graphic designer can understand you.

It’s frustrating to know you need to change something, but not have the words to describe it.

What would be a short email request or chat with a graphic designer can turn into an internet rabbit hole of searches and prompts trying to guide a free logo design tool to a solution.

Worse than communication frustrations is the feeling you’re wasting time that could be better spent on billable work. With an experienced graphic designer, you can send that email and they can work away in the background while you get on with what you do.

Logo design example:

Overshoot, colour gamuts, vector files, irradiation illusion – all important aspects of logo deign and visual identity. If you aren’t familiar with these as ideas, it can be a struggle to get a logo generator to account for them.

A good graphic designer will know that white on black versions of a logo need to be scaled and spaced differently to black on white versions as a result of the irradiation illusion – I often do this by eye. Imagine trying to get an free logo generator to do something like this if you didn’t know it was a thing.

Verdict: have a play with free logo design tools.

Bet you didn’t see that coming.

I feel like one of the best ways to advocate for real designers building real logos and visual identities is to encourage potential clients to explore free logo generators. I believe they’ll find that it’s not easy to get comparable results, and if you add up time taken it’s definitely not free.

But they may find inspiration, or a clear idea of what they don’t want, to take through to designer or agency for a more human solutions.

A recent example from the communications industry is Coca-Cola needing 70,000+ prompts to deliver a far from perfect Christmas ad that has received a largely negative reaction. The reported spend was on parity with previous years, but the results far worse.

(We’ll need to wait to see the sales figures before we judge how effective it is in that department.)

What do you think?

Do you have any experience of these free logo design tools? Do you think I’m completely wrong? I’m always keen to be countered, and learn new things so please share your experiences at [email protected]

Read more thoughts on AI logo design.