Over in freelance land, sometimes clients want an entire ‘package-deal’ with their product idea and brand ready to go at the flip of a switch. For those who don’t want to play creative director but need a placeholder logo, consider the new Squarespace Logo Generator that combines the simplicity of Squarespace with the massive icon library of the Noun Project to create a quick and dirty logo for your client. But despite the convenience of it all, is this new logo generator devaluing design as we know it? When would it be appropriate to use?
Design Hack: Quick and Dirty Logo Design
Devaluing the design process no matter what the discipline is nothing that we want to promote here on SolidSmack, however sometimes design generator tools such as Adobe Muse can be used to help aid in otherwise incredibly complex processes.
For example, if a client needs renderings with logo placements for a new product and a separate graphic designer hasn’t pulled through yet, the last thing you want to be doing is spending an afternoon in Illustrator with squares and circles coming up with something that probably won’t even be used in the final design. Of course, something that is so easy to use doesn’t come without it’s fair share of negative feedback.
Within the past 24 hours of being launched, the Squarespace Logo Generator has already seen quite the gamut of criticisms from the general design community, in which they responded:
We’ve seen a number of comments online about Squarespace Logo being positioned as a replacement for professional designers. Squarespace Logo is a basic tool for individuals and small businesses with limited resources to create a simple identity for themselves. It is not a replacement for the brand identity a professional designer can craft and deserves to be compensated for. We expect Logo, much like Squarespace itself, to drive more people to appreciate the importance of design, leading to increased demand for professional creative services. Similarly, the fees generated by Squarespace Logo are used in part to compensate the graphic designers who contribute their work to The Noun Project.
With that being said, any tool that can aid product designers in getting from A to B in the quickest and easiest way possible without sacrificing quality is always a welcome asset for our toolbox! As always though, the best designs never come from cookie cutters or clip art, so act accordingly when considering long-term plans versus quick-fixes.
(Images via Squarespace Logo)
