Free Logos vs. Paying a Professional Brand Designer
In the age of artificial intelligence (AI) there is a lot of excitement about how AI tools can help speed up processes, create logos, websites, and even full marketing campaign content within seconds but the reality is that these tools are not yet that intelligent.
They can create logos quickly but the file you get and the quality you get doesn’t even compare to what a professional graphic designer will give you.
How AI works
How current AI tools like ChatGPT work is that you ask it a question and it queries a large set of data that has been inputted into it and the tool writes the best summary for you based on what it has been taught and what you asked. Without much specification about voice, tone, and structure the results can sound robotic and not very human.
There are ways to ask it to have more personality and write more to a specific style but often the content will need some editing and changes because once in a while it goes off coarse.
Similarly, that is how AI images are also created. You ask it to create an image based on a style and what to include and it scans the images it has been given to create something that matches what you asked for.
And I am so happy that AI also struggles with drawing hands because those are the hardest part of the body to get accurate! As humans, we know what three dimensional hands look like. But a computer only knows what they look like based on two dimensional images it has been given as examples of hands.
You get some fun images and it is getting better every day as more people interact with it and train it more and more but I don’t feel AI will generate something groundbreaking or new because it is only able to recreate examples of what it already knows.
What you get with a Free Logo Design
When you ask AI to create a logo design you will often only get one version of the logo. It will likely be a low resolution 72 pixels per inch (dpi) image file and it won’t have a transparent background. That means that wherever you place your logo it will have a coloured box around it like the example below.
When you want the logo to be larger for popup banners, posters or a billboard, it will be extremely blurry.
Blurry logos can lead to a lack of trust that your business isn’t a real or professional company and might be a scam.
If you don’t care enough to invest in your own brand, why would I buy something from you?
Your logo file won’t be easily editable either because it is a flattened, rasterized image. When you create files in Adobe Illustrator (the industry standard for logo design), the files are vector and are layered making it easy to edit and modify specific parts of the logo design including the typography.
And although the AI logo has a font and typography, you have no idea what font it is or whether you can buy a license for it. This brings up copyright questions that are avoidable working with a designer who can provide you with the names of fonts and the location to buy licenses for them.
What you get with a Professional Brand Designer
When you work with a professional designer you often get multiple versions of the logo files for use in print or digital. There are often different formats and variations created for when the logo needs to be long and short or stacked and more vertical.
Professional designers work with you through a branding process that involves more than just a logo design. We get to know your company, your team of professionals, your audience, your positioning, and what fonts, colours, and styles will suit your brand.
The process allows for a more strategic and well thought out brand that will stand out from competitors, always look its best and you will be sure that you have full copyright of it.
Ready to Get Started on Your Custom Logo Design and Brand Identity?
I am an experienced professional brand designer. I love working with businesses to create custom brand identities that accurately represent your company and the passionate people that make up your team. If you’d like to get started on a brand project, connect with me through my contact form and we can have a chat!
