National
You can almost hear the low rumbling hiss from the professional design community upon seeing the new Squarespace logo creator. The push button website company has created a new web app (and let's be honest - a pretty amazing one) that lets businesses create a logo for virtually nothing. The work that comes out is generic, but passable as a company mark.
The question(s) as always is, does this cheapen or weaken the profession by putting design tools in the hands of non-designers? Does this type of one stop shopping app take away from all the identity designers that are busting hump to get this type of work? And finally, does this make a logo into a generic commodity - robbing branding further of its perceived value?
Blog post update from Squarespace:
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.
Note to businesses: you get what you pay for.
We decided to make our own logo for Squarespace to communicate our feelings. Enjoy.
