am i doing it right?

First go at being pro..

Ya'll need to relax. Tools like this do not alter demand for professional design in any way; they just make the internet easier to look at by helping those who don't need (or can't afford) professional design create a “logo” without Microsoft Word's clip art.

Like me.

That was fast:

UPDATE: 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.

This really bothers me. These guys should know better than to devalue what others in the same industry do for a living.

If you think this is devaluing design, I'm guessing you also never eat at McDonalds because it "devalues cooking", right? And while we're at it, maybe we should close down Ikea too? You know, because it "devalues furniture". Or does the "devaluing" argument only apply to your profession?

To all of the designers feeling threatened by Squarespace's new service: You should be ashamed of yourselves.

We design things every day that potentially replace humans with apps and services. It's ridiculous to pick on a product capitalizing on the same principles we encourage.

You sound like the taxi drivers who are throwing tantrums because Uber is disrupting their industry.

I don't see what's wrong about this. People who don't want to spend any penny in their brand identity have finally a way of doing their crap without spamming our inbox with cheap requests like "I need a logo for next week-end. My budget is very tight; I can't probably spend more than $300 but I give you complete freedom so that could look very good in your portfolio!".

Win-win situation. Thank you Squarespace.

If you're a skilled, intelligent designer, this should NOT be of concern to you.

Really, designing will become easier and easier for people wanting to make their own sites, products. You have to find other ways to add value and stay relevant if you feel threatened.

Also, that dog logo is totally sweet, check the movement lines on the tail brah!

Kisses, J

Squarespace's "Website Builder" product effectively eliminated all demand for talented web developers. It's a shame they're going after designers now as well.

/s

Are we really going to keep kicking up a fuss and feeling threatened every time something nibbles at the bottom of the market?

Just another step towards devaluing a profession.

I think this is amazing. It provides novices with a nice set of safety gloves for creating a logo.

• Choose from a pre-selected set of typefaces and symbols.
• There's no option to add shitty effects like drop shadows, gradients, etc.
• It guides the user towards creating a clean, iconic mark.

I'd rather see logos from this tool than from PowerPoint or sloppy Photoshop. Get a grip guys, this isn't going to cut the demand for designers, it's going to prevent worse logos from being created.

It's not about being threatened that's the problem; it's about people's perception of the value of good design.

Anyone here use stock photos? If you do, you're guilty of devaluing the whole profession of photography by not hiring a real professional to do the job.

Identical.

Here’s one I made.

I'm in the design business and I've been pointing people that need a simple website towards virb.com for a while. I don't see anything wrong with steering the same type of person towards logo builder if they need a logo.

This type of business/person/hobbyist is not my customer, nor should they be.

There are a few of these types of sites around, and I usually suggest them to clients who come and say they're "on a budget" or "want a discount" without discussing what they need.

You want a free logo? Go use their shitty product, but you get what you pay for. I guarantee people will still balk at that $10 for a high res PNG.

GREAT! This is just what the world needed: another crappy tool for non designers believe they have mad design skills...

A library of basic forms, some text on it and... BAM! I can do a logo!

Just sad.

Meh.

It's a cool tool, it's well implemented and easy to use.

You can't overlay multiple shapes/icons, you can't use create custom shapes, you can't use mask, etc, etc, etc.

Totally not worried. If anything this will weed out the crappy freelancers charging £15 for a logo. They are the ones devaluing the industry. See here: http://bit.ly/1ipG4l3

If you have a low budget job that you feel is beneath you then please give it to a student/junior designer.

You may feel that as a design professional that the Squarespace logo generator doesn't affect you directly. Well it affects our young designers who would otherwise compete for spec work (99 designs).

I'll assume this is the first iteration and will wait for more.

SquareSpace is in the business of making it easy for people without coding or design skills to run their own site.

Lets not forget that Photoshop and illustrator where once such tools.

Hey guys,

Just want to chime in, these are further progression of a trend the economist recently did a whole piece on:

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21594298-effect-todays-technology-tomorrows-jobs-will-be-immenseand-no-country-ready

"Even if new jobs and wonderful products emerge, in the short term income gaps will widen, causing huge social dislocation and perhaps even changing politics."

These trends are much wider than design or media, and the coming 10 years will be a rough time, for lots of industries...

We can all aspire to be like pentagram or wolf ollins, and charge top dollar, but in reality a lot of design/work is for the middle class & smaller companies... Most of this will be replaced and automated.

For example:

They predict that 99% of all working accountans will be redundant in the next 2 decades...

So i'll be happy not to have an accountant, but will the accountant be happy?

I don't understand the rage here. We have many tools to design/develop in the browser but I don't feel this downgrade our work as developers. If you're a talented designer you shouldn't be worry. Machines will never replace the hand-crafted work.

Whether or not it's good for the industry right now, this application is pretty slick. Yes, this may help the lay-person design a logo at slightly higher quality with less work... but guess what... they still have no real design knowledge. Now, we can correct their many mistakes and completely revamp their "brand" aka logo to something lasting.

Let's just never stop upping our game and educating clients with good design. If we cease to grow as a community, things like this will end up stopping us.

Really torn at this being positioned the way it has.

I understand they built it to be a logo builder, but it's a simple way to introduce people to graphics with a contemporary clip art gallery.

I dunno.

Read through the comments and all I could think is the people that are anxious/angry over this must just feel threatened by it. If you see yourself in direct competition with a $10 logo maker then, in the cold light of day, you're probably not fantastic at what you do.

Things like this aren't new and they won't be going away so put down the pitchforks and just leave squarespace to their hustle.

I lost a ton of respect for Squarespace. I am not worried about it effecting the industry. Simply put, I did not expect it to come from a company like Squarespace. Shame.

Lol at all the 'devaluers' in this thread. I bet you all had plenty of shit to say when Google Web Designer came out a few months back. Anyone still using that? Know anyone that is?

I'm not worried about this. If what you are selling is the ability to make something look pretty with nice shapes and colors, you should be worried that your skills won't be needed in the future.

If you are valued as a designer because you are able to achieve specific results and have the ability translate business problems into visual solutions, then you have nothing to fear in this tool or the next one that comes out.

I would be interested to hear what some of the Noun Project contributors think about this. I'm sure they had to approve the inclusion of their specific icons, but I would love some insight.

Anyone round' these parts have their icons included?