You’ve just started a business and you need a logo by Friday. A free logo maker promises one in a few minutes. You type in your business name, pick an icon, choose a colour, and there it is.
For some people, that’s genuinely enough. For others, it causes problems that only show up months later, usually when a sign maker asks for a file you don’t have. Here’s an honest look at both sides.
What free logo makers do well
Let’s give credit where it’s due. Logo makers are fast, cheap or free, and easy to use. You don’t need to brief anyone or wait for concepts.
They’re a reasonable choice if you’re:
- Testing a side project before committing to it.
- Running a hobby or community group with no budget.
- Needing a placeholder while you work out what the business really is.
There’s nothing wrong with starting there. Plenty of businesses do, and then invest in a proper logo once they’re up and running.
Templates, uniqueness and trademarks
Other people may have your logo too
A free logo maker works from a library of icons and layouts. That’s how it’s so quick. The catch is that the same library is available to everyone else using the tool.
So the swoosh, the leaf, the house with a roof line or the spanner you picked may already be sitting on plenty of other businesses’ vans and websites. Some of them might even be in your industry, or in your town.
A logo’s main job is to help people recognise you and remember you. If it looks like a lot of other logos, it’s harder for it to do that job.
Trademark and uniqueness worries
This is the part most people don’t think about until later. If your logo is built from a stock icon that anyone can use, it can be difficult to claim it as distinctly yours.
Many logo makers also have licence terms that limit what you can do with the icons. It’s worth reading the fine print, especially if you ever plan to register a trademark with IP Australia, which looks after trade marks. We’re not lawyers and this isn’t legal advice, but if protecting your brand matters to you, a logo designed from scratch gives you a much cleaner starting point than one assembled from shared parts.
A professional designer creates original artwork for your business. It’s built around your name, your customers and the way you work, rather than whichever icon came up first in a search.
File formats: the bit that bites later
This is where the difference really shows. A logo gets used in a lot of places: your website, your email signature, social media, business cards, shirts, signage and vehicle wraps.
Each of those needs a slightly different kind of file:
- SVG is a vector file for the web. It stays crisp on any screen.
- EPS is a vector file printers and sign makers ask for. It can be scaled up to the side of a truck without going blurry.
- PNG with a transparent background lets you place your logo over photos or coloured areas.
- JPEG is handy for everyday documents and emails.
Many free logo makers only give you a small PNG or JPEG unless you pay extra. That works on Facebook. It doesn’t work when the signwriter needs a vector file, and recreating your logo at that point costs time and money.
How your logo works at small sizes
A logo that looks great large on a preview screen can turn to mush when it’s shrunk down. Think about where your logo actually appears most often:
- A tiny icon in a browser tab.
- A profile picture on Google, Instagram or Facebook.
- The header of your website on a phone.
- Embroidered on a shirt pocket.
Fine lines, long taglines and detailed illustrations disappear at those sizes. A professional designer tests the logo small as well as large, and often creates a simplified version or icon for tight spaces. Logo makers rarely think about this for you.
What a professional logo actually includes
So what do you get when you pay for one? Here’s how our logo design service works, so you can compare honestly.
Logo design starts from $395 + GST and includes:
- An initial consultation about your business, customers and style.
- 2 to 3 custom concepts, designed from scratch.
- Two rounds of revisions to refine your favourite.
- Final files in PNG, JPEG, SVG and EPS.
If you want more than the logo, a brand identity kit is $795 + GST. That pulls your colours, fonts and logo versions together so everything you produce looks like it belongs to the same business.
Is $395 + GST more than free? Of course. But it’s a one-off cost for something you’ll use on every sign, invoice, uniform and web page for years. And you get it right once, rather than paying to fix it later.
The real cost of “free”
The question isn’t really “free or $395”. It’s “what will this logo cost me over the next few years?”
A logo that needs redrawing when you get signage made, that looks like a competitor’s, or that doesn’t hold up on your website ends up costing more in the long run. A considered logo with proper files simply gets used, again and again, without fuss.
It also gives your website a strong starting point. When the same team designs your logo and builds your site, your colours and fonts carry straight through. You can see examples of that in our recent work with local businesses.
Not sure if your logo is holding you back?
If you’ve got a logo maker logo and you’re wondering whether it’s time to upgrade, we’re happy to give you an honest opinion with no pressure. Book a free consultation, or ask for a free website health check if your site needs a look too. Call us on 02 6610 9202, Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm.
