Tools we recommend

A logo you can live with, for about the price of a tank of fuel

Not every business needs a branding project. If you are launching something, testing a name, or trading with a logo you made in Word four years ago, a good DIY tool will get you further than most people expect.

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Try SmashingLogo Is it right for you?

The honest version

A generated logo is a good decision in some situations and a poor one in others

We would rather you spent nothing than spent badly. Most of the pressure to invest in branding early comes from people who sell branding. The useful question is not whether a DIY logo is as good as a designer, because it is not. It is whether the difference matters yet, for what you are actually doing.

YES
You are launching or testing. A new venture, a side project, an idea you are not certain about. Spending four figures on identity before you know the business works is the wrong order.
YES
You need something now. A trading name on an invoice, a social profile, a van livery, a booking page. Waiting six weeks for a designer to be free is costing you more than the logo would.
YES
What you have is worse. Clip art, a font you liked once, or nothing at all. The bar is not perfection, it is better than what you are using today.
NO
You are building a brand people will compare. If you sell on trust against established competitors, in healthcare or professional services, the logo is the least of it and a proper identity is worth the money.
NO
You need it to work everywhere. Signage, embroidery, vehicle wraps, a favicon that reads at 16 pixels. That is a design problem, not a generation problem.
NO
You intend to trademark it. Generated marks use shared component libraries, so distinctiveness cannot be assumed. Take advice before you file.

Your options

Three ways to get a logo

Costs are indicative and vary widely. The point is the shape of the trade, not the exact figure.

	DIY generator	Freelance designer	Branding studio
Typical cost	Tens of pounds	Hundreds to low thousands	Several thousand upwards
Time to something usable	The same afternoon	One to three weeks	Four to twelve weeks
Genuinely distinctive	Not reliably	Usually	Yes, that is the job
Strategy behind it	None	Some	The main deliverable
Files for every use	Common formats	Usually, if you ask	Full guidelines
Best when	Testing, launching, replacing nothing	Trading and committed	Established, competing on brand

Most small businesses we work with start in the first column and move right when the business justifies it. Very few regret starting there. Rather more regret spending studio money on a brand for a business that had not settled yet.

SmashingLogo

What you actually get

A generator that produces a mark from your business name and a few choices, then lets you adjust it and download the files.

Options in minutes

Enter the name, pick a direction, and work through generated options. The value is seeing many variations quickly rather than describing what you want to someone else.

You can adjust it

Fonts, colours, spacing and layout are editable, so you are not stuck with the first thing it offers. Worth spending twenty minutes here rather than two.

Files you can use

Downloads in the formats you need for a website, social profiles and print. Check the vector formats are included in the package you choose before you buy.

Commercial use, once

A one off payment with commercial rights rather than a subscription. Read the licence terms on their site so you know exactly what you are buying.

Try before you pay

You can generate and preview without paying, so you can find out in ten minutes whether anything it produces suits you. Nothing lost if not.

Check it is free to use

Search the name and the mark before you commit, and check Companies House and the trademark register. A generator cannot do that for you.

Have a go, it is free to try

See it working

A two minute look at the tool

The video loads only when you press play, so nothing is set in your browser until you ask for it.

Once you have a logo

The logo is the easy part. Everything it sits on is the work.

A mark on its own does not win anyone business. What does is a site that loads, a booking journey that works on a phone, and someone answering the enquiry. If you would rather not assemble that yourself, that is the sort of thing we do.

How we help small businesses

Put it somewhere usefulWebsite, invoices, email signature, social profiles and your Google Business listing.

Keep the source filesDownload every format and store them somewhere you will find them in two years.

Pick two colours and stopConsistency does more for recognition than the mark itself. Write the hex codes down.

Check it smallIf it is unreadable as a profile picture, simplify it before you use it anywhere.

Common questions

Before you spend anything

Including the ones about our commission, which people are right to ask.

What do you earn from this?

A commission from SmashingLogo if you buy after following our link, at no additional cost to you. It does not affect the price you pay. We have kept the sections above describing when a generated logo is a poor idea, because a recommendation you cannot trust is worth nothing to either of us.

Do I own the logo?

You buy a licence for commercial use. Read the terms on their site before purchasing, particularly if you plan to apply for a trademark or use the mark on merchandise. Ownership and registrability are different questions.

Can I trademark a generated logo?

Not safely, without advice. Generated marks are assembled from shared component libraries, so a similar mark may already be in use elsewhere. If registration matters to you, speak to a trademark attorney first. This is general information, not legal advice.

Will it look like everyone else's?

It might. That is the honest trade for the price and the speed. You can reduce the risk by adjusting colour and type rather than taking the default, and by avoiding the most obvious icon for your trade. A scissors icon on a salon logo is a scissors icon on a thousand salon logos.

What if I want a designer instead?

Good. That is often the better answer for an established business. We work with design partners for exactly this, so get in touch and we will point you at someone suitable rather than talking you into a tool you do not need.

Can you just do it for me?

Branding is not our core service. What we do is everything after it: the website, the booking and payment journeys, the automation and the ongoing support. If you need both, say so and we will sort out the design side through a partner.

Worth ten minutes

Try it before you spend anything.

Generating and previewing is free. If nothing it produces suits you, you have lost ten minutes and learnt something about what you actually want.

Try SmashingLogo Talk to us instead

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