Squarespace is a fantastic ecommerce platform that comes replete with a whole bunch of features to allow users to quickly build and launch their online stores. However, in 2022, the company made the Squarespace Logo Maker completely free.
This is a nifty tool that’s designed for small businesses and agencies that want a simple and effective tool to design a logo. It’s completely free to use, and is the company’s way of providing value to companies that can’t afford independent design services.
In the following article, we are going to review the Squarespace Logo Maker, check out its features, and see whether it’s suitable for your company’s logo design.
Squarespace Logo Maker — Is It Any Good?
The Squarespace Logo Maker isn’t actually a new offering. The company, which is known for helping its customers with ancillary tools and services, previously offered the logo maker, but at a price.
However, the Squarespace logo maker is now free to use, and you don’t even have to be a Squarespace user to design your own logo. But, the question remains, can the Squarespace logo maker hold up to some of the best logo makers and design tools like Canva?
First off, it’s important to clarify that this isn’t a design tool. It’s designed to be a simple, free logo maker that comes with a bunch of templates and lets you optimize your business cards or create a basic logo featuring your company name.
And, as you might expect, you can easily use these logos with Squarespace’s ecommerce platform, which is a plus point if you’re going to host your store there.
However, the real purpose is to determine whether you can create logos that you can use on wider platforms like social media. Traditionally, online logo makers have been limited in their capabilities.
They often have limited customization options, which prompts most companies to hire a professional for getting a professional logo designed. But, the Squarespace logo maker does things differently.
Features
The Squarespace logo maker is arguably one of the simplest logo generators that you’ll come across. It features a handful of design elements, including various fonts and icons.
The icon set that they use is known as The Noun Project, which features more than two million distinct icons (though it might not appear that way at first glance). Apart from the icons that are shown, you can just search for any design that you’re interested in.
However, keep in mind that these icons are incredibly basic and simple. There’s hardly anything here that’s going to look unique or catchy. However, if you want a minimalistic custom logo for your site, this does the job quite well!
Neat Design Interface
Arguably the best feature of the Squarespace logo maker is just how clean it looks. The design is fairly straightforward and simple, and it’s not very confusing. This is great for beginners.
Very Easy to Use
The choices, or the lack of, make this a great logo maker. You can almost tell that the company didn’t want to put too much into it because that may distract new users.
Unlike other, more complicated design tools like Canva, which you can also use to design your logo, the focus here is on entrepreneurs. The aim is to just start, and this can help you do exactly that.
Instant Downloads
Another excellent feature is that once you’re done designing your logo, you can download the files almost immediately. Just sign up and you’ll be able to access the files.
Designing Your Logo
Designing your logo using this tool is fairly straightforward. As shown above, when the screen loads, you have the option of choosing from any of the logos in the left sidebar (or searching for one), and then adding your company name.
There’s a handy toolbar at the top that you can use to choose the font color (either via the gradient or by adding a hex code), the weight, and the style of the font.
At the bottom, you can also see handy previews of how your logo will appear on a business card, on a monitor, or on a T-shirt. This is great for small businesses, as it gives them a clear idea of how the logo looks.
There’s also a handy space for adding a tagline, if your company has one. And, while there’s no character limit, you will want to keep the tagline short.
Downloading the Logo
Once you’ve designed the logo, the next step is to download it. In order to download your newly designed logo in PNG format, you’ll need to first create a Squarespace account.
The good thing is that you don’t need to have a paying website plan in order to download the logo. Just create a Squarespace account and you’ll be able to get your logo.
You can download your logo in several variations, including a standard color logo, all-black, or in white. The good thing is that all logos are placed on a transparent background, making them easier to use.
The download resolution can go as high as 5,000×5,000px, making it big enough for use on displays as big as billboards.
They are high-resolution, so you don’t have to worry about pixelation or other issues. The logos, in general, are your standard fare 2D logos, and nothing special.
A key point to keep in mind here is that when you download the logos, you might notice that the arrangement may have moved. For instance, the business name might have veered slightly to the right.
You will need to tinker a bit with the graphic design in order to get the placement right, and it may take some tries to get just the perfect logo that you want.
It’s pertinent to mention here that certain formats, like SVG, aren’t available.
Pricing and Usage
Unlike other competitors like Looka or the Wix Logo Maker, the tool found on the Squarespace site is totally free to use. Most competitors let you design the logo, but when you want to download the high-res files, they ask you to pay.
With the Squarespace logo maker, this isn’t a problem. It’s totally free to use, and the PNG format can be downloaded immediately after the design process.
Copyright
A key concern for many users when designing a logo using third-party tools is the copyright. Who owns the usage rights to these logos? The good thing here is that Squarespace itself doesn’t really bother with all this.
Instead, you’ll have to check the Noun Project site to get a better idea about how you can use these icons. This becomes a slightly more tedious process, however.
You have to first open the site, then search for the icon that you used in the logo. Then, you’ll have to review its license to check how you can use your new logo design.
Why Use the Squarespace Logo Maker?
The provision of the free Squarespace Logo Maker makes it an even more popular choice for new eCommerce business owners. If you’ve been on the fence about starting your own eCommerce brand, this is one of many factors that may convince you.
Apart from being an excellent website builder that’s ideal for beginners, Squarespace is now introducing DIY tools that business owners can use to quickly launch their eCommerce brands.
Of course, the functionality in this tool is relatively limited, but that shouldn’t matter to you if all you need is a simple logo to get started. The basic logo creator has everything that you need to get started.
This logo maker tool is quite customizable, and you can even see how the images will appear on different items. Plus, you get to download all the logo files and use them without paying a penny.
Another interesting thing that the company has done is that it allows you to design a logo without having an account. But, whereas most competitors require you to pay to download the PNG files, Squarespace just asks you to make an account.
Once you have created an account, you can download all of your logo ideas from the platform and see how they appear.
Is The Squarespace Logo Maker Suitable for Growing eCommerce Brands?
In general, no. As your business starts to scale, you’ll want to hire a professional designer who can provide vector files of a unique logo that really embodies the personality of your company.
But, if you’re just getting started and don’t want to spend too much time with design, this is as good a choice as any. Instead of having to worry about creating a logo, you can focus more on what really matters: website design.
The logo designer is so easy to use that you won’t even require a tutorial. Just tinker around with it for a bit, and you’ll have just what you need.
What About Major Competitors?
However, it’s worth mentioning that Squarespace isn’t the only company doing this. Other ecommerce brands like Shopify and Wix also have their logo design tools, and like Squarespace, they require you to register an account first.
For instance, the Wix Logo Maker is a popular alternative to Squarespace’s offering. However, whereas Squarespace is really free to use, Wix requires you to pay to download the high-resolution files.
Similarly, there’s also Shopify, arguably the biggest self-hosted eCommerce platform in the world. Shopify offers a myriad of tools that business owners can use to improve their presence online.
For instance, the company offers Hatchful, which is its logo design tool. This one includes a ton of different templates and even offers a host of free social media assets that you can use for merchandising or on business cards.
Hatchful is also completely free to use, and the design files are yours to keep. Compared to Squarespace’s logo generator, this one has a lot more features, obviously.
But, if you prefer Squarespace as an ecommerce platform or just aren’t concerned with creating an overly complicated design, then the Squarespace Logo Maker is a good choice.
Pros and Cons
Now, let’s discuss the pros and cons of using the Squarespace logo maker.
Pros
- Completely free to use
- Gives you lots of choice; over 2 million icons
- Incredibly easy to understand and use
- Lightweight tool
- Integrates with the Squarespace platform seamlessly
- High-resolution files are available directly
Cons
- No scalable formats such as EPS or SVG
- Might seem limited in terms of functionality
- The logos don’t look nearly as professional, so it’s not a replacement for hiring a graphic designer
- You will have to check individually at the Noun project site to determine if you can use the icons
- Limited choice in terms of fonts
- Interface doesn’t seem very polished
- There are better free logo maker options available
Conclusion
The Squarespace Logo Maker is a pretty nice tool if you want to design a basic logo. It takes a barebones, no-frills approach to logo design, making it a suitable choice for those who aren’t very artsy.
If you need a basic logo that you can slap on to your Squarespace website and start working on your store, this is as good as it gets.
Plus, it’s completely free to use. By default, this means that it’s better than several others out there, unless you’re willing to pay. When you compare it with other free logo design tools, there’s hardly anyone that does a better job.
Of course, we would’ve liked if it offered a bit more in terms of features. But then again, we can’t complain really. The sheer amount of choice that you get, and the value that it offers, makes it a fair choice for those who need a free logo design tool.
That said, once you start generating traffic on your site, it would be in your best interests to get a professional logo designed, as these ones just don’t look very professional.
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