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40 Comments

Got My First Hate Mail, I Must Be Doing Something Right

In my quest to create Logobly.com, the world's best startup logo maker, it seems I’m pissing people off.

I recently got an email from what appears to be a disgruntled designer. And they’re pissed:

“Do you ever stop to think that efforts such as yours pushing products that don't need a designer logically will end with designers no longer able to get work or support themselves? The notion that just having a tool turns anyone into a designer is distressing and in my view, disrespectful of your own profession.”

‘The guy has a point Craig’ I hear you say.

The response to my little love letter lies in coffee. Yes, coffee.

Hmmm… Coffee.

Most of us love coffee.

There are almost as many ways to make coffee, as there are flavours.

One way is to make coffee at home. Do it yourself. You flick the kettle on, grab your favourite mug, chuck in some Nescafe, sugar, milk and stir. Bam, a homemade brew is now yours to enjoy.

Another way is to use a fancy pants coffee machine. Slide your mug under, tap a few buttons and bam! You’ve just created yourself a latte in no time. You’re good to go.

Another way to get your sweet coffee fix is to engage the services of a professional barista. You stroll on down to Starbucks and patiently wait in line. You order your coffee exactly how you like it, speaking directly to a pretty barista. You pay your £5 and wait whilst they do their magic. Your hand-made coffee gets served up complete with your name written on the side. Delicious.

But Craig, you still haven't answered the question!

Will Logobly, my new logo maker for startups take work away from designers?

In short, no.

As always, it all comes down to the customer and their preferences.

People who want to create a logo for themselves at home on their own time with their own skills and tools will create logos themselves.

People who are short on time, have some money, but not a lot and really need some help will use a logo maker to design their logo.

And people with more time and more budget will employ the services of a designer and a design agency to sit with them, take a brief and design a logo for them based on their needs.

Time for a coffee ; )

  1. 8

    The designer sounds insecure. As a software developer I don't worry at all about all the No Code tools cropping up. We should embrace progress and elevate our game to provide something that the no-code/no-design tools can't.

    BTW, do you have any examples of the logos that it creates? I'm in need of a logo. ;)

    1. 2

      Also a software developer. If i could write a tool to replace me, i would.

    2. 2

      My thoughts exactly, I can only imagine @bentossell possibly cops a bit of hating for being such no-code advocate 😅

      "We should embrace progress and elevate our game to provide something that the no-code/no-design tools can't."

      Again so true, there's so much a designer / coder can offer.

      RE: Logobly, I'm going to DM you a demo. Check your Twitter DM soon.

  2. 7

    "You can't make everyone happy all the time and last night, all those people were at my show." - Mitch Hedberg

    Congrats on your first hate mail! That is when you know that you've arrived. 🙃

    1. 1

      So true! Thanks for the words of support : )

      • Love that quote LOL

      Onward!

      1. 2

        Onward is right, my friend! 😀

  3. 3

    A less defeatist mentality leads me to think that a flood of these tools (which IMHO tend to yield sub-par logos that are quite generic) would actually drive the prices for designers through the roof and allow them to position themselves as human beings doing work by hand (artisan logos, if you will).

    I'm an engineer and I haven't once felt like low code / no code solutions will put me out of work. If nothing else, those things allow me to focus on important work, and not just stupid shit like building forms and all of that.

    Even though I'm not a fan of logo generators, I applaud you for pissing some people off. Remember though, don't engage. As the saying goes, you wrestle with pigs, you're going to get dirty, and the pig likes it.

    1. 2

      Love this:

      "A less defeatist mentality leads me to think that a flood of these tools (which IMHO tend to yield sub-par logos that are quite generic) would actually drive the prices for designers through the roof and allow them to position themselves as human beings doing work by hand (artisan logos, if you will)."

      It's real talk, and a great point.

      My story is I'm a former designer myself, I also love startups.

      So Logobly.com is my way to bring my design skills and my love of startups together : )

      "Remember though, don't engage." - True, I didn't reply as I really felt it didn't warrant a response. Instead I turned a negative into positive and wrote a this blog post about it : )

  4. 3

    Ha! Congrats on your first piece of hate mail. That could be great material for a clickbait ad. I can see it now... "Graphic designers hate him! Controversial new logo maker app is saving business owners $100's...but will it put logo designers out of business?!"

    1. 2

      I think you're onto something here Tobe... let me grab my keyboard and get that blog post going! LOL

    2. 2

      lol, I'd have use this ad 😂

  5. 3

    As a designer, you should design a 'I got hate mail' badge. Then send me one. :)

    1. 2

      Yes Rosie! Or even better yet... a t-shirt : )

      1. 1

        tshirt and stickers! :) I basically live in geek tshirts these days.

      2. 1

        My favorite:

        "Don't study me, because you won't graduate!" lol

    2. 1

      I heard somewhere there is a tool that lets you design these badges even when you're not a designer!

      1. 2

        'No Design' is officially a thing @CraigBarber

        1. 1

          It is! I was really suprised by the popularity of my '10 No-Design Tools You Need Right Now' - I'm thinking of creating a more comprehensive list : )

          https://www.indiehackers.com/post/10-no-design-tools-you-need-right-now-90a5dc07ab

  6. 2

    Time for a coffee :D

    Well. There's no way to satisfy every body. I'll treat it positively and turn it into a motivation to build an even stronger product.

  7. 2

    Automation makes workers anxious and insecure.

    I'm not on his side, but I see his point of view.

    And as indie hackers, we're at the forefront of automation.

    1. 1

      Nice point... I've never thought of it that way.

  8. 2

    If you're getting hate mail then you're doing something right.

    1. 1

      Yeah, I figured that as well : )

  9. 2

    I agree. I don't have enough of a budget at this point so I'd rather go to Graphic River than pay someone. That designer never had a chance of gaining me as a customer because my mind was already set on a cheaper method.

    1. 1

      Great point Adam, it comes down to your preferences right? There's also a lot to be said for convenience too.

  10. 2

    The designers self confidence was on the floor very likely. Love the illustrations, stuuning.

    I also need a new logo for https://www.colorsandfonts.com, i have been told it looks like p&g tea....😂 is time now..

    1. 1

      Hey Michael, thanks for your comments.

      Checked out your site... I actually really like your logo. I'm a big fan of text only logos ( logobly.com will also do text only logos )

      I'm gonna send you my demo link anyway and you can take Logobly for a spin.

      1. 2

        I like them too. one of my favourites is the one from https://www.interaction-design.org/.

        Sure, send it. thank you so much. Twitter ? https://twitter.com/Mike_Andreuzza

  11. 2

    Great analogy! I'd guess they were just having a shitty day or something...kind of hard to believe an online logo maker would be viewed as a horsemen of the apocolypse of designers' careers.

    1. 1

      Yes, exactly! We have our moments right? Just take a deep breath, step away for a while - don't respond in anger and write some dumb shit.

  12. 2

    Hi @CraigBarber, Well I am a designer and I absolutely agree with you on that it is not taking work from designers and that coffee analogy is to the point. In the end, the customer has all the right to have options.

    And having said all that no AI or anything else is going to take away from the designers and by designers, I mean Human Designers. What's the difference between forget coffee, let's take some food....what is the real difference between food cooked by a bot and a human. I would say its the emotions, the energy and the concentrated time the human cook puts into it and for some reason, it somehow connects with fellow humans and no matter how good a recipe to get cooked it sometimes is all about the so cliched word 'human touch'. Having real human energy of all good infused into it :).

    My two cents :P

    But ya what ya doing is great! More power to you from a passionate designer :).

    1. 2

      Thank you! I appreciate your time and your response my friend. Yes, glad you appreciate the comparison : )

  13. 1

    On the contrary, it is going to make people realize the value of a good designer.

    A lot of people I know, don't spend money on design because they feel that it won't affect them. By having a low hanging fruit they'll understand the value. And later on, some would even migrate to the next stage by hiring a designer.

    Another consequence of such tools is that slowly everyone around you starts adopting these tools. And if you don't, you are left behind. FOMO. And you do what you always felt wasn't necessary. You go with the flow.

  14. 1

    Hey Craig! Awesome site. Sorry for the unrelated question but - did you design those 3d images of the people? They are so clean - I love them! If you didn't design them - I am curious to know where you found them. I have been a huge fan of this style for a while know ahah. Let me know!

    1. 1

      Hey there, yes I get this question a lot... they are not custom made.

      I found them on Shutterstock ( don't tell anyone : )

  15. 1

    I do front end work, so I design a lot.

    I guess that makes me a designer? Sure, I can make a nice website, but I can't make a logo for shit.

    No tool will ever replace a designers hand made work, it wont happen.

    Also, how can you say you have the best tool in the world but it's not even available yet? I need a logo right now, can we put it to the test?

    1. 2

      Hey Casey, you sure can take Logobly.com for a spin, I've just emailed you my demo : )

      1. 2

        Craig!

        Thanks for your email. I checked it out and I must say, I am impressed with the results. I have used plenty of logo generators and they always give the same crap.

        Very cool product and I wish you the best.

        1. 2

          Hell yeah!

          Thank you for the kind words!

          I'm gonna quote you on Twitter @makr 🎉

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