Using AI for Your Logo?
Here’s What Most People Don’t Realize
I have so many thoughts about this, and I don’t even know if this is going to come out cleanly… but honestly, that feels kind of fitting for the moment we’re in.
Because this whole conversation around AI and design right now is not clean.
It’s layered. It’s uncomfortable. It’s shifting fast.
And I don’t want to be the person just sitting here complaining about AI “taking over,” because I don’t actually think that’s the full story.
But I do think there’s a very real issue with how people are using it… especially when it comes to logos.
A quick personal note
I sit in a part of the industry that is being affected by this.
There are absolutely pieces of design work that are being replaced right now. That’s not hypothetical.
And I’m aware enough to say… yeah, there’s fear in that. Not just for me, but for a lot of people in creative fields.
Fear of being irrelevant.
Fear of not being needed.
Fear of not being able to sustain what you’ve built.
That’s real.
But I also know this about myself…
This isn’t the first time I’ve had to evolve.
My work has always moved in cycles.
Burn it down. Rebuild it differently. Find a new angle. Do it again.
I’ve called this my Sleeping Phoenix pattern before… that perpetual burn and rise again.
And honestly, I think that’s part of why I’m able to sit with this moment a little differently.
I’m not attached to one version of my work.
I’m not relying on one single skillset staying untouched.
I’ve always been… a little too multipassionate for that.
So instead of only seeing AI as something that’s taking, I’m also looking at what it’s opening.
More people trying things.
More people building something of their own.
More access than we’ve ever seen before.
That part is beautiful.
And also… it doesn’t mean there aren’t real gaps in how this is being used right now.
(If you’ve been following along with what I’ve been writing and sharing around the Sleeping Phoenix and the larger shift we’re moving through into 2027, this moment makes a lot of sense in that context.)
It’s not that AI can’t make a logo
It can.
That part is kind of undeniable at this point.
You can open ChatGPT, or Claude, or whatever tool you’re using, type in a prompt, and walk away with something that looks like a logo.
And if you’re just putting that on Instagram, small, in a circle, calling it a day… honestly, that might be fine.
But what most people don’t realize is that what they’re getting… isn’t actually a usable logo in the way they think it is.
Because what you’re getting is usually just an image
A flat file.
A JPEG. Maybe a PNG if you’re lucky.
And it looks good enough on a screen.
But the second you try to do anything real with it… it starts to fall apart.
Print it bigger.
Put it on packaging.
Try to scale it cleanly.
It doesn’t hold.
Not because AI is bad… but because you were never given the right kind of file to begin with.
No vector. No scalability. No flexibility.
And most people don’t even know that’s something they should be thinking about.
And then there’s the part that’s harder to explain
I can almost always tell when a logo was made with AI.
Not always… but most of the time.
There’s a certain feel to it.
A little overworked.
A little too detailed.
Slightly off in ways that are hard to name but easy to notice.
And I don’t say that as a dig.
There are absolutely people doing incredible things with AI visually.
But the average person jumping in without any design background?
They don’t have the eye yet to refine what comes out.
So they take it as-is.
And that’s where things start to feel… generic.
A quick side-by-side, because this is where it gets interesting
I even went and googled “AI logo design” just to see what’s actually coming up right now… and honestly, this is where it gets interesting.
Because on one end, you’ve got something like that lion badge style. super detailed, looks “impressive”, very “logo-like” at first glance.
And then you get something like this one on the right.
Way simpler… way more restrained… not trying so hard.
And this is the part that people don’t always realize…
this second one is actually closer to being usable in my opinion.
Not perfect. Very much still AI and missing pieces, but closer.
If I had to take one of these and actually build a brand around it, I’m choosing this second one every time. It has a cleaner silhouette, it would translate better to a single color, and it’s not relying on a bunch of tiny detail to hold it together.
But even here… it’s still just an image and not a proper vectored file.
Closer isn’t the same as complete.
AI is a powerful tool… just not the whole solution
I actually think AI is amazing for brainstorming, exploring directions, and getting unstuck.
Even generating early visual ideas for a logo.
But using it as the final output without understanding what you’re looking at?
That’s where the disconnect is.
Because a logo isn’t just a visual.
It’s something that has to function in the real world, across sizes, materials, formats, and contexts.
And that’s the part AI doesn’t fully solve yet.
Also… you probably don’t need a logo as early as you think
I know that’s not what people want to hear.
But I’ve said this before and I still stand by it.
When you’re just starting out, the thing that actually matters is:
what you’re offering
how you’re communicating it
how consistently you’re showing up
and a few other things I share in the podcast episode below.
A logo can support that… but it doesn’t replace it.
And AI has made it even easier to get distracted by that piece too early.
If you want a deeper take on that specifically, I talk about it in my podcast episode “Stop Stressing Your Logo and Start Building Your Brand.” (links to spotify but I’m also on apple podcasts under Sacred Work in Progress)
So where does that leave all of this?
I don’t think this is about rejecting AI.
I think it’s about understanding where it fits.
If you’re using it to get started, to explore, to move forward faster… great.
Just know what it is, a starting point.
And if you’re building something you actually want to grow into…
There will come a point where:
refinement matters
scalability matters
cohesion matters
And that’s where the difference becomes really obvious.
If you’re somewhere in the middle of Designing A Logo
If you’re DIY-ing and unsure what actually matters…
Or you’ve already generated something and you’re like
“wait… is this even usable?”
That’s a really normal place to be right now.
And honestly, it’s a smart place to pause and get clarity before you build on top of something shaky.
If you need help refining a logo into something that actually works in the real world… or you just want a strategy session to get clear on your direction before you invest more time or money…
That’s exactly the kind of work I’m doing right now.