Design.com Platform Help
Design.com (design.com) is an AI-first logo maker and brand-kit platform — and the fact that reframes every
answer: it is DesignCrowd's own AI subsidiary/successor, a sister to BrandCrowd, and not the human
designer-contest marketplace at /sales-designcrowd. Same corporate DNA, opposite model: AI + templates in
minutes, not 25–100+ freelancers competing over days.
Workflow: business name or short prompt → AI infers the industry and returns concepts from a very large template
library → refine with keywords → customize in an editor plus an AI chat editor that takes plain-language edits
→ download PNG/JPG + vector SVG/EPS/PDF (GIF/MP4 when animated). A brand kit auto-applies the logo's colors
and type to business cards, social posts/stories, email signatures, letterheads, flyers, merch, invoices, QR codes,
presentations; the suite extends into an AI website generator + domain, digital business card,
link-in-bio, AI background remover, and print fulfillment.
The two facts behind every misunderstanding. First: there are TWO separate logo libraries — a curated
"Free Logos" collection (design.com/maker/free-logos) that is genuinely 100% free, vector included, no
watermark, under a worldwide irrevocable commercial license — and a much larger premium library needing a
paid plan. That's why Design.com's marketing ("free plan, no upgrade to download") and third-party reviews ("no
export on free") are both right: different libraries. Second: it's a recurring SUBSCRIPTION, not the
pay-once-per-logo model of the budget cluster — buyers who think they're "buying a logo" land on a renewing brand-kit
plan, the largest source of complaints. It is UI-only — no public API.
Step 1 — Gather context
If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.
Ask only what you can't infer:
- What do you want from Design.com?
- A) Generate or refine a logo (prompt → concepts → editor / AI chat editor)
- B) Free vs paid — is my logo from the Free Logos collection or the premium library, and which plan?
- C) Get the vector (SVG/EPS/PDF) file for print/signage
- D) A billing question — unexpected renewal, cancellation, refund, "I thought I bought one logo"
- E) Ownership/exclusivity — standard license vs an exclusive/buyout license, and trademark reality
- F) The wider suite (AI website + domain, digital business card, link-in-bio, print), or automating
generation via an "API" (see Step 4)
- Have you locked the name, and do you need print output? A logo is downstream of the name; print/signage needs
scalable vector, which changes what you export.
Skip-ahead: need a name → /sales-namelix; want a human designer contest (the parent) → /sales-designcrowd;
want the method or a market-wide comparison → /sales-idea-validation — route in Step 2.
Step 2 — Route or answer directly
| If the user's question is about… | Route to |
|---|
| Generating the business name itself (not the logo) | /sales-namelix {question} |
| A human many-designer contest with full copyright transfer (the parent product) | /sales-designcrowd {question} |
| The validate-before-building method, or comparing logo/branding tools across the market | /sales-idea-validation {question} |
| Building the wider social/marketing creative or a design system at scale | /sales-canva {question} |
When routing, give the exact command: "This is a {domain} question — run: /sales-designcrowd {original question}"
Otherwise, answer Design.com-specific questions using Step 3.
Step 3 — Design.com platform reference
Read references/platform-guide.md for the full reference — the DesignCrowd/BrandCrowd family map; the
AI-concepts → AI-chat-editor workflow; the two-library split; the subscription price ladder, what each
tier unlocks, and how tier names differ across sources; file formats; the brand-kit and wider-suite module
inventory with automation tags; licensing (worldwide license, manual IP review, exclusive/buyout upgrades)
and the trademark boundary; billing/renewal/refund; and the no-public-API reality with what to use instead.
Answer using only the relevant section — don't dump the full reference.
Step 4 — Actionable guidance
- Establish WHICH library the logo came from before answering anything about price. Ask (or have the user check)
whether the mark is from the curated "Free Logos" collection at design.com/maker/free-logos — free forever,
vector SVG/EPS/PDF + PNG/JPG, no watermark, worldwide irrevocable commercial license — or the much larger
premium library, needing a paid plan. Never answer "is Design.com free?" with a flat yes or no: it's
"free for one specific collection, paid for the rest." If the user wants to spend nothing, actively point them
at design.com/maker/free-logos as the zero-cost route rather than only diagnosing why they hit a paywall.
- Say the word SUBSCRIPTION explicitly, before they pay. Unlike most budget peers (one-time per logo), Design.com
bills a recurring plan — monthly, or annually at a much lower effective rate that is a year's commitment billed
upfront — and it auto-renews. That mismatch (expecting a one-time logo, getting a renewing brand-kit plan) is
the #1 complaint; surface it unprompted.
- Present pricing AND tier contents as best-effort, and send them to design.com to confirm — every time, including
when the question is about formats or features rather than price. Tier names, figures and what each tier bundles
disagree across sources (Starter/Value/Premium in some reviews, a "Brand" plan in others). Quote a range, name each
plan by what it unlocks, and close any tier/plan/format answer by telling the user to verify the current ladder,
file set, and renewal terms at design.com.
- Vector is not the gate here — the library is. Every paid download and every Free Logos download includes
SVG, EPS, PDF alongside PNG/JPG, so there's no "upgrade for vector" trap like Turbologo's. Use vector for
print/signage/apparel, PNG/JPG for web/social; higher tiers add scope, not file quality. State the included
file set as best-effort and tell the user to confirm it at design.com — the live pricing route wasn't reachable
at research time, so the per-tier file list is third-party-sourced.
- Separate the standard license from an exclusive/buyout license, and both from a trademark. Every download grants
a worldwide irrevocable commercial license and each logo passes a manual IP review — but a template mark is
non-exclusive by default, and minimally-customized output looks templated (push real customization via the ). Design.com sells
— recommend that when uniqueness matters. A license is a trademark: run + reverse-image first.
If you discover a gotcha or tip not in references/learnings.md, append it there with today's date.
Gotchas
Best-effort from research (2026-07) — plan names, prices, renewal and refund terms move, and sources disagree on
the tier ladder. Treat every figure as best-effort and confirm at design.com.
- TWO libraries, one brand. The curated "Free Logos" collection is genuinely free (vector + PNG/JPG, no
watermark, commercial license); the much larger premium library requires a paid plan. Contradictory
"it's free" / "you can't export on free" claims both trace to this split.
- It's a SUBSCRIPTION, not a one-time logo purchase — and it auto-renews (annual = a year committed upfront,
far cheaper per month). Top complaint by far (PissedConsumer ~1.8★, Trustpilot + r/SmallBusinessOwners echo it).
Tier names and prices disagree across sources — describe what a tier unlocks, never quote a ladder as fact.
- Refunds hinge on whether you downloaded — cancel self-serve from the dashboard; eligibility depends on download state and the published window. Screenshot everything, act fast.
- Vector is included at every paid tier and on free logos (SVG/EPS/PDF) — no vector upsell; higher tiers add scope (website + domain, digital business card, link-in-bio), not better files.
- Default marks are non-exclusive despite manual IP review. Exclusive/buyout licenses on select logos remove the icon from the library — the real uniqueness path, and barely-edited templates look templated (use the AI chat editor to differentiate). A license is still not a trademark: clear it (USPTO/EUIPO + reverse-image) first.
- Not DesignCrowd, not BrandCrowd — same parent, different models: AI subscription brand kit vs human contest marketplace vs sister template maker. No public API, webhooks, Zapier/Make, MCP, or self-serve white-label either — logo generation can't be scripted.
Related skills
/sales-designcrowd — The parent: a human many-designer contest marketplace with full copyright transfer — the opposite model under the same corporate roof/sales-looka — The most-named AI logo maker + Brand Kit peer — compare the subscription-vs-one-time pricing shapes/sales-logoai — A budget AI-from-name peer with a Brand Center kit and per-logo pay-to-download — the one-time-purchase contrast to Design.com's subscription/sales-zoviz — An AI branding platform with multilingual brand kits — the closest full-brand-kit rival/sales-logo-com — AI logo maker with a brand kit and a website builder — the closest all-in-one comparison/sales-namelix — Generate the business name first (a logo is the hand-off from the name)/sales-idea-validation — The validate-before-building method and the full naming/branding landscape/sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code
Examples
Example 1: "Is the Design.com logo actually free, or am I going to get charged?"
User says: "Design.com says free logo maker but now it's asking for a plan before I can download. Is it free or not?"
Skill does: Explains the two-library split — the curated Free Logos collection (design.com/maker/free-logos)
is genuinely free (vector SVG/EPS/PDF + PNG/JPG, no watermark, commercial license), while the much larger
premium library needs a paid plan. Tells the user to check which library their mark came from, and to pick from
the free collection for zero spend. Flags that the paid option is a recurring auto-renewing subscription, not a
one-time logo purchase — pricing best-effort, confirm at design.com.
Result: The user sees why "free" and "paywalled" are both true, and picks a free logo instead of subscribing.
Example 2: "Can I use the Design.com API to generate logos for a batch of client brands?" (developer/automation)
User says: "How do I hit the Design.com API to auto-generate logos and brand kits for 50 tenant accounts from a script?"
Skill does: States plainly that Design.com has no public API — no REST endpoints, webhooks, Zapier/Make,
MCP, or self-serve white-label program — so logo generation cannot be scripted; invents no endpoints or auth.
Recommends an image-generation service with a documented API, vectorized downstream, with per-mark trademark
clearance; notes the parent DesignCrowd isn't an automation path either.
Result: The user avoids building on a nonexistent API and picks a workable programmatic path.
Example 3: "I got charged again a year later — I thought I bought a logo"
User says: "I paid Design.com for a logo last year and just got billed again. How do I cancel and get a refund? And do I even own the logo?"
Skill does: Explains that Design.com is a recurring brand-kit subscription that auto-renews (annual = a
year committed upfront) — the mismatch behind most complaints — then walks through self-serve cancellation from the
account dashboard, noting refund eligibility depends on whether the paid assets were downloaded and on the
published window; advises receipts/screenshots, support via design.com/maker/contact inside the window, then a card
dispute. On ownership: the download grants a worldwide irrevocable commercial license (each logo passes a manual
IP review), but a template mark is non-exclusive without an exclusive/buyout license, and a license is not
a registered trademark — run USPTO/EUIPO and reverse-image checks.
Result: The user cancels correctly, pursues the refund in time, and knows what they actually own.
Troubleshooting
"Design.com won't let me download my logo without a plan"
Symptom: The logo is finished but the download demands a subscription.
Cause: The mark came from the premium library, not the curated "Free Logos" collection — Design.com runs
two libraries, and only the free collection downloads for free (vector + PNG/JPG, no watermark).
Solution: To spend nothing, pick a mark from design.com/maker/free-logos and edit it (editing is free) — you
still get SVG/EPS/PDF + PNG/JPG and a commercial license. For a premium mark, know you're buying a recurring,
auto-renewing subscription, not a one-time logo. Confirm the ladder at design.com — names/prices vary by source.
"I was charged on renewal / I thought this was a one-time logo purchase"
Symptom: An unexpected charge months later, or confusion about what was bought.
Cause: Design.com bills a recurring subscription, unlike the pay-once-per-logo model of most budget logo
makers; annual plans commit a year upfront and auto-renew.
Solution: Cancel from the account dashboard immediately (self-serve). Refund eligibility depends on whether
the paid assets were downloaded and the published window — request fast via design.com/maker/contact with receipts
and screenshots, then dispute with your card issuer if unresolved.
"My Design.com logo looks like other businesses' logos"
Symptom: The mark feels generic or resembles a competitor's.
Cause: Concepts come from a shared template library and are non-exclusive by default — a barely-edited
template looks templated, even though each logo passes a manual IP review.
Solution: Customize hard — swap the icon, change fonts, palette and layout, using the AI chat editor for
plain-language changes. For real uniqueness buy an exclusive/buyout license on a supported logo (it removes the
icon from the library), or commission original human work via a contest (/sales-designcrowd). Then run
USPTO/EUIPO plus a reverse-image check — a commercial license is not a registered trademark.
