In the ever-evolving world of AI-assisted logo creation, Tailor Brands has established itself as a go-to platform for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to design professional brand identities with minimal effort. However, as the power and capability of Tailor Brands’ AI grows, so too do the complexities and learning curves associated with maintaining creative control. One issue that has recently emerged centers around Tailor Brands’ AI unintentionally overwriting user-uploaded icons during the automated design process. Fortunately, designers and users have discovered a workaround using a feature known as the Layer Lock workflow.
TLDR:
Tailor Brands AI has a tendency to overwrite user-uploaded icons with automated suggestions, which can frustrate users customizing logos. Users discovered that by using the Layer Lock feature, they could preserve their custom assets while still taking advantage of AI features. This workaround allows for greater creative freedom, preventing the AI from altering specific elements of a design. Understanding how to use Layer Lock effectively reinstates user control during the branding process.
The Problem: Automatic Icon Overwriting
Tailor Brands’ AI is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, offering timely suggestions and automated adjustments to enhance the final design. While immensely helpful in situations where users want fast results, problems occur when the AI takes too many liberties—particularly with user-uploaded icons.
Users often upload handcrafted icons or pre-designed SVGs that carry specific brand relevance. However, when using Tailor Brands’ AI to adjust font, layout, or palette, the AI may replace these unique icons with generically styled alternatives. This becomes a critical issue when dealing with icons that are trademarked, hand-illustrated, or contain intricate symbolism unique to the brand.
Rather than simply modifying surrounding design elements, the platform sometimes assumes uploaded icons are placeholders, discarding them for more ‘on-brand’ suggestions it deems better suited to the overall aesthetic. Users are often unaware of this change until previewing or exporting their final designs, which causes frustration and lost time.
Why Icon Overwriting Happens
This issue stems from the AI’s logic pathways. Tailor Brands’ intelligent design engine aims to generate cohesive and balanced visuals by interpreting all elements on a canvas as adjustable components. Unlike some other design platforms that treat user-uploaded files as immutable by default, Tailor Brands sees everything—including externally sourced graphics—as part of its editable framework.
When applying a new theme or adjusting brand characteristics (like sophistication or modernity), the AI recalculates which elements best match those inputs. Icons tied to specific industries or styles might be deemed incompatible, prompting an automatic swap with something the AI selects from its internal asset library.
The Layer Lock Workflow Solution
In response to complaints and experimentation by the user community, a workaround emerged called the Layer Lock workflow. This method leverages Tailor Brands’ internal layer management system, which allows users to lock specific parts of their design so that the AI knows not to modify them.
The Layer Lock workflow follows these general steps:
- After uploading or finalizing a custom icon, open the layer view of your logo design.
- Select the layer containing the custom asset.
- Click the “Lock” toggle or padlock icon associated with that layer.
- Proceed with any global changes—such as fonts, colors, and layout—without fear of losing your customized icon.
This simple yet effective tactic informs the AI to treat the locked element as permanent and makes it untouchable during the rest of the editing workflow. As a bonus, this tool can also be used on fonts, decorative elements, or even background layers.
Layer Lock Limitations and Considerations
Though immensely helpful, Layer Lock is not without its limitations. Locked layers stay static during AI adjustments, which can sometimes result in poorly aligned or mismatched components once the rest of the design is modified. For instance, if the AI adjusts the icon and text spacing while the icon is locked, the end result may look off-centered or visually imbalanced.
Additionally, some users discovered that overly complex SVGs or layered bitmap icons occasionally cause glitches when locked. These include rendering issues during export or inconsistent previews on alternative device resolutions. Competent use of the Layer Lock workflow demands a bit of patience and iterative design checking.
For best results, users should:
- Regularly preview their design across multiple screen sizes.
- Use simplified vector icons with minimal layering and node complexity.
- Continue to save versions as drafts before locking and finalizing.
Response from Tailor Brands
Following community feedback, Tailor Brands issued a set of updates in their knowledge base to clarify how users could control AI behaviors. While they haven’t fully automated Layer Lock into the upload flow, they have added context-sensitive guides that recommend using it when uploading external icons.
Tailor Brands also promised future updates that may include a toggle during upload that sets an icon to “Always Preserve,” bypassing the need to manually lock it in the layer hierarchy. Though still under development at the time of this article, this shows the company is actively responding to its user base’s evolving needs.
Community leaders and design influencers have praised the Layer Lock workaround as a way to bridge the gap between automation and custom creativity. It exemplifies how user engagement and smart workarounds can ultimately strengthen platform usability.
Conclusion
Tailor Brands’ integration of AI into the logo design process offers unparalleled accessibility and speed, enabling entrepreneurs to launch brand identities in record time. However, care must be taken to retain the human element—especially when unique visual assets are part of the equation.
With the Layer Lock workflow, users now have a reliable method to prevent the unintentional overwriting of their icons, ensuring their vision stays intact. As AI becomes more involved in creative industries, mastering tools like this is essential for keeping the balance between automation and artistic intent.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Q: Why does Tailor Brands AI overwrite my uploaded icons?
A: The AI views all design elements as editable by default. If it detects an icon that doesn’t match the selected style or brand tone, it may automatically replace it. - Q: How can I stop the AI from changing my custom icon?
A: Use the Layer Lock feature by accessing the layer panel and locking the layer that contains your custom icon. This tells the AI to leave it untouched. - Q: Can I lock other elements besides icons?
A: Yes, you can lock fonts, background designs, and decorative elements as well. This is helpful when you want to preserve specific stylistic choices. - Q: Is Layer Lock available on all Tailor Brands subscription tiers?
A: As of the latest information, Layer Lock is available to Pro and Standard subscribers, but always check their latest feature guide for updates. - Q: What happens if I forget to lock a layer?
A: If the layer isn’t locked, the AI may modify it based on your design edits. You can manually re-upload your icon and reapply the lock, but some positioning might be lost.
