It is often the case that people who create or build in their vocation also create as an avocation. This is true for my friend Clay. Clay builds buildings as his day job and throws pottery in his spare time. Clay is an accomplish artist who is always pushing himself and trying new things with his art.
One day over dinner Clay ask if I would create a logo or brand for him. He wanted something that could be used as a stamp to create an impression on the bottom of his clay pieces before they were glazed and fired, leaving a permanent mark showing him as the artist.
I asked him some questions about what he liked then grabbed a cocktail napkin and sketched this:
He liked the concept so later that evening I started drawing and refining the design.
After spacing the words around the circle, I reduced the width of the primary vertical elements and altered the font forms so each vertical was on the left side of the letter. I also curved the “f” to leave more space for the “MADE” and less for “CLAY”. After a number of revisions we had something we liked:
