Clayit

The Mark

One press, and the shape is decided.

The Clayit mark is a thumbprint left in clay. It is the only thing on this site that is about us rather than about a client, which is why it has its own page.

Construction
Seven strokes, one weight
Colour
Coral #FF4C50
Smallest tested
16 pixels

Seven strokes

Taken apart, in the order it is pressed.

Four arcs spiral in, the whorl closes at the centre, and two outer arcs carry the ridge that keeps the print from reading as a target.

01
02
03
04
05
06
07

It has to survive

The same shape at every size it is asked to hold.

A mark that only works large is a picture, not a mark. This one is drawn in one stroke weight so it thickens optically rather than breaking up as it shrinks.

16px
24px
32px
48px
96px

Where coral is allowed

Measured, not preferred.

Coral is the identity, and it is also the one value in the palette that cannot carry small text on a light ground. These are the real contrast ratios, which is why coral appears on paper as the mark, a rule or an underline, and never as words.

Coral on paper

2.9:1Never words

Coral on ink

5.0:1Words allowed

Ink on paper

13.0:1Any text

Paper on ink

13.0:1Any text

The wordmark is a file

Placed as artwork. Never set in a typeface.

It is never redrawn to fit a layout. It is sized by its height so it sits level with whatever type is beside it, and it never goes on a coral ground.

Clayit
Clayit

Type

Serif for statements. Sans for anything with a job to do.

Newsreader 300
One press, and the shape is decided
Newsreader 400
Brand, event and editorial work
Switzer 400
Most of what we make gets printed, mounted, handed out or walked past.
Switzer 500
Brand / Event / Editorial

Both faces are self hosted. No fonts are fetched from a network.

The mark is ours. The work is theirs.

Everything else on this site belongs to a client. That is the correct ratio.