In 1992, the city of Clayton sent out a postcard announcing a contest for a new city logo. The prize for the winning design was to be a free one-year membership to Center of Clayton, the combination community center and health club near our home. My husband and partner, Gary Kodner, and I decided to enter. We each created several logo designs, printed them in color, and mounted them to black presentation board. Then, we submitted our entry.
Several months passed with no word from Clayton. One weekend, Gary and I decided to clean off our home computer files. We deleted the folder named “Clayton logos,” since we assumed we had not won the contest.
The next day, we received a “congratulations-you-won” call from Clayton! The Board of Aldermen liked several of our designs but wanted to combine elements of one with another. Since we had ditched the files, it was back to the “drawing board.” Our inspiration: Looking out of our second-floor window, we saw Clayton’s high-rise buildings and greenery around our neighborhood. That vision became the new identity.
The final logo design was a stylized drawing that portrayed the diversity of businesses and residential neighborhoods. The Board of Aldermen unanimously approved our design. This project also gave us an opportunity to design Clayton’s civic stationary and create a graphic standards manual. PMS 555 dark green is the official city color, and Cheltenham is the typeface used with all other materials. We later worked on a comprehensive, citywide signage assignment.
This was a big project with multiple aspects. Everywhere we look we see samples of our logo. We love Clayton and are so proud of having played a part in the image it projects to residents of this beautiful community and to the world at large.
Check out our logo portfolio. N-K is ready to help you with your logo project.
