Milton Glaser: His Heart was in the Right Place
Milton Glaser was in the back of a yellow taxi in Manhattan when he experienced the “eureka” moment. It was 1977 and the American graphic designer was asked to come up with a logo that would regenerate the fortunes of New York State. He pulled a red crayon from his pocket and began to sketch on the back of an envelope: first an “I”, then the simple outline of a heart, followed by two letters, “N” and “Y”.
That torn envelope is now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. “That little scrap of paper is probably worth as much as a small Picasso,” Glaser says with a smile. Just three letters and the symbol for love became the world’s most imitated logo.
Now 81, Glaser does not see a cent of the millions of dollars annually made on the back of his design. At the beginning, it wasn’t even copyrighted, because for the first 10 years the idea was to let everyone use it, so that it would spread and enter into the culture.
New York State’s department for economic development commissioned an advertising agency to build a campaign that would generate tourism. And that’s where Glaser came in.
As he developed the idea, Glaser decided to “stack” the characters, so that the “I” and the heart sat on top of the letters “NY”. Next, Glaser needed to choose a typeface for the letters. He went with American Typewriter. Using a symbol of a heart was a masterstroke. Today we represent how we feel using emoticons and this was the very beginning of the shorthand that we use on computers. Moreover, because of the success of this design, typographers have had to add a heart to every typeface.
Glaser believes that the logo works because of the tension between the emotive heart and the coolly geometric letters. But, he adds. “There’s another thing that happens, too. To understand the design, you have to translate it. First of all you have to figure out that the ‘I’ is a complete word, then you have to figure out that the heart is a symbol for an experience, then you have to figure out that ‘NY’ are the initials for a place. We know that the issue in all communication is moving the brain, and problems move the brain. This one makes everyone feel good because they have solved it.”
The upbeat message of Glaser’s design, which resembles the kind of joyful graffiti that a young lover might carve into a tree, appealed to New Yorkers as well as tourists.
What is NOT TRUE about the logo according to the text?
AThe original version is exhibited to the public.
BIt has turned out to be a popular invention.
CIt took a decade to promote Glaser’s idea.
DThe logo has become New York’s coat of arms.
