Milton Glaser

Milton Glaser is an American graphic designer, famously known for his I Hart NY logo.

He attended the High School of Music and Art, the Cooper Union art school in New York, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, Italy.

 

Glaser has created over 300 posters throughout his career. One that he is known for is his Bob Dylan poster. The poster was created for Bob Dylan’s greatest hits album in 1967. The poster had individual shapes that came in different colors of the rainbow for hair and one of Glaser’s own typeface designs called Baby teeth, that spelled “Bob Dylan” in the lower right corner. Because of the poster and many of his other works he became  well known and was asked to create the New York logo.

 

In the late 1970’s the city of New York was declining. Between the financial crisis, high crime rates, and damages from the blackouts, it led to a belief that New York City was in an “irreversible decline.” By the end of the 1970’s, nearly a million people had left, but Glaser stayed.

 

The New York tourism office launched an ad campaign where a jingle writer was commissioned to help rebrand New York and “make the slogan sing.” In 1977 Glaser was asked to create a logo to help with the regeneration of New York. After working on the “I love New York” logo for two weeks  the idea for the design we see today came to him while sitting in the back seat of a taxi. With a red crayon and scrap piece of paper, he created one of the most successful logos.

 

Throughout his career, Glaser has worked on a number of projects. In 1954 after graduating from the Cooper Union in New York City, he co-founded Push Pin Studios along side with Reynold Ruffins, Seymour Chwast, and Edward Sorel. In 1968 Glaser and Clay Felker founded the New York Magazine. Milton Glaser, Inc. was established in 1974 and is still producing work today.

 

Glaser has done much more in design, from teaching to publications. He was awarded the national medal of arts in 2009 from former president Barack Obama, making him the first graphic designer to receive this award. Glaser will always be remembered for his I HART NY and is an icon in creative history.