Hudson Valley Man Who Created I Love New York Logo Dies
The man who created the iconic I Love New York logo has passed away.
Milton Glaser, a lifelong New Yorker, died of a stroke and renal failure last Friday in Manhattan on his 91st birthday.
"I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Milton Glaser, a lifelong New Yorker who designed the famous I Love New York logo. The logo was the perfect logo at the time he created it and remains so today," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. "What Milton Glaser gave to New York will long survive him. "On behalf of the family of New York, my thoughts are with Milton's loved ones today, especially his wife Shirley. We lost a brilliant designer and great New Yorker."
In the late 1970s, to help boost New York's economy, Glaser was asked to create an ad campaign. On his way to a meeting for the ad campaign, Glazer drew on a white envelope the letter "I" followed by a heart and "NY." That simple doodle put into motion the I Love New York campaign.
“That little scrap of paper is probably worth as much as a small Picasso," Glaser told the Telegraph.
New York officials loved the sketch and asked Glaser to develop the logo, which he developed in his Woodstock home, according to his website.
While explaining why the design was such a success, Glaser cites another Hudson Valley location.
"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 puzzles move the brain. This one makes everyone feel good because they solved the problem. Also, it came from New York — the capital of the universe, right? If it had started in Poughkeepsie, it would have died in Poughkeepsie," he told the Telegraph.
The logo makes millions of dollars each year, but Glaser didn't make money off the logo because he agreed to do the logo for free in the late 1970s.
“I did it for free. 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 proliferate and enter into the culture. I agreed to do it as a pro bono job because it was of benefit to the state," Glaser said to the Telegraph.