Glaser's 1976 sketch of the logo
Have you ever seen the original sketches for the now universally known I ♥ NY logo? MuseumNerd reminds us that the 1976 Milton Glaser original is on view at MoMA's design galleries... which is a long way away from where it began: he sketched it quickly on a piece of envelope in the back of a cab.
Glaser actually did the logo work pro bono, thinking the campaign would only last for three months and never foreseeing it turning into what it's become. He later explained during an interview, "it was like one of those things you bang out because it didn't seem to merit any more attention." In an interview with The Believer, he talked money:
Chip Kidd: Did you make any money off of it?
Milton Glaser: No. It was all pro bono.
CK: Oh my God. “I ‘Heart’ New York” was pro bono! Yikes! Frightening!
MG: No, that’s what it should be. You want to do things like that, where you feel you can actually change things.
CK: Yes, and affect the culture. Do you mind that the logo is ripped off so much?
MG: No. I mean, look, we have such a weird idea of the relationship of design to the culture, but—I believe the best people in the world are involved in making things. There’s this talk I give in which I compare the idea of Thanatos and Eros, the instinct towards death and the instinct towards life. And people who make things are on the side of Eros. For the right project, you can get good people—the best people—to work for nothing, which is one of the characteristics of being in the world of Eros—you don’t work for money, but you certainly work for your peers’ approval.
