I have been meaning for a while to write a regular feature about logo design. These posts are intended to provide a place for designers to come to for inspiration and to find out more about a variety of different logos. Please feel free to discuss these logo designs. And by all means, please recommend or suggest a logo for future posts.

Photo owned by →Unity (cc)

The first logo that I have chosen to feature in this series of posts is “I Love New York” by Milton Glaser. What better logo to begin with!

Logo: I Love New York
Designer: Milton Glaser
Typeface used: American Typewriter
Colors used: Black and red
Interesting fact #1: Glaser did the work for this logo pro-bono
Interesting fact #2: The logo is said to be the most frequently imitated design in logo history
Distinguishing features: The logo includes a rebus. Glaser used a red heart symbol (♥) to represent the word “love” in his design. The use of a heart as a symbol for the word “love” has been widely imitated since then. All of the other elements that make up this logo – black capital letters in the “American Typewriter” font – make the red heart symbol stand out even more prominently.

Glaser created the design in 1977 based on Wells Rich Greene’s advertising campaign “I Love New York”, which was developed to promote tourism in New York State. The logo (and the many plain white t-shirt’s that display the logo) have become firmly associated with New York City, however, this was not the original intention. Contrary to popular belief, the logo is meant to promote tourism state-wide, not just in the city.

After the September 11th terrorist attacks, Glaser created a modified version “I Love NY More Than Ever” with a little black spot on the heart. The little black stain or wound on the left-hand side of the heart represents the suffering of the people affected by the attacks and is located on the lower ‘west side’ of the heart – an area approximating the very area in lower Manhattan where the World Trade Center twin towers were located.

Related links:

• I Love New York on Wikipedia
• Milton Glaser on Wikipedia
• The History of New York’s Marketing Campaigns, Gotham Gazette
• The Official New York State Tourism Website
• Trademark Protection Battle for “I Love NY”, BusinessWeek
• Interview with Milton Glaser, The Believer
• World Press Institute: Legendary designer reaffirms his love for New York
• A 3D paper homage to the I Love New York logo by Oded Ezer
• “Milton Glaser: Art is Work” on David Airey’s blog
• Ad Agency’s Epic Fail at “Revitalizing” I ♥ NY Logo, gothamist.com
• Heart-shaped NYC subway map by zero per zero, designboom.com

The original “I Love New York” logo by Milton Glaser.
The “I Love New York” logo is a registered trademark of the New York State Department of Economic Development.

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 13th, 2009 at 6:44 pm and is filed under Design. You can keep updated on the conversation by subscribing to the comments feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.