Milton Glaser: graphic designer who created the look of the Sixties
The man who came up with the classic I love NY logo died on Friday at 91, leaving a rich legacy
It’s a privilege and occasional frustration for graphic designers that they furnish the backgrounds of the lives of millions, without those millions always being aware that they have done so. So it was for Milton Glaser, who died on Friday, on his 91st birthday.
It is hard to think of any visual artist so pervasive in his influence. If you’re of a certain age, you might have noticed his carnivalesque covers on the Signet Classic paperback series of Shakespeare plays, or have owned the poster he made for Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits, in which bright riotous hair bursts from the singer’s austere silhouette. With the Push Pin Studios, which he helped found in 1954 with fellow graduates of the Cooper Union design school, he can be said to have created what became the look of the 60s: flowing lines, rainbow colours, strong patterns.
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