Glaser

Milton Glaser is the embodiment of
American graphic design during the latter
half of the 21st century. His presence and
impact on the profession internationally is
formidable. Immensely creative and
articulate, he is a modern renaissance man
— one of a rare breed of intellectual
designer-illustrators, who brings a depth of
understanding and conceptual thinking,
combined with a diverse richness of visual
language, to his highly inventive and
individualistic work.

jeudi, 8 décembre 2011

Born in 1929, Milton Glaser was educated
at the High School of Music and Art and
the Cooper Union art school in New York
and, via a Fulbright Scholarship, the
Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, Italy. He
co-founded the revolutionary Pushpin
Studios in 1954, founded New York
Magazine with Clay Felker in 1968,
established Milton Glaser, Inc. in 1974, and
teamed with Walter Bernard in 1983 to
form the publication design ﬁrm WBMG.


Pushpin Studios
In 1954, Milton Glaser, along with Reyonld
Rufﬁns, Seymour Chwast, and Edward
Sorel, founded Pushpin Studios. For
twenty years Glaser, together with
Seymour Chwast, directed the
organization, which exerted a powerful
inﬂuence on the direction of world graphic
design, culminating in a memorable
exhibition at the Louvres Museum of
Decorative Arts in Paris.


Pushpin Studios
Dylan poster 1967


New York magazine
In 1968, Glaser and Clay Felker
founded New York magazine, where
Glaser was president and design
director until 1977. The publication
became the model for city
magazines, and stimulated a host of
imitations.


New York Logo
The "I love NY" slogan and logo was developed to promote tourism in New
York State. Glaser went on to create the "I love NY" logo 1977, which has
become a fundamental part of the American landscape. The use of a heart
as a symbol for the word "love" has been widely imitated since then.
He is also responsible for the complete graphic and decorative programs
for the restaurants in the World Trade Center in New York


Milton Glaser inc.
Milton Glaser, Inc. was established in 1974. The work produced at this
Manhattan studio encompasses a wide range of design disciplines. In the
area of print graphics, the studio produces identity programs for corporate
and institutional marketing purposes - including logos, stationery,
brochures, signage, and annual reports. In the field of environmental and
interior design, the firm has conceptualized and site-supervised the
fabrication of numerous products, exhibitions, interiors and exteriors of
restaurants, shopping malls, supermarkets, hotels, and other retail and
commercial environments. Glaser is also personally responsible for the
design and illustration of more than 300 posters for clients in the areas of
publishing, music, theater, film, institutional and civic enterprise, as well as
those for commercial products and services


Milton Glaser
inc.
Logos


Milton Glaser
inc.
Brochures


Milton Glaser
inc.
Font


Milton Glaser
inc.
Magazine


Milton Glaser
inc.
Posters

Dylan 1967

A poster inspired by a brilliant
headline: Full Color Sound.
Sometime words trigger the
imagination in a powerful way.
The image owes a debt to
Magritte an all time favorite
source of ideas.


Milton Glaser
inc.
Posters

Sony Full Color Sound 1980

A poster inspired by a brilliant
headline: Full Color Sound.
Sometime words trigger the
imagination in a powerful way.
The image owes a debt to
Magritte an all time favorite
source of ideas.


Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

SVA Being Good Is Not Enough
1979

An oversized poster for the School of
Visual Arts that shows his interest in
the work of the Biggerstaff brothers,
two British painters (not brothers) who
moonlighted doing posters and
produced some of the ﬁnest works in
the genre.

Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

Van Gogh 100 Years 1989

This poster celebrating a Van Gogh
anniversary cross references a work
by another famous Belgian artist,
Magritte. The joke depends on the
viewers knowledge of the Magritte
painting but my presumption was that
art lovers would understand the
reference.


Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

Mozart Sneezes 1983

This is a poster that depends on the
form of a comic strip - and the
incongruity of the sublime Mozart
acting like an ordinary personage.


Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

Juilliard III, Ladder 1989

One of a series of posters for the
extraordinary music school in New
York. This one suggests the idea of
aspiration and creativity. I
remembered a painting by Miro that
used a ladder leading to the heavens.
If you're going to steal, steal from the
best.


Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

King Lear 1981

This poster of King Lear expresses his
blindness by using the representation
of his daughter's proﬁle as his eye.
Stylistically, the boldness and
expressive quality of the drawing
intend to express the drama of the
opera.


Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

Great Illustrators 1983

This poster attempts to represent
illustration as a product of the eye and
the hand. The color variation intends
to show the range of different
approaches in an exhibition where
many illustrators were represented.


Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

The Mask 1985

He took a scrap of variegated paper
and poked his hand through it to
create this curious face that served as
an announcement for a show of his
work at the Cooper Union.


Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

Images of Labor 1981

A poster that creates the image of a
liberated bird from a pair of bound
hands.

Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

Poppy Head Turkey 1968

A rather strange early poster with a
surreal intent combining Poppy, a
music company, and the idea of
Thanksgiving

Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

Desig n 1982

A poster for a series of documentaries
on designers made for television. The
torn fragment with the "N" is repeated
as a background motif.

Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

Beethoven 1980

A romantically heroic portrait of
Beethoven served as the subject for
an exhibition of his work.


Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

Law 1987

The head of justice is portrayed here
in a simpliﬁed way. The parallel rules
are a reference to the imagery of the
Grecian columns that are used so
often in legal symbolism.


Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

New York Magazine 1978

An early poster made as a promotion
for New York Magazine, which was
founded by Clay Felker and Milton
Glaser in 1968.

Milton Glaser inc.
Posters

The world health organization's
international AIDS symbol and poster,
1987


Milton Glaser inc.

Milton Glaser 'Art is Work' 2000

This is a rich survey of Glaser's
inﬂuential work in the 25 years since
his seminal book, 'Graphic Design.'


Glaser is personally responsible for the design
and illustration of more than 300 posters for
clients in the areas of publishing, music,
theater, ﬁlm, institutional and civic enterprise,
as well as those for commercial products and
services.
Milton Glaser is at present design consultant
to Stony Brook University, Landsʼ End Direct
Merchants, Schlumberger Ltd., Brueggerʼs
Bagels and a number of other businesses.

From the start of his career, Milton Glaser has
been an active member of both the design
and education communities. He has been an
instructor and a Board Member at the School
of Visual Arts, New York since 1961, and is on
the Board of Directors at The Cooper Union,
New York.

Dissent is an essential part of keeping democratic
societies healthy, and our ability as citizens to voice
our opinions is not only our privilege, it is our
responsibility. Without this dialogue, the backbone of
what we have fought for so desperately could easily
collapse.
Over the past several decades, we have seen the
number of democratic societies around the globe
increase, and during the past ten years, there has
been a heightened awareness of the increasing
conflicts and problems that both directly and indirectly
affect our everyday lives.
With the Middle East's never-ending conflict, Bush's
“war on terrorism,” and numerous financial and
environmental crises, people's sense of safety, power,
and representation has diminished, in part, because
they feel they have no voice.


Designers, however, have used their skills to
communicate their dissent throughout history and are
doing so even more now since the birth of the Web
and the increasing ease of distributing posters and
other printed materials. It is said that a picture is
worth a thousand words, designers have used this
adage to their advantage by creating simple yet
powerful images that immediately convey poignant
messages to their viewers.
The Design of Dissent examines graphic work that
focuses on social and political concerns from around
the globe. The time for this work is certainly ripe, as
the US, and the world, ﬂare in opposition to many
important issues.


This is what I have learned' byMilton Glaser

All I ever wanted to do was to make images and create form. This instinct for
form-making seems to be something that is very characteristic of our entire
species. It's one of the
things that almost deﬁnes humankind. I like the idea of cultures that do not
have an idea of art as a separate activity from their daily life, such as many
African groups, where there isn't a word that approaches the idea of art. They
are very interested in containing magic but that is another thing. Among the
Balinese, there is no word for art. They just say “wedo things the best that we
can.” Which is a nice way to think about what we all do. I am going to tell you
everything that I know about the practice of design. It is a sort of collage
of bits and pieces that I have assembled over 50 years. It includes a lot of
things I've said before but I've repackaged them rather attractively. This is
what I've learned.


1
YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.

This is a curious rule and it took me a long time to learn because in fact at the
beginning of my practice I felt the opposite. Professionalism required that you
didnʼt particularly like the people that you worked for or at least maintained an
arms length relationship to them, which meant that I never had lunch with a
client or saw them socially. Then some years ago I realised that the opposite
was true. I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and
signiﬁcant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. And I am not
talking about professionalism; I am talking about affection. I am talking about a
client and you sharing some common ground. That in fact your view of life is
someway congruent with the client, otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless
struggle.


2
IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.
One night I was sitting in my car outside Columbia University where my wife
Shirley was studying Anthropology. While I was waiting I was listening to the
radio and heard an interviewer ask ʻNow that you have reached 75 have you
any advice for our audience about how to prepare for your old age?ʼ An
irritated voice said ʻWhy is everyone asking me about old age these days?ʼ I
recognised the voice as John Cage. I am sure that many of you know who he
was – the composer and philosopher who inﬂuenced people like Jasper Johns
and Merce Cunningham as well as the music world in general. I knew him
slightly and admired his contribution to our times. ʻYou know, I do know how to
prepare for old ageʼ he said. ʻNever have a job, because if you have a job
someday someone will take it away from you and then you will be unprepared
for your old age. For me, it has always been the same every since the age of
12. I wake up in the morning and I try to ﬁgure out how am I
going to put bread on the table today? It is the same at 75, I wake up every
morning and I think how am I going to put bread on the table today? I am
exceedingly well prepared for my old ageʼ he said.


3
SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.
This is a subtext of number one. There was in the sixties a man named Fritz
Perls who was a gestalt therapist. Gestalt therapy derives from art history, it
proposes you must understand the ʻwholeʼ before you can understand the
details. What you have to look at is the entire culture, the entire family and
community and so on. Perls proposed that in all relationships people could be
either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that
the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the
combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing
consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test
to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with
them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you
have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesnʼt matter very
much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised
or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you
are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you
have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it
for the rest of your life.

4
PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF
THE GREAT.
Early in my career I wanted to be professional, that was my complete
aspiration in my early life because professionals seemed to know everything -
not to mention they got paid for it. Later I discovered after working for a while
that professionalism itself was a limitation. After all, what professionalism
means in most cases is diminishing risks. So if you want to get your car ﬁxed
you go to a mechanic who knows how to deal with transmission problems
in the same way each time. I suppose if you needed brain surgery you
wouldnʼt want the doctor to fool around and invent a new way of connecting
your nerve endings. Please do it in the way that has worked in the past.
Unfortunately in our ﬁeld, in the so-called creative – I hate that word because
it is misused so often. I also hate the fact that it is used as a noun. Can you
imagine calling someone a creative? Anyhow, when you are doing something
in a recurring way to diminish risk or doing it in the same way as you have
done it before, it is clear why professionalism is not enough. ited goal.


4
PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF
THE GREAT.
After all, what is required in our ﬁeld, more than anything else, is the
continuous transgression. Professionalism does not allow for that because
transgression has to encompass the possibility of failure and if you are
professional your instinct is not to fail, it is to repeat success. So
professionalism as a lifetime aspiration is a limited goal.


Glaser

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Glaser