Milton Glaser died today. And US Weekly tweeted about it. And I can’t decide if that’s a bad thing or not.
I learned of Milton Glaser’s death the way many likely did: that first-thing-upon-waking glance at our smartphones to see what happened while we were sleeping. To read about the loss of such a colossal talent on such a small screen seemed disproportionate. Some seven decades of creating iconic designs (e.g. I Love NY) while advocating for and elevating what was once considered a trade to its rightful place in the arts deserved better. So I washed and dressed, prepared some strong coffee, sat down in front of the largest computer screen in the house, and logged onto to the New York Times and then American Institute of Graphic Arts website.
I’m not bragging when I say that reading these obits didn’t teach me much that I didn’t know about his work. As a second career adult student of design, I read about Glaser and thought about him even more. I did an embarrassingly comprehensive presentation on the man in my history of design course. My overachieving was a coping mechanism for coming late to the design party. I was leveraging the writing, researching, and public speaking skills I’d honed in graduate school, back when most of my classmates were probably in elementary school. But there was more it than that. When it came to Milton Glaser, for me, it was personal.
When I began design classes as an adult, I felt like that insecure outer borough kid again. Yes, I was more experienced in life and more confident speaking up. But the younger students could Apple shortcut circles around me. I approached the keyboard like a writer, not a desktop publisher. But as I researched Glaser’s work, I found a literal bread crumb trail leading me home. It turned out Milton Glaser had been everywhere in growing up years and beyond. He designed the ubiquitous “I love NY” logo, and the New York magazine wordmark. Milton Glaser designed the Signet Classic Shakespeare paperbacks that filled my shelves as an English major at NYU. And he designed the menu I chose from at my wedding dinner at the Rainbow Room. He made me feel like I my designer’s eye had been with me my entire life.
Glaser was a thinking person’s designer. He famously argued “I am a great believer in the primacy of drawing as a means of engaging the world and understanding what you’re looking at.” He also taught me that “doubt is better than certainty.” His view that “less is not necessarily more” gave me the courage to view my design assignments with a client-centric exercise in problem solving. I didn’t need to design circles around my classmates to succeed. I needed to find the best solution and create it as simply and elegantly as possible.” During those late nights he taught me to trust myself by reminding me that “logic is not as powerful as intuition.”
Beyond his work and his philosophy, I was inspired by his long career, his nimble adaptation to new technologies, and his love of teaching. He gave me hope that despite a late entry to the design world, I still had time. He represented a passionate, elegant, honest approach to aging and changing within one’s career. His talent was rare as was his work ethic. And sadly, his success story is unlikely to be matched in today’s youth-obsessed culture and in a city that has priced out most of its creatives.
I had an uncle, long passed now, who somewhat resembled Milton Glaser, but without the kind eyes and warm smile. He left me no life lessons. He thought I was a dreamer. My head always in the clouds, or in books. So instead I had Milton Glaser. His quotes and work and his legacy. And I always will.
Milton Glaser died today. With the kind of perfect symmetry you’d expect from him, he left the world on the same day he had entered it ninety-one years earlier. US Weekly tweeted about it. And maybe, for some insecure, outer borough future designer, that will turn out to be a good thing.
Photo of Milton Glaser from the AIGA website