"I ♥ NY" and “Cooler and Warmer” Designer Glaser Dead at 91
GoLocalProv News Team
"I ♥ NY" and “Cooler and Warmer” Designer Glaser Dead at 91
The Manhattan graphic designer who revolutionized the visuals of advertising in the 1960s and ’70s died on Friday on his 91st birthday, according to the NY Post.
While his local claim to fame was the graphically catchy, and emoji-prescient, 1977 New York state tourism logo — imparting the message “I Love New York” using just three letters and a heart — the Bronx native was a prolific designer.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTHis work in Rhode Island, however, was part of an ill-fated multi-million dollar campaign by Governor Gina Raimondo’s administration.
Glaser's firm was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Raimondo tried to defend the work, as well as a promotional video for Rhode Island that featured footage from Iceland. Within a week, Raimondo had fired her then-director of tourism.
His noteworthy designs include a psychedelic poster of Bob Dylan that combined Islamic imagery with the art of Marcel Duchamp.
Inserted as a promotion inside the 1967 “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits” album, the poster made its way into some six million homes, the Times noted.
He first sketched the “I ♥ NY” design on the back of an envelope — with red crayon — during a taxi ride.
Glaser only closed up shop on his Kips Bay offices — a 10,000 square-foot Beaux-Arts townhouse where he helped found New York Magazine — in April of last year.
“Art is Work” was etched on the glass transom over its front door, The Post noted at the time.