AIGA NY hosted a talk by the legendary Milton Glaser, and I was pretty excited to go, and meet him briefly afterwords.
Milton is probably most well known for the "I love NY" logo; his other more recognizable work includes iconic posters from the 60's & 70's {like
this Dylan one}, and the Brooklyn Brewery identity. In 1954, he and Seymour Chwast established the internationally influential Pushpin Studio; he also co-founded the New Yorker Magazine.
He's had a single-man show at the MOMA, and was awarded the lifetime achievement award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
{Perhaps his highest honor: I named my cat after him:}
I think what I actually admire most about him is that he uses language brilliantly—there are no wasted words. He is startlingly precise, smart, and witty. His talk, called "One thing leads to Another," led us through a series of his recent work. Through it he traced how things he was thinking about in one piece influenced the next, and then that the next, and so on.
My favorite part was a section he called, "The client didn't buy it." He showed us some of his favorite {and I think best} work that clients didn't like and therefore never made it off the drawing board. Midway through, he displayed a series of clever posters for Coney Island, and cracked, "Couldn't sell those if my life depended on it."
Some highlights from the talk and Q&A:
Right now Milton is very interested in color. He's done a ton of personal studies, which have influenced his professional work.
"There's no such thing as getting stuck if you don't think there is such a thing as getting stuck. SO GET WORKING!!!"
Q: "Have you read any good books lately?"
A: "NO."
Milton's definitions of art and design:
Artist: someone who is free to pursue their own obsessions
Designer: someone who is subservient to the desires of the client
"The problem with this field is that it wants to find out what you can do well, and then force you to do it over and over and over and over..." but what obviously excites Milton is learning. He wants to figure out what he doesn't know, and he walks into the office driven by, "What can I learn today?"
"I hate advertising. Persuasion makes me nervous." {He thinks it's destructively manipulative to the consumer.}
"I hate identity. It's boring."
"I hate marketing. I hate things that numb the mind."
Q: "What are you working on now?"
A: "Like any studio, we have a mix of things that are interesting, and things that are not."
"The computer is the instrument of the devil."
He says that all young designers are now producing work that looks identical, because they have been overpowered by their tool. It does certain things well, so that is what everyone does with it. "It makes you do what it wants you to do. Approach it with suspicion."
"I can draw. Anything that I can see in my mind, I can put on paper." Milton thinks this is a more important and versatile tool than the computer.
He sees the fundamental struggle of design as creativity vs. clarity—he sees the two as opposed, and the principle challenge of the field is bringing them together.
AIGA NY hosted a talk by the legendary Milton Glaser, and I was pretty excited to go, and meet him briefly afterwords.
Milton is probably most well known for the "I love NY" logo; his other more recognizable work includes iconic posters from the 60's & 70's {like this Dylan one}, and the Brooklyn Brewery identity. In 1954, he and Seymour Chwast established the internationally influential Pushpin Studio; he also co-founded the New Yorker Magazine.
I think what I actually admire most about him is that he uses language brilliantly—there are no wasted words. He is startlingly precise, smart, and witty. His talk, called "One thing leads to Another," led us through a series of his recent work. Through it he traced how things he was thinking about in one piece influenced the next, and then that the next, and so on. 
...you've got to go all out. This somehow looked a little less ridiculous while it was still only in my head, but I suppose a drawing of a flying cupcake can hardly help but end up a bit flamboyant. I've been itching to draw a cupcake literally for months now, and I just couldn't hold back any longer. Cupcake, Cookie, and I took to the skies in this illustration for a children's jump rope song; the line depicted here goes "The kite away flew, and I did too!" Because if I'm going to fly, it's definitely going to be in the company of baked goods.
I'm into octopuses lately—their potential for cuteness is pretty monumental. Also, you can't tell from this abomination of a photo, but this little octopumpkin is really excited because, in real life, his green, blue, and magenta happen to be the exact same value AND saturation as the bright orange pumpkin itself—it's a glorious combo that is quite worthy of the gleeful expression he's got going on there. You'll just have to trust him on this one though.
My design director, Maureen, is very stylish. I made this birthday card for her because she loves these colors and fancy shoes. {I, on the other hand, had to research pictures of high heels to know how to draw them.} :)
Illustration inspired by the Indian spring festival of Holi. Part of the festivities include decorating elephants with beautiful elaborate paintings; here I imagine that the elephant has grown a bit tired of sitting through the tedious process and has created some fun by spraying his attendants with their own paint. I attempted something similar in college, but it was pretty bad—I was happy for the opportunity to revisit the theme this time with a bit more success.
