Thursday, 12:00pm
9 July 2020
Type Tuesday: I ❤️ MG
Join us via Zoom for Eye’s Type Tuesday special on 14 July 2020 to hear Steven Heller and a panel of guests pay tribute to Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser, who died last month on 26 June, his 91st birthday, is such an important figure in graphic design that it’s hard to know where to start … or stop.
Next Tuesday, at 6.30 British Summer Time, lunchtime in New York, we celebrate his life and work with an online Zoom event called ‘Type Tuesday: I ♥️ MG’. Book tickets here.
Milton Glaser, poster for Olivetti’s Valentine typewriter, 1968. Glaser often referenced the art canon; this enigmatic poster was based on The Death of Procris (ca. 1495), attributed to Piero di Cosimo. Top. Cropped portrait of Glaser by Maria Spann, published in Eye 100.
Paying tribute to the great designer is a panel of people who were variously friends, fans, colleagues and clients: designer Deborah Adler and designer-educator Gail Anderson (via video), art director Walter Bernard (co-author with Glaser of Mag Men), illustrator Marion Deuchars, writer Steven Heller, client Steve Hindy (co-founder of Brooklyn Beer) and Beth Kleber from the Glaser Archives at SVA.
Deborah Adler, known for her system designs for Target’s ClearRx and CVS Health’s ScriptPath, worked closely with Milton Glaser for five years as his senior designer before founding Adler Design in 2009.
Steven Heller is possibly graphic design’s most prolific chronicler, the author of myriad magazine articles and more than 190 books on the subject.
Gail Anderson is Chair of BFA Advertising and BFA Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York and the 2018 recipient of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Lifetime Achievement Award for Design. Photo: Nir Arieli.
Walter Bernard (right) art directed many magazines and newspapers, including New York magazine, Time, Fortune and Adweek and was a partner with Glaser (left) in WBMG.
New York, 1976. Art director: Walter Bernard. Cover illustration by Milton Glaser.
Illustrator and author Marion Deuchars works with clients such as The Royal Mail and The Imperial War Museum, and inspires children with her book series Let’s Make Great Art and Bob the Artist. Photo by Tom Dunkley.
Marion Deuchars’ favourite Glaser quote. ‘When I first heard him say this I thought it was wishful thinking … [but] if you look at all the things you’ve done in life, in whatever field, our best work and our best selves come out of love and respect for one another. It’s a wonderful mantra to live by.’
Steve Hindy (right, with Glaser) is chair of Brooklyn Brewery, which he co-founded in 1987 with Tom Potter. He became interested in homebrewing while serving as Middle East Correspondent for The Associated Press.
Beth Kleber, who began her career at New York Public Library, is the founding Archivist of the Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives and the School of Visual Arts Archives in New York City. This item from the archive is Glaser’s rough sketch for the poster beneath it (note the image swap).
1967 poster for a Simon & Garfunkel concert at Lincoln Center Philharmonic Hall using Glaser’s bespoke Baby Fat typeface. The 2D silhouettes of the young duo are presented like additional glyphs in the font.
Glaser has been featured in Eye’s pages many times, notably with Reputations in Eye 25, and an interview in Eye 100, our latest issue (both written by Steven Heller). Glaser’s book Milton Glaser: Graphic Design (1973) came out at a time when there were few books about graphic design, and helped define what the practice could be for his peers and contemporaries, younger designers and students.
Working first at Push Pin (with colleagues such as Seymour Chwast, Edward Sorel, Reynold Ruffins and John Alcorn) and then at his own independent studio, Glaser turned his hand to anything: watercolours, book jackets, album covers, typefaces (such as Baby Fat), posters, food design, editorial design, logos and identities, most famously for the city of New York.
He was an inspiring teacher, and gave entertaining, thought-provoking talks when he could have easily kept the audience gripped merely by showing his ‘greatest hits’. Glaser was a fount of advice for young designers, and always keen to emphasise the human, ethical responsibilities of design. (He was a signatory to First Things First 2000.)
Four-colour lithographic poster designed by Milton Glaser in 1985 as an ad for furniture by Ettore Sottsass for Knoll.
We hope that this 75-minute online event (via Zoom) will be entertaining and informative, whether you are new to Glaser’s work or a long-time admirer. Book your tickets here.
This is an online event:
London 18.30 (GMT+1, aka BST)
New York 13.30 (EDT)
Berlin 19.30 (CEST)
Los Angeles 10.30 (PDT)
All proceeds from this Type Tuesday Special* are being donated to Milton Glaser’s selected charities:
Human Rights Watch
Doctors Without Borders
* Eye’s Type Tuesdays have been held at St Bride Library (in support of the St Bride Foundation) since 2013, and we look forward to returning when safe to do so.
Milton Glaser, The ‘Dusty and the Duke’ issue of Life magazine, 1969.
Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It is available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions and single issues.