I Love New York

In 1977, William S. Doyle, Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Commerce recruited Milton Glaser, a productive graphic designer to work on the campaign and create a design based on Wells Rich Greene's advertising campaign. Glaser's initial sketch for the agency's "I Love New York" slogan was sketched in a taxi. It comprised the letter I and a heart shape followed by NY, all on the same line. As the idea developed he decided to stack the I and heart shape on a line above the NY characters, later stating that he may have been "subliminally" influenced by Robert Indiana's LOVE pop art image.

Glaser expected the campaign to last only a couple months and did the work pro bono. The innovative pop-style icon became a major success and has continued to be sold for years (though this was not the original intention). The logo has become closely associated with New York City, and the placement of the logo on plain white T-shirts readily sold in the city has greatly circulated the appearance of the image, making it a recognized symbol. Glaser's original concept sketch & presentation boards were donated by Doyle to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.