“The role of art is to inform and delight”

Graphic designer Milton Glaser enjoys the Roman literary critic Horace's definition of Art, and the designer in him can't help but notice (with delight) that the words "form" and "light" are hidden in that definition.

Glaser's contributions to his field are so immense, so storied, that if you go to his website, you will find a portfolio stuffed with iconic images, along with three versions of his biography: Brief, Medium and Interminable.

The glass window over the front door of his office is etched with his succint and telling motto, "Art Is Work." The man's body of work testifies to the truth of the statement. A search of the AIGA Design Archives will bring up 290 images.

One of his most famous identity designs, the I❤NY campaign was created free of charge for the 1976 Bicentennial celebration.

We've talked a lot about copying and appropriation of ideas. Merchandise vendors sure know a good design when they see one. In 2005, Business Week wrote that New York officials have filed close to 3,000 trademark objections, from "I ♥" SF, Las Vegas, and Paris on everything from bumper stickers to calendars."

On his website, there is also copy of his 2005 speech, "Since Then," delivered at the American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA) National Design Conference. He begins with by saying that he can hardly remember what he spoke about on the occasion of the first AIGA conference, 20 years prior, other than he shared his mother's spaghetti recipe.

First, put a 1 pound package of Mueller's spaghetti in a large pot of rapidly boiling water. Allow to cook for 45 minutes to an hour, or until most of the water has evaporated. Add half a bottle of Heinz tomato ketchup, and a half pound of Velveeta cheese. Continue cooking until all the contents have amalgamated. Allow to cool and de-mold from the pot. Divide into 1 inch slices and fry in chicken-fat.

When I was in my early teens, I went to a neighborhood Italian restaurant in the Bronx, and ordered spaghetti. The waiter brought me a bowl of strange-looking stringy things covered with tomato sauce. "No, no," I said, "I ordered Spaghetti, SPAGHETTI!"

With gentle humor, he tells us where he's come from. We know where we've been through his work, such as this well-known image of Bob Dylan. He share his thoughts about the roles of a designer in the changing times.

"In my lifetime, I’ve witnessed a world war, the Holocaust, McCarthyism, Vietnam, Korea, the threat of nuclear annihilation, the Cold War—and in these times, AIDS, genocide in Africa and Bosnia, 9/11, global warming, the war on Iraq, the acceptance of torture, the Patriot Act, the tsunami, the devastation of New Orleans and the gulf coast and overshadowing everything else in our minds—the emergence of international terrorism.

The political exploitation of the fear of terrorism is as alarming as terrorism itself. It has caused me to examine my role as a citizen and to think about whether designers as a group have a dog in this fight, to use a pungent down-home cliché. Our dog in this fight may be human survival."

“You want to do things that have some relationship to your community, to your family, to your city, to your country, to the world.”

After 9/11, Glaser created a new poster that was distributed around the City by the students of the School of Visual Arts and the New York Daily News.

"The most important function of art through history has been to work magic, to change the very nature of those who experience the work — in these cases beauty transforms as well as informs. Searching for the miraculous strikes me as being a good way to spend my time."