I Love New York
Encyclopedia
I Love New York is both a logo
and a song
that are the basis of an advertising
campaign and have been used since the mid-1970s to promote tourism
in New York City
, and later to promote New York State
as well. The trademarked logo appears in souvenir shops and brochures throughout the state, some licensed, many not. The song is the state song of New York.
that was created by Milton Glaser
consists of the capital letter I
, followed by a red heart symbol
(♥), below which are the capital letters N
and Y
, set in a rounded slab serif
typeface
called American Typewriter
.
In 1977, William S. Doyle, Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Commerce hired advertising agency Wells Rich Greene to develop a marketing campaign for New York State. Doyle also recruited Milton Glaser
, a productive graphic designer
to work on the campaign, and created the design based on Wells Rich Greene's advertising campaign. 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. In the popular mind (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 widely circulated the appearance of the image, making it a commonly recognized symbol. Glaser's original concept sketch and presentation boards were donated by Doyle to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art
, New York.
The image became especially prominent following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the city, which created a sense of unity among the populace. Many visitors to the city following the attacks purchased and wore the shirts bearing the I Love New York logo as a sign of their support. Glaser created a modified version to commemorate the attacks, reading "I Love NY More Than Ever", with a little black spot on the heart symbolizing the World Trade Center site
. The black spot approximates the site's location on Manhattan
Island.
in 1977 as part of the advertising campaign. In 1980 Governor Hugh Carey
declared it as New York State's anthem. In a move that was remarkable for Karmen, who is well known for retaining the publishing rights to his songs, he gave the rights to the song to the state for free.
The logo has become a part of the American pop cultural canon, since inspiring countless knock-offs (t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc.) of the "I …" form. New York, in turn, has tried to uphold its trademark by filing a total of nearly 3,000 trademark objections against imitators. Similar shirts can be found in Atlanta, Dallas, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mexico City/Distrito Federal, Argentina, and Copenhagen. In Beijing, China, tourists can buy I ♥ B-J shirts.
The logo has also been used by the band New Young Pony Club
in their album sleeve for Fantastic Playroom
but altered to read "I Love NYPC". Parodies of this phenomenon, such as "I Spayed My Pets
" (using a ♠) or "I Club Seals
" (using a ♣) have also appeared. A recently popular parody is a shirt reading I {have never been to} [in the shape of a heart] New York. Expressions beginning with "I heart…", based on a literal reading of the logo, have become a somewhat facetious way to express one's affection for something (e.g., the film I Heart Huckabees).
Madonna
recorded one song for her 2005 released album Confessions on a Dance Floor
called "I Love New York". She also sang this song at her Confessions Tour
with the popular I♥NY symbol clothing.
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
and a song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
that are the basis of an advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
campaign and have been used since the mid-1970s to promote tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and later to promote New York State
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
as well. The trademarked logo appears in souvenir shops and brochures throughout the state, some licensed, many not. The song is the state song of New York.
Logo
The logo is a rebusRebus
A rebus is an allusional device that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words. It was a favourite form of heraldic expression used in the Middle Ages to denote surnames, for example in its basic form 3 salmon fish to denote the name "Salmon"...
that was created by Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser is a graphic designer, best known for the I Love New York logo, his "Bob Dylan" poster, the "DC bullet" logo used by DC Comics from 1977 to 2005, and the "Brooklyn Brewery" logo. He also founded New York Magazine with Clay Felker in 1968.-Biography:Glaser was born into a Hungarian...
consists of the capital letter I
I
I is the ninth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:In Semitic, the letter may have originated in a hieroglyph for an arm that represented a voiced pharyngeal fricative in Egyptian, but was reassigned to by Semites, because their word for "arm" began with that sound...
, followed by a red heart symbol
Heart (symbol)
The heart has long been used as a symbol to refer to the spiritual, emotional, moral, and in the past, also intellectual core of a human being...
(♥), below which are the capital letters N
N
N is the fourteenth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History of the forms :One of the most common hieroglyphs, snake, was used in Egyptian writing to stand for a sound like English ⟨J⟩, because the Egyptian word for "snake" was djet...
and Y
Y
Y is the twenty-fifth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet and represents either a vowel or a consonant in English.-Name:In Latin, Y was named Y Graeca "Greek Y". This was pronounced as I Graeca "Greek I", since Latin speakers had trouble pronouncing , which was not a native sound...
, set in a rounded slab serif
Slab serif
In typography, a slab serif typeface is a type of serif typeface characterized by thick, block-like serifs. Serif terminals may be either blunt and angular , or rounded . Slab serif typefaces generally have no bracket...
typeface
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
called American Typewriter
American Typewriter
American Typewriter is a style of typeface created in 1974 by Joel Kaden and Tony Stan for International Typeface Corporation based on the form and monospaced feature of the early Sholes's patent of the typewriter. They adapted the friendliness and immediacy of this style into the proportionally...
.
In 1977, William S. Doyle, Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Commerce hired advertising agency Wells Rich Greene to develop a marketing campaign for New York State. Doyle also recruited Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser is a graphic designer, best known for the I Love New York logo, his "Bob Dylan" poster, the "DC bullet" logo used by DC Comics from 1977 to 2005, and the "Brooklyn Brewery" logo. He also founded New York Magazine with Clay Felker in 1968.-Biography:Glaser was born into a Hungarian...
, a productive graphic designer
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
to work on the campaign, and created the design based on Wells Rich Greene's advertising campaign. Glaser expected the campaign to last only a couple months and did the work pro bono
Pro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
. The innovative pop-style
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
icon became a major success and has continued to be sold for years. In the popular mind (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 widely circulated the appearance of the image, making it a commonly recognized symbol. Glaser's original concept sketch and presentation boards were donated by Doyle to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, New York.
The image became especially prominent following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the city, which created a sense of unity among the populace. Many visitors to the city following the attacks purchased and wore the shirts bearing the I Love New York logo as a sign of their support. Glaser created a modified version to commemorate the attacks, reading "I Love NY More Than Ever", with a little black spot on the heart symbolizing the World Trade Center site
World Trade Center site
The World Trade Center site , also known as "Ground Zero" after the September 11 attacks, sits on in Lower Manhattan in New York City...
. The black spot approximates the site's location on Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
Island.
New York State song
"I Love New York" was written and composed by Steve KarmenSteve Karmen
Steve Karmen is a composer, most famous for several jingles. Among his better known works are the New York State song, "I Love New York", the jingle Here Comes the King, the Exxon Song , and Wrigley Spearmint Gum / Carry The Big Fresh Flavor...
in 1977 as part of the advertising campaign. In 1980 Governor Hugh Carey
Hugh Carey
Hugh Leo Carey was an American attorney, the 51st Governor of New York from 1975 to 1982, and a seven-term United States Representative .- Early life :...
declared it as New York State's anthem. In a move that was remarkable for Karmen, who is well known for retaining the publishing rights to his songs, he gave the rights to the song to the state for free.
Popular culture
The logo has also been used by the band New Young Pony Club
New Young Pony Club
New Young Pony Club are an English electronic band from London, consisting of members from London, Hereford, Cambridge and Bromley. Their influences are prominently from post-punk and New Wave....
in their album sleeve for Fantastic Playroom
Fantastic Playroom
Fantastic Playroom is the debut album by English electronic band New Young Pony Club. It was released in the United Kingdom on 9 July 2007 by Island Records. The album reached number fifty-four in the UK and number seventy-nine in Australia...
but altered to read "I Love NYPC". Parodies of this phenomenon, such as "I Spayed My Pets
Neutering
Neutering, from the Latin neuter , is the removal of an animal's reproductive organ, either all of it or a considerably large part. The process is often used in reference to males whereas spaying is often reserved for females. Colloquially, both terms are often referred to as fixing...
" (using a ♠) or "I Club Seals
Seal hunting
Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is currently practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, Namibia, the Danish region of Greenland, Norway and Russia...
" (using a ♣) have also appeared. A recently popular parody is a shirt reading I {have never been to} [in the shape of a heart] New York. Expressions beginning with "I heart…", based on a literal reading of the logo, have become a somewhat facetious way to express one's affection for something (e.g., the film I Heart Huckabees).
Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
recorded one song for her 2005 released album Confessions on a Dance Floor
Confessions on a Dance Floor
Confessions on a Dance Floor is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on November 15, 2005 by Warner Bros. Records. The album was a complete departure from her last studio album, American Life . It included influences of 70s and 80s disco as well as...
called "I Love New York". She also sang this song at her Confessions Tour
Confessions Tour
Confessions Tour was the seventh concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It supported her tenth studio album, Confessions on a Dance Floor. Madonna confirmed the possibility of going out on a tour as early as November 2005. Jamie King, Madonna's longtime collaborator, was then hired on...
with the popular I♥NY symbol clothing.
See also
- Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes ManhattanFriday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes ManhattanFriday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan is a slasher film released on July 28, 1989. It is the eighth film in the Friday the 13th film series, and deals with Jason Voorhees stalking a group of high school graduates on a ship en route to New York City, and was the last film in the series...
horror film criticized for using the "I Love New York" music - Heart in OregonHeart in OregonHeart in Oregon is an emblem that symbolizes Oregonians’ love for their home state. It consists of a green heart, surrounded by a black border shaped as the state of Oregon...
- I Love L.A.I Love L.A."I Love L.A." is a song about Los Angeles, California written and recorded by Randy Newman. It was originally released on his 1983 album Trouble in Paradise...
- I Love New YorkI Love New York (TV series)I Love New York is a reality television series, which first aired on VH1. It features Tiffany Pollard in a quest to find her true love. The series is a spin off of another relationship competition series, Flavor of Love, which featured Pollard as a finalist in two consecutive seasons...
reality-television show competition featured on VH1VH1VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly... - List of advertising slogans
- Theme from New York, New YorkTheme from New York, New York"Theme from New York, New York" is the theme song from the Martin Scorsese film New York, New York , composed by John Kander, with lyrics by Fred Ebb. It was written for and performed in the film by Liza Minnelli...
by Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the... - Tourism in New York CityTourism in New York CityTourism in New York City includes nearly 47 million foreign and American tourists each year. Major destinations include the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, Broadway theatre productions, museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other tourist attractions including Central Park,...
External links
- The History of New York's Marketing Campaigns, from the Gotham Gazette
- The Official New York State Tourism Website
- Trademark Protection Battle for "I Love NY", BusinessWeek
- Interview with Milton Glaser, The BelieverThe Believer (magazine)The Believer is a United States literary magazine that also covers other arts and general culture. Founded and designed in 2003 by the writer and publisher Dave Eggers, it is edited by Vendela Vida, Heidi Julavits and Ed Park...
- The Museum of Modern Art Collection Browser
- The Museum of Modern Art Collection Browser