Shameless, alright

Picture the scene... mid-70s Harlem. Or maybe the Bronx. Or Hell’s Kitchen, I don’t know... anyway, somewhere funky-sounding in New York City. The boroughs are broke, the streets are full of drugs, sex, trash, disco and punk. Even the damn cops are driving hot Gran Torinos.

The mayor has the DA’s butt in a sling over Gotham’s crime problem, and the tourists are scared to visit Times Square at night because of the bums and the hookers. The summer heat’s cracking the brownstones, race riots are simmering and street kids are playing in plumes of spray from a hundred knocked-over hydrants...

Enough of the poetic scene setting. (Though admit it: you’d’a killed to live through it, right?) Let’s just say that back then, New York wasn’t the glittering corporate tourist mecca we know today. In fact, it had some genuine “reputational issues” in dire need of management.

Enter stage left, one hot young turk with a dream, Milton Glaser. Actually, by this point Glaser was already a highly successful and recognised designer, illustrator and artist, with a ton of iconic work under his belt. So, his NY studio was a smart door for the city to knock on, once TPTB realised they needed something to help jazz their image.

Glaser is a genius. One of the greats. The old boy is 82 now and still creating awesome brands. He had a think. And what did he create? Only (one of) the most iconic logos ever crafted.

 

Just sayin’, Manchester. Just sayin’.

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More enlightenment and opinion from Madhouse, Manchester’s leading integrated marketing communications agency