Milton Glaser

Born 1929, Glaser is one of the most famous graphic designers in the US. Everyone has seen the   I love New York logo, yet Glaser is known for his work for Bob Dylan, DC comics and the Brooklyn Brewery – which are some of his logo masterpieces.
For this blog, I thought I would include some meaningful statements by Glaser, which I am finding relevant to my own graphic art awareness:


Glaser thoughtfully responds to a series of questions asked by Graeme Aymer, from COMPUTER ARTS| INTERVIEW, November 25, 2009:

Graeme Aymer: When you look back at your body of work, what are the pieces that stand out for you – is there anything that you particularly enjoyed?

Milton Glaser: Be clear on this; enjoyment has nothing to do with accomplishment or level of performance. Enjoying it is one thing, and I have to say that most of the things in my life I have enjoyed. But I also think, what is so significant about my life is that I have been able to sustain my interest over such a long period of time. I’ve never been bored with most of what I’ve done.

Graeme Aymer: What are you seeing – in terms of design – that’s exciting to you at the moment?

Milton Glaser: Of course, you have to speak to some degree about the context of the work that’s being done around you but you also have to transgress and invent your own vocabulary. So I can’t say that I’m overwhelmed by the work that’s going on at the moment – but I’ve seen too much of it. I’ve always thought that if you don’t understand visual history, you basically can’t invent very much that hasn’t already been done.


Graeme Aymer: Is there enough understanding of the past these days?

Milton Glaser: Well, the field itself is dominated by fashion and by the idea of selling stuff, so you have to be concerned with what’s currently being done, and the economy is based on the idea of change and new styles, and this year’s whatever. Unfortunately, that’s not the real basis for serious work. If you’re more serious about it, you have to be more concerned about durability and ideas that go beyond the moment, so I think the best designers around are always designers that have a kind of broader look and don’t change with the prevailing wind. If you find that all you’re doing is copying what is already being done, you’ll have no position in the field. You’ll have nothing to offer and, after 20 years of doing it, you’re nowhere.


Graeme Aymer: How do you see yourself – artist, graphic designer, illustrator? Does it matter?

Milton Glaser: It depends on what you mean by ‘matter’. Historically, it doesn’t matter. History makes a judgement of what you do and that’s quite independent of this week’s typeface. When I look at Toulouse – Lautrec, it doesn’t matter whether he was a poster designer or a painter; he was an artist working within a particular medium.

Graeme Aymer: What is your relationship with Digital Technology?

Milton Glaser: It’s a great medium for extending ideas. But you have to come to it with an existing sense of form, if you don’t have form and understanding of visual phenomenon and don’t understand how to draw, from my point of view, it’s a very mischievous instrument because it forces you into patterns that it imposes.


Incidentally, in teaching, I find a lot of students beginning to resent the computer as too powerful to use without thinking. They now describe it the same way; they say, ‘Before I start to do anything, I make notes and sketches and draw because otherwise the computer dominates everything I do’ I think that’s an interesting perception. I also think it’s true.

Glassers statements regarding the 21st century work place for graphic Artists, strike a receptive chord for me because they encompasses my chief concerns; How to stay true to my style yet be current and 'cutting edge' in the contemporary Art world; The importance of staying stimulated by the demands of Graphic Art; Not to be too worned about putting categories on Art- illustration, graphic cut, poster designer, logo designer... history makes the final judgement; Finally, Glaser's recognition of the computer as a tool to help the artist, it is not the creator... We do this with initial ideas/sketches.


Bibliography:

www.creativebloq.com/milton-glaser-making-design-history-11094202

Graeme Aymer COMPUTERARTS|INTERVIEW

Nov 25, 2009