Milton Glaser:
To Inform and Delight
According to the Design Center's contact and inquiry forms, if the readers select the options truthfully, about 66% of your peers now reading the pages of DTG are in the graphic design field. All of the others fall into the realms of illustrators, photographers, publicists, desktop publishers, media or advertising professionals, self employed, students and teachers. So, to all our readers -- I believe this is one of the most important films that you will view in your visual communications careers.
If you've been anywhere in the world, and seen any visual that says "I Love" this or "I ♥ THAT", you can thank Milton Glaser. He's probably best known for his his enduring I ♥ NY campaign, and for co-founding New York magazine*. However there is so much more to the contributions Milton Glaser has made to the graphic design and advertising worlds it nearly defies description. Yesterday, New Video and Arthouse Films rolled out the documentary film "To Inform & Delight", directed and produced by Wendy Keys -- to inform and delight visual communicators all over the world. I've watched it now, maybe five times, and each viewing delights me with fresh inspiration that I didn't catch before.
First-time filmmaker Wendy Keys has created a masterful glimpse into everyday moments of Glaser's life and captures his immense warmth and humanity, as well as the boundless depth of his intelligence and creativity. Interwoven with slide shows from his incredible portfolio, you see both familiar images as well as inspirational new discoveries. (You find yourself muttering, "I had no idea Glaser did that!") These moments with the icon of the graphic design field -- often called "The Godfather of Graphic Design" -- become learning experiences, and you savor them as if you were there.
Famous poster of Bob Dylan by Milton Glaser Glaser's involvement and leading role in Pushpin Studios with other influential creatives of the time established a new era of graphic communications. It defined the 1960s, and brought a fresh departure from the static design of the Bauhaus and modernism -- which spread around the world. At the emergence of this 'new direction' in graphic communications, young designers were following -- idolizing -- the works being churned out by Pushpin Studios. Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast, and the others at Pushpin Studios defined a style and attitude that would push the next three decades. Reflecting on getting started in his career, Milton comments
Throught the film, you get to know the man, and peek into the thought processes behind the scenes. Seeing familiar images and visions, you discover that you may have known him all along -- just didn't know it!
Talking about the "I Love NY" campaign, Milton describes it more like a puzzle that came out of a very simplistic idea. Even product design has been influenced by Milton Glaser
[Quote] I explain to students in terms of understanding communication, that the creation of a puzzle is one of the tools that you have to make people understand things. When they activate the mind to try to figure something out, the likelihood is that they will remember it and respond to it more than if they're told something directly. And in the case of 'I love NY' which seems so simple -- 'I' is a word, which is a complete word within itself; heart, which is a symbol for a feeling, and 'NY' which are initials for a place. And, because of that simple little trick of activating the problem-solving impulse of the brain, it stuck in people's minds. They saw it once and they remembered it. [End Quote]
He explains that although he made nothing on the mark -- ever -- he's very proud to have had an influence on turning people's minds around and reminding them that they 'love this place.' After the terrorist attacks of 911, he slightly modified the mark and produced this poster: "More than Ever."
"Everything is defined by its opposite."
[Quote] I'm interested in work that doesn't necessarily look as if it was 'designed' but sort of just looks as if it happened. I always liked the idea, that people have to work to understand what you're showing them. [End Quote]
From newspapers and magazine designs, to interior spaces, logos and brand identities, to his celebrated prints, drawings, posters and paintings, the documentary offers audiences a much richer appreciation for one of the great modern renaissance men, who has recently been honored by President Obama with the 2009 National Medal of Arts.
[Quote] I wanted to do work that is public, I wanted to do work that people saw... that was on the street. It didn't matter if I was called an artist or a designer, illustrator or what ever else, the core value was always the act of making things, and the transformation of an idea that you hold in your mind that becomes real or material. That, to me, is still the glory of any creative activity.[End Quote]
At one point he talks about designing the branding for a local micro-brewery, a unique entity on the New York skyline. Then, he shows the interior of a restaurant he designed with a 'renaissance' look with paintings and sculpture -- playing off Rembrant and the masters. His deep knowledge of society and art history is formidable. Then he talks about how a copper wall in an office building was inspired by a drawing. From grocery stores to traditional printmaking, he makes it look so simple -- and to him it is.
Milton explains how the value of drawing in his life gives him an endless well of ideas and creative inspiration...
[Quote] So much of my work depends on drawing. I think of drawing as my essential resource -- that that's where my feeling of form comes from -- and whenever I can draw, because I find it so pleasurable, I will draw. I am a great fan of the idea that drawing is a way to understand the world. [End Quote]
This is a major theme that weaves its way through the entire presentation -- so important to effective expression is the ability to communicate those thoughts.
Next we join Milton's thoughts on communication through different mediums, and the meaning of art ...
What is art?
The segment about a series of illustrations for the book "The Divine Comedy", to me is one of the most fascinating passages in the movie. As they scroll through various proofs and prints for the book, Milton remembers using the monoprint technique for the illustrations. Monoprinting is traditionally an art form reserved only for framable prints simply because by their nature, each one is unique.
We learn quite often, Milton would select what is considered a fine arts media or technique to express the message in a certain way. From painting to crayon sketches to scratchboard the medium would suggest its use as the appropriate way to achieve a certain look and feel.
[Quote] Works that are too preconceived tend to go dead -- they become inert and less lively. Work that responds to the peculiarities of the moment tend to be more energized. end quote[End Quote]
Pondering the meaning of art, and the role it has played in society over the centuries, Milton reflects on this aspect, once again drawing from his vast knowledge of history...
[Quote] There's a wonderful book I've quoted most of my life, by Lewis Hyde called 'The Gift.' Basically, it says this gift giving which occurs in primitive cultures, one tribe to another, is a device for pacifying others and establishing relationships -- is what artists do. They basically create the commonalities, the symbolism, so that people feel as though they have some relationship to one another. When people don't feel they have that relationship, they kill each other. So, that role of providing common ground is absolutely essential to civilization. [End Quote]
To Inform & Delight
[Quote] The truth is, I've been looking for a definition of what art is, all my life -- without fully understanding exactly what it encompasses. But in the course of doing a speech I found several references -- on by Horace, who was a critic and poet back in Roman times, 1st century. [End Quote]
He had this great line: 'The purpose of art is to inform and delight.' Wow. You can't get much better than that.
As Milton himself sums it up, we can all be in agreement. You just can't get any better than this.
Get the film because you'll want to watch it more than once. If you have a studio, or an agency, get the film because you'll want to share it with those you work with. If you are in education or training, get the film because you will want to make it an integral part of the student's experience. At the very least, watch it -- enjoy it and learn from it.
You'll be glad you did -- I guarantee it!
- Watch To Inform & Delight on YouTube
- Purchase the movie DVD at Amazon.com
- About Milt in the New Yorker Magazine
- Dig into a feast of visual works by Milton Glaser
And, thanks for reading
Don't forget ... we encourage you to share your discoveries about favorite or famous graphic designers on Facebook for discussion, or give me a tweet at "X" formerly Twitter/DTG_Magazine
✅ DT&G Online Front Page
✅ Who is Fred Showker archives up to 2026
✅ A lot of Fred's content on Medium,
✅ 60-Seconds on Quora
Credits and Kudus to Arthouse Films, an independent film production and distribution label based in NY and LA and acquires, produces, co-produces and distributes 20+ titles per year. Upcoming and current titles include: HERB & DOROTHY by Megumi Sasaki, MILTON GLASER: TO INFORM & DELIGHT by Wendy Keys, BEAUTIFUL LOSERS by Aaron Rose, REM KOOLHAAS: A KIND OF ARCHITECT by Markus Heidingsfelder and Min Tesch, THE UNIVERSE OF KEITH HARING by Christina Clausen, OBSCENE by Neil Ortenberg and Daniel O'Connor, PAINTERS PAINTING by Emile de Antonio, and the HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON DVD Boxed Set. Arthouse is currently in production on a feature-length documentary on Jean-Michel Basquiat by Tamra Davis.
Credits and Kudus to New Video an entertainment company bringing top television, cutting edge documentaries, independent film, professional sports, and children’s programming to DVD and to the digital marketplace. Home to some of the most prestigious names in entertainment, including A&E®, HISTORY™, Major League Baseball®, Major League Soccer® and Scholastic Storybook Treasures™, as well as Docurama Films and NEWVIDEO NYC, New Video showcases well over 5,000 titles in its DVD catalog. As the world’s largest independent digital video distributor, New Video Digital provides over 10,000 hours of film and television from more than 100 trusted brands to download and streaming platforms, including iTunes, Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, Xbox, and Amazon.
This article first appeared in DT&G Magainze at the Design Center Graphic-Design.com in 2010. © 2010–2026 · All rights reserved. DT&G Magazine is one of the longest running web sites online, and is a spam-free, ad-free, tracker-free, script-free. predator-free, stalker-free web site. DT&G is an active supporter of SpamCop.net, SpamHaus.org and UGNN InfoManager -- reader-supported since 1988.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This web site may make use of copyrighted material. Such material are made available for commentary and educational purposes only. This constitutes a "Fair Use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 106A-117 of the United States Copyright Law.