I rarely tweet anymore, but I’ve been sitting on a glorious PDF for years. It’s about “I NY” and Milton Glaser. He was a huge inspiration to me and I’m sad I never got to meet him and tell him so.

NY state owns “I NY”. That means your “I [REAL HEART] BIOLOGY” shirt is probably, technically, illegal ... unless someone licensed it. A company hired by the state sends cease and desist letters to offenders — companies big and small who make t-shirts, cookies, g-strings, etc.

This @99piorg episode ( https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/episode-87-i-heart-ny-tm/) and this @andylocal ( https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/nyregion/new-york-challenges-a-coffee-shop-logo.html) story about the state challenging a guy who named his coffee shop “I [coffee cup] NY” (he also tattooed it on his knuckles) are a good intro and sent me down a rabbit hole.

In 2015, I wrote a FOIL request to the state for all the cease and desist letters sent the previous year. After a few months and a lot of nudging, I got a 381 page PDF. Highlights of violations from the PDF follow —

most of these make no literal or actual sense

i batman ny

i jeter ny

i dog shitting ny

i space invade ny

a frosted cookie

Full PDF here — https://www.dropbox.com/s/czu4lrf2gmvdtc0/ESD%20Response%20OCRd.pdf?dl=0

After a few sleepless nights trying to close a piece a few years ago, I didn’t have time to go home and ran out of clean shirts. I bought an “I NY” tee in a Times Square gift shop.

I wear it, un-ironically, probably once a week. This is from Wednesday.

The shirt is, almost certainly, a trademark violation. Somehow, I don’t think Milton Glaser would care.

RIP to a true legend.

2 more Glaser things — "Drawing is Thinking" is the best and everyone should read it and buy it and always have a pencil with them.

i've had an abbreviated version of his "10 things i have learned" taped to my desk at work for years. if we ever get back, it will hold new meaning
https://www.miltonglaser.com/files/Essays-10things-8400.pdf