The new york city and association New York City Foundation have just launched a new advertising campaign called We ❤️ NYC which aims to counter pessimism about the future of the city and encourage civic engagement and pride among residents. This being in New York, the initial reaction was marked by disdain and ridicule.
The symbol We ❤️ NYC resumes the classic campaign I ❤️ NY created in the 1970s by Milton Glaser.
Nostalgia breeds pure and hard. Glaser’s logo remains the ubiquitous symbol of the city, emblazoned on T-shirts and memorabilia. And it even carries a New York origin story: The late design legend said he drew the logo with a pencil in the back of a cab. In an act of generosity, Milton Glaser had even designed the logo on a voluntary basis and never made a dime for it: it was essentially his love letter to New York.
Here are the reactions since the unveiling of the new logo:
The new logo was created by the designer and artistic director Graham Clifford. “We wanted to reference the original branding but push it in a different direction,” the artist said, also revealing that the new font is inspired by those used in the underground transportation system. “The metro is the vein or the beating heart of the city. You can have people from Wall Street sitting next to construction workers. It’s a place where you can bring everyone together, and we know that.”
Sources: The advertisement, AdWeek, Creative Boom