I Love NY Logo Gets A Redesign

The iconic ‘I ❤️ NY’ design by Milton Glaser, created in 1977, has been a staple of New York merchandise for decades.

Recently, the design received its first redesign as part of the local government’s new campaign, “We ❤️NYC,” spearheaded by Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams. The “We ❤️NYC” campaign is meant to “showcase the city’s strengths and mobilize New Yorkers to ensure this remains the greatest city in the world.”

This redesign is part of the effort to modernize the long-standing logo and demonstrate that the city is changing while still maintaining its status as the world’s greatest city.

The “We ❤️NYC” campaign has been launched to support the city’s resurgence from the pandemic. The city and its neighborhoods are returning to normal, and changing the logo is similar to the original goal of the “I Love NY” campaign. Glaser’s iconic logo, created on a scrap of paper in the back of a taxi, helped turn around the city’s economic crisis during a lack of tourism and federal aid.

The new logo can be seen all over New York City, including billboards in Times Square and bus stops. Usually, the heart emoji is accompanied by other symbols relevant to the city, such as the Statue of Liberty, pizza slices, and taxis. 

The logo underwent a significant change, with the subject changing from “I” to “We” to emphasize the campaign’s goal of promoting unity in the city. The font style was modernized, moving away from Glaser’s gritty style to a more lighthearted and floaty design.

The new font is bold and thick, giving off a confident vibe. The heart was also modernized, appearing larger and smoother with different shading. The overall goal of this new logo is to promote the city as it continues to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its residents.

The big question is how the public takes this and whether they believe the logo needs updating. Judging by the responses to the campaign and the new logo proudly presented across New York City, we can say that the public has not been receiving the new logo well and thinks the update was unnecessary.

However, anyone who works in design knows that a process seems to repeat every time a famous logo is redesigned. We watch as the public has an outcry, an emotional response to any change in something they’ve become familiar with and grown accustomed to.

Yet this design will usually grow on them, and the new logo will become familiar and one they embrace with time. Time will tell as we see how New Yorkers adjust to this new logo and what they think of it as the future goes on.