<a href="http://www.brandiron.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/220px-I_Love_New_York.svg_.png"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-858" title="220px-I_Love_New_York.svg" src="http://www.brandiron.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/220px-I_Love_New_York.svg_-150x150.png" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>The  “I love New  York” logo is an iconic symbol, displayed on coffee  mugs, t-shirts, and everything in between. You may look at it and think, it’s so  simple, anyone could have come up with that. Or you may look at it and realize  what pure genius might be behind it. Either way, what’s most interesting to me  is that the logo wasn’t intentionally created to become a symbol of the city, it  was originally meant to serve as an advertising piece for a brief amount of time  and then fade away.

So  who invented it? I  Heart NY was designed by graphic designer <a title="http://www.biographyarchive.com/biography-of-milton-glaser.html" href="http://www.biographyarchive.com/biography-of-milton-glaser.html" target="_blank">Milton Glaser</a> in 1975 when he was recruited by New York State  Department of Commerce Deputy Commissioner to develop a unique but attractive  design based on the marketing campaign conceptualized by Wells Rich Greene.  Glaser expected that the logo would be used for a brief stint as it was meant to  be introduced to the public for a couple of months. "I did the bloody thing in  1975, and I thought it would last a couple of months as a promotion and  disappear," said Glaser in a 2009 interview for <a title="http://bigthink.com/ideas/16183" href="http://bigthink.com/ideas/16183" target="_new">Big Think</a>.

Now  the logo hangs on shop walls, in coffee shops, and goes home with hundreds of  thousands of visitors and tourists every year. Its timeless simplistic design  might be one reason for its longevity.  But one thing’s for sure, it’s become an  iconic image of one of the world’s most famous cities. Although it has changed  slightly over time, the basic elements still exist today.

Read  more details about the design here: <a title="http://www.whoinventedit.net/who-invented-i-heart-ny.html" href="http://www.whoinventedit.net/who-invented-i-heart-ny.html">http://www.whoinventedit.net/who-invented-i-heart-ny.html</a>