I (Heart) NY

Today's Times has an article about the recent effort by New York State to reclaim, and enforce, trademark protection for the famed "I (Heart) NY" logo, designed by Milton Glaser in 1977. State officials explain that they plan to "warn and then fine" those who sell unlicensed "I (Heart) NY" products.

Is the fine per shirt or per vendor? Shirts, Canal Street, July 2007:


Marshall Blonsky, a semiotics professor at Parsons, derides the state's effort, describing the logo as an "empty signifier." As he explains, "What was absolutely original and therefore thrilling in 1977 is now an empty signifier, nothing in it, no communication, zed, zero. It moved from poetry to banality, from red to pink, like a coin that's been rubbed smooth from usage."

Hard to deny; it's everywhere. As ubiquitous in the urbanscape as the homeless, yellow cabs, tourists, garbage, and pigeons:




I very much liked Glaser's update of the logo, created shortly after the events of 9/11/01:



It encapsulated something many of us felt -- a desire to express affection for our wounded city, rather than to extract vengeance from "evildoers."

The State of New York did not appreciate Glaser's effort, however, and threatened to sue him (but ultimately did not) for trademark infringement.

I (Heart) NY, indeed.