One of the most popular designs at Spreadshirt – and in the whole world – is a design that has been around for a few decades already: the I ♥ Design. Here you can find out why it is so popular, and we’ll shed light on how it all started.
Back in 1977, the “I Love NY” T-shirt (or I heart NY) initiated the beginning of a new T-shirt trend: the “I love” tee. What started out as a campaign to promote tourism in New York quickly became both a trademark logo for the city and the world’s most recognizable T-shirt. Its simplicity is what makes it great: Three letters (I and N.Y.) set in the typeface “American Typewriter” and a red heart symbolizing the word “love” – this makes this T-shirt design stand out among a million others.
Where does it come from?
Today you wouldn’t think that the origins of the logo are actually Canadian. An advertising agency from Montreal (Quebec) originally ran a campaign called “Montreal, the city with a heart”. Folks in New York were quick to adopt the idea for promoting New York State, and graphic designer Milton Glaser created the design for a New York marketing agency. The campaign was destined to last a few months, and nobody anticipated that the design would turn into one of the world’s most innovative pop-style icons to be sold for decades to come. For many years, you could see the logo placed on plain white T-shirts everywhere in the city, and one of the first original prints can still be seen in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
After September 11th
Following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11th, the image gained renewed popularity again as a symbol of support for the people of New York by people visiting the city. New Yorkers themselves wore it to express a sense of unity among the citizens. Glaser, the original designer, also created a modified version saying “I Love NY More Than Ever”. This design showed a small black spot on the heart approximating the World Trade Center site on lower Manhattan Island.
An icon of pop culture
Today, the logo is an absolute pop icon that has inspired imitations all over the world. You can buy I heart T-shirts to express what your heart beats for, whether it’s “I ❤ My Girl”, “I ❤ Moustache” or “I ❤ Music”, the sky is the limit to say what is close to your heart. Tell the world what your heart beats for, and say it with an I ❤ T-shirt!
Nice story, thank you Nina! Never before created t-shirt with “I ❤” maybe because they are so lot, but after reading your story I got some ideas 🙂