The Story of the I Love NY Logo

The I Love NY logo is New York’s iconic symbol

• Three letters and a bright red heart. You’ll see the I Love NY logo everywhere in New York. It appears on countless souvenirs—from keychains to baseball caps to the classic I Love NY t-shirt, sold for just a few dollars at souvenir shops in Times Square or Chinatown.
• Few people know that this famous logo wasn’t created for New York City at all—it was designed for New York State. Read more about the difference between New York and New York City.
• The logo was actually created in 1977 for a New York State promotional campaign run by the advertising agency Wells Rich Greene. Designer Milton Glaser created the image. Years later, when asked about his work, Glaser said he was inspired by the design of the “Love” sculpture by American artist Robert Indiana. Glaser passed away in 2020 at age 91.
• The campaign was originally meant to last only a few months, but the logo became so popular that it started appearing on t-shirts and became synonymous with New York City itself.

The logo is everywhere in New York

• It doesn’t matter anymore that the I Love NY logo wasn’t originally designed for New York City. The design has done so much to shape the city’s image and promote it around the world that it’s now inseparable from New York City.
• The logo has been copied so widely that you can find I Love t-shirts for almost every city in the world—from Paris to Sydney to Barcelona, Berlin, Rome, and Dubai.
• Some people have fun creating humorous variations. In New York, you’ll find t-shirts with playful twists like “NY Loves Me.” A fitting tribute to an iconic logo.