While we're talkin' channeling

. . . In its (we heart-with-arrow) Logistics campaign, UPS seems to have appropriated Milton Glaser's "I heart" approach. I haven't done my homework to see if UPS (like JetBlue) worked with Glaser or obtained his blessing. So, I'll switch topics a tad and quote some of the eloquent text that accompanies the current exhibit of work by Milton Glaser on the mezzanine of the AIGA National Headquarters at 164 Fifth Avenue.

In Search of the Miraculous

I remember reading Ouspensky's book on Gurdjieff as a young man. I found it strangely unpleasant and unconvincing for reasons I don't understand, but the phrase "In Search of the Miraculous" has persisted in my memory. One could easily say that all human experience is a miracle: memory, color, taste, walking, skin, affection, Vermeer, stars, watermelon and so on. For those of us in and around the arts, the act of making things that move the mind is our deepest aspiration in regard to miracles.

What inspiration—not to mention generosity—from the man who's been visually quoted by millions.

While I'm using UPS and Milton Glaser in the same sentence, at the exhibit opening last night, my colleague Frank Baseman called attention to a Design Observer article by the inexhaustible and brilliant team of Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel. Their post shows the original UPS pictograph as well as the evergreen Glaser logo as examples of iconic design. The article is a good primer for students and practitioners alike. The comments are as informative as the article itself.

Nixtamal

Moving away from the danger signs on the tortilla maker, here are more shots of the Corona, Queens Tortilleria NIXTAMAL, enjoyed by Liney Li, Rick Ball, Pat O'Neill and yours truly prior to a concert at the Louis Armstrong House Museum.

You'd love this place.

At Nixtamal, cultural signs abound—from pinatas, to corn on the tortilla machine, to bright colors—and blend with internationally-understood icons like soccer, Coca Cola, and Milton Glaser's ever-appropriated "I heart . . ." logo, used here in goldenrod with red lettering and substituting Nixtamal for NY. Nixtamal also shows a Mexican take on Old Glory.