Milton Glaser’s “Ten Things I Have Learned”
October 1, 2010
Milton Glaser, known (among many things) for designing the “I Heart NY” logo, the DC Comics logo, the Brooklyn Brewery logo, and founding New York Magazine, has a charming essay on his website titled, “Ten Things I Have Learned.” Considering everything Glaser has achieved – and continues to – it’s safe to say he knows quite a bit. While the advice is particularly aimed at those in design, most of it applies to general life-living, sage wisdom style. For example, Rule #3 -
“SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.
This is a subtext of number one. There was in the sixties a man named Fritz Perls who was a gestalt therapist. Gestalt therapy derives from art history, it proposes you must understand the ‘whole’ before you can understand the details. What you have to look at is the entire culture, the entire family and community and so on. Perls proposed that in all relationships people could be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life. ”
For more of Glaser’s pointers, you can use this direct link, or simply browse his site, which hosts several other thoughtful essays, as well.
