The man responsible for the “I love [heart] NY” campaign of the mid-1970s is a household name among graphic designers. Milton Glaser came up with some of our century’s most iconic images.  Beyond “I Love New York,” Glaser created the famous poster showing a black silhouette of Bob Dylan’s face topped off by a mound of psychedelic hair; the logo for the Fortune 500; and, more recently, a poster campaign to raise awareness of the atrocities in Darfur.

As someone totally ignorant of graphic design, I had never heard of Milton Glaser before I saw To Inform and Delight (Wendy Keys, USA, 2008), one of two feature documentaries showing during this week’s "ByDesign" Festival at the Northwest Film Forum.  By the end of the film, I was smitten with this talented and thoughtful man, whose cultural wits are matched by an impressive political consciousness.  Part artist, part teacher, part service journalist, Glaser is all good citizen.

Glaser’s portfolio is so vast and diverse that even a full-length feature film can only highlight a fraction of his work.  The advantage is this: The viewer of To Inform and Delight is treated to a series of Glaser’s most significant projects, from New York magazine, to over twenty years designing supermarket layouts, to the plans for a new environmentally sustainable campus for Stony Brook University in New York. 

These last two examples are among Glaser’s favorites, for the real effects they have on people’s lives.  With the supermarket, he says he was able to reach the average American, and make her life a little easier by increasing the clarity and intuitiveness of store layout.  With the green college, he says he’s introducing students to the importance of sustainability by creating it as the context for their everyday lives.

Through all projects, Glaser carries this sense of social responsibility. Early in the documentary, he explains why he went into graphic or “commercial” art: “Because I wanted to make work that was public, that people would see.” 

Now late in his career—he’s 80 years old and still going strong—he takes on only projects in which he feels some personal investment, such as a series of buttons he created (“W” Stands For “Wrong”, “Facts not Fear”) for The Nation, unprompted by the left-wing publication. 

Perhaps my favorite thing about To Inform and Delight was the sense I got, without being beat over the head by this point, that graphic design is to art, what documentary film is to cinema. Both thrive under certain constraints: Like the designer, who works in a specific context for a client—receiving the narrative from an outside source—the documentary filmmaker is also controlled from the outside. Unlike a narrative fiction film, a documentary’s story is dictated by events beyond the filmmakers control; if her story changes, she must re-conceive her narrative.

And perhaps most importantly, both forms – if you do them right – are rooted in the spirit of serving the public, bringing them knowledge they might not otherwise have.

"ByDesign09" highlights the intersection of design and film, and includes features, shorts programs, and a free opening night reception featuring live audio-visual performances by digital artists including Kamran Sadeghi and Scott K. James.  At Northwest Film Forum March 6-12.  To Inform and Delight plays March 9-11 at 7pm and 9pm.