Memes in Design
I Heart NY
The “I heart NY” logo was designed by Milton
Glaser in 1977 in an effort to rebrand New York
state. (Fig. 8) The logo became incredibly pop-
ular and is still used in merchandising. After
September 11, 2001, Glaser adapted the logo
to read “I Love NY More Than Ever” with a
dark spot on the heart to represent the World
Trade Center. The logo format has also been
adapted in many ways, For example, the heart
has been parodied by replacing it with a differ-
ent suit such as “I [spade] my pets.” The format
has alwo been used to express love for anything.
Andre the Giant
“Andre the Giant has a posse” was a street
campaign started by Shepard Fairley in 1989.
He was originally referencing hip-hop and
skateboarding subcultures. He and a number
of other Rhode Island School of Design stu-
dents created stickers and posters with the
face of Andre the Giant, a well known wres-
tler (and Fezzik in the film The Princess Bride)
on them, accompanied by his statistics. (Fig. 7)
They massively distributed the stickers, posting
them in public spaces around the East Coast of
America. It gained public attention and by the
1990s, the icon became an international meme.
In 1994, Titan Sports Inc. threatened to
sue Fairely over the use of the trademarked
name “Andre the Giant.” As a result, the text
changed to “OBEY,” which is now as popular
and well known. (Fig. 6) This meme became
merchandised, and the “Obey Giant” ico-
nography can still be found on clothing.
6 | Part One: Early Memes
fig. 6
Of course, with any good icon, the “Obey
Giant” has been parodied further, which con-
tributes to its status as a meme. These often
reflected the current events of the time, such
as posters reading “Ralph Nader has a posse”
which appeared in 2000. Various charac-
ters from popular culture have appeared in
place of Andre’s face. ThinkGeek released a
t-shirt reading “Fezzik Has a Posse” in 2012.
In 2017, a poster of Donald Trump’s face with
the phrase “disobey” appeared at a protest.