Milton Glaser A’51

Arguably the most influential graphic designer of his generation, Milton Glaser (1929-2020) produced iconic work for book covers, posters, albums, and product packaging during his lengthy career. When the founders of Brooklyn Beer, Steve Hindy and Tom Potter, needed an identity for their new company, they thought it only natural to contact Glaser to create an evocative identity for their beer. After nagging the Glaser studio’s secretary for a week, Hindy and Potter finally met with the designer who soon got them to think on a bigger scale. They had originally planned to call their company Brooklyn Eagle, a reference to the borough’s long-time newspaper, but Glaser said, “Let’s claim Brooklyn. No one is claiming Brooklyn. It’s an undervalued place.” An on-the-money assessment at the time, Hindy and Potter took his advice and named themselves simply the Brooklyn Brewery

Essential to the company’s story is the founders’ desire to bring brewing back to the borough of Kings, once responsible for 10 percent of the country’s beer production. Glaser understood this element of industrial nostalgia in the project and used a full-bodied cursive font for the brand’s logo. The upstart brewers showed Glaser their brewery in Williamsburg among abandoned buildings covered in tags and graffiti. He advised they paint it bright yellow. Hindy was doubtful but Glaser was right: graffiti artists left the building unmarked. As he saw it, the colorful choice of paint was the company’s obligation: he told them, “If you don’t try to bring some beauty to the neighborhood, who will?”