We ♥ Milton Glaser | 1929-2020

Over the years, we had the honor to work with  Milton Glaser on a few important projects. Here’s one of our favorites created by Push Pin Studios for Strathmore back in 1964. Titled "If All the World Were Paper," it was a paper promotion, jointly designed and illustrated by Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast and Isadore Seltzer.

Excerpt from "If All the World Were Paper" (1964): 

The world of the designer and the printer is in many real ways a world of paper. Paper is the surface on which we work; the texture, color and character of the paper become part of the final piece. 

In designing a booklet to demonstrate this idea, we found an anonymous 17th Century English nursery rhyme which seemed happily appropriate to our theme, and provided an amusing foil to contemporary design. We have used it to give continuity to the book. The last word of each stanza has become a jumping-off point for each of the pages. 

Solutions to design problems are frequently found in the paper itself. For example, the color and texture of Cordoba Brown Strathmore Grandee, used for the cigar-box mailer, suggested the drop-out treatment in which the paper itself becomes the cigars. In a simular way, the black antique finish of Strathmore Cover in the opera announcement forms the negative area in the design, providing a rich contrast of textures with the smooth silkscreened blue surface. 

Strathmore papers always retain the honest character of paper. Their immense variety of textures, colors and weights extends the range of the artist and broadens his reach, while the paper itself, held in the hand, contributes further to the over-all mood of the printed pieces.

—Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, Isadore Seltzer

Thank you, Milton. May your legacy live on.