Above: Yeah, Milton Glaser did that.

“What you want to do is keep working until you die.”

Read that sentence again. Does it make you cringe?

It sure made me cringe the first time I read it. I don’t know if this came about during the 90s, or what, but I always thought the idea was to till and toil in your twenties, so you could bank your way into an early retirement.

Not so, according to Milton Glaser’s response in a recent interview on Success Secrets of the Graphic Design Superstars. When asked what work he’s most gratified to have done, he answered, “I can’t say I am most gratified by anything. I think the issue for old-time professionals is sustaining. Right?” He then goes on to paraphrase T.S. Eliot(?): “The greatest blessing in life would be to die in the midst of work.”

I’m going to go out on a limb and say most people of my generation would vehemently disagree. We’re of the mind that the greatest blessing in life would be to die of heart failure while water skiing, on our third senior citizen’s Carnival Cruise to the Bahamas. We don’t want to work for the rest of our lives. We want to work while we’re young and spend our grey years basking in the spoils of our labor.

So what’s up with Milton Glaser? Is he just a bastion of the old guard who refuses to hang his hat? My theory is that Glaser represents a rare breed – the individual fortunate enough to absolutely and justly enjoy what it is he does for a living.

Sure, being a graphic designer can be fun but make no mistake about it, it’s a lot of work. It’s not all pretty colors and “cool” ideas. A lot of it is business. Actually, the more that I think about it, MOST of it is business. It’s the few hours in between the business when you get to do something fun and exciting, or you get to be a part of building someone’s brand, or you get to inspire people to take action that make it worthwhile.

As with any art, the joy is in the creation. That being said, would I want my withered and pixelbeaten dead body found hunched over my then-antique Ikea work desk? Probably not. But hey, I’m no Milton Glaser.

Read the interview:
Success Secrets of the Graphic Design Superstars: Milton Glaser