This is 99% invisible. I'm Sam Greenspan in for Roman Mars.

By now, the story is well known. A man sits in the backseat of a cab,

sketching on a notepad as night falls over a crumbling city. He scribbles a letter I.

He draws a heart and then an n and then a y and right away he knows he's got something.

This is it, he thinks.

This is the campaign.

The man was a designer named Milton Glazer.

The city was New York, the year 1977.

A time and place commemorated by an entire genre of movies dedicated to making it look

like a terrifying place to live.

Enjoy a typical afternoon in New York City, the most violent town in the world.

Let's see the money, man.

Can you dig it?

Can you dig it?

dig it!

The city needed a miracle and it kind of got one in three letters and a simple.

I, heart, and why.

Telling the story with me is reporter Moog Zadee.

Mel and Glazer created the design pro bono

for the Empire State Development Corporation.

That's the agency that handles tourism for the state of New York.

So the NY actually refers to all of New York State, not just the city.

...