Ivan Chermayeff

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

Graphic designer and artist (1932–2017)

title: "Ivan Chermayeff" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-graphic-designers", "american-poster-artists", "20th-century-american-lithographers", "american-collage-artists", "american-children's-book-illustrators", "logo-designers", "aiga-medalists", "1932-births", "2017-deaths", "20th-century-american-illustrators", "yale-school-of-art-alumni", "school-of-visual-arts-faculty"] description: "Graphic designer and artist (1932–2017)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Chermayeff" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Graphic designer and artist (1932–2017) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameIvan Chermayeff
imageIvan Chermayeff at AIGA NY event, 2012 (cropped).jpg
altTightly-cropped photo of smiling man in a striped collarless shirt and black blazer
captionChermayeff in 2012
birth_name
birth_date
birth_placeLondon, England
death_date
death_placeNew York City
occupationGraphic designer
awardsAIGA Medal, National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement, AIA Industrial Arts Medal
childrenSam Chermayeff, Maro Chermayeff, Catherine Chermayeff, Sacha Chermayeff
fatherSerge Chermayeff
::

| name = Ivan Chermayeff | image = Ivan Chermayeff at AIGA NY event, 2012 (cropped).jpg | alt = Tightly-cropped photo of smiling man in a striped collarless shirt and black blazer | caption = Chermayeff in 2012 | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = London, England | death_date = | death_place = New York City | other_names = | occupation = Graphic designer | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | awards = AIGA Medal, National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement, AIA Industrial Arts Medal | children = Sam Chermayeff, Maro Chermayeff, Catherine Chermayeff, Sacha Chermayeff | father = Serge Chermayeff Ivan Chermayeff HonRDI (June 6, 1932 – December 2, 2017) was a British-born American graphic designer and artist. He is best known as co-founder of graphic design firm Chermayeff & Geismar. Chermayeff created logotypes for the Smithsonian Institution, New York Museum of Modern Art, and Harper Collins publishing house, as well as numerous poster designs, book covers, architectural sculptures, exhibitions, illustrations, and fine art. Chermayeff is credited with introducing the concept of design as problem-solving and inventing the modern graphic design profession.

Childhood and early career

Son of Serge Chermayeff, an acclaimed Russian-born British architect from a wealthy Jewish Caucasian family, Ivan Chermayeff was born in London in 1932. He spent a part of his childhood at the family’s Bentley Wood estate in Sussex, South East England, in a landmark 1938 timber house considered one of the earliest examples of modernist architecture, frequented by prominent artists and architects including Frank Lloyd Wright. After economic conditions in England deteriorated as the result of the World War II, Chermayeffs went through a personal bankruptcy. In 1940, when Ivan Chermayeff was 8 years old, they emigrated to the United States in search of better job opportunities. After arriving in the U.S., Chermayeff and his younger brother Peter spent nearly a year living with Walter Gropius in Lincoln, Massachusetts, while his parents looked for permanent housing.

Chermayeff attended no fewer than 24 different schools. He studied at Phillips Academy of Andover, Harvard University, and IIT Institute of Design in Chicago. In 1955, he graduated from the Yale School of Arts and Architecture with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, where he trained under Swiss designer Herbert Matter. The same year he apprenticed with architect Edward Larrabee Barnes and designer Alvin Lustig, and was hired by CBS as assistant Art Director in record cover design department, tasked with producing multiple vinyl record jacket designs per day. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Manhattan_-_9_West_57th_Street.JPG" caption="9 West 57th Street]] in New York City, designed by Ivan Chermayeff in 1974." alt="Large red shiny number 9 on a pedestal on a Manhattan sidewalk"] ::

Chermayeff & Geismar

In 1957 Chermayeff co-founded Brownjohn, Chermayeff & Geismar with former Yale schoolmate Tom Geismar and designer Robert Brownjohn. In 1959 Brownjohn left and the studio changed the name to Chermayeff & Geismar Associates. With a client roster that included Mobil, Xerox, Pan Am, and Chase Bank, it quickly became one of the leading corporate design companies in the United States, and the 60-year long partnership between Chermayeff and Geismar was compared to that of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Over the next 50 years, the firm produced over six hundred logomarks, some of them considered the most recognizable brands ever created, including one of the first ever abstract trademarks for Chase Bank (1960) still in use today. Other logotypes created by Chermayeff include the Smithsonian Institution, PBS (1984), MoMA, Barneys New York, WGBH (1974), Pan Am Airlines, National Geographic, MOCA, New England Aquarium, Harper Collins publishing house, New York University, and Showtime Network.

While best known for his achievements in corporate branding, throughout his career Chermayeff also designed numerous book covers and over 300 posters. His best-known poster series include richly-illustrated playful designs for PBS Masterpiece Theatre and minimal, photographic works for Pan Am World Airways, co-created with Tom Geismar. Posters from both series are held in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

In 1978, Chermayeff created the Kennedy Center Honors rainbow ribbon medals, used until 2025. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/North_Cascades_National_Park_Poster,_1972.jpg" caption="A poster for [[North Cascades National Park]] designed and illustrated by Ivan Chermayeff in 1972." alt="A modernist black poster with mid-century white typography and a minimal illustration with green hills, black mountain, blue skies, and a stipe of yellow sand. Large type at bottom right reads "North Cascades.""] ::

CambridgeSeven

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Undated_photograph_of_Ivan_Chermayeff,_Jack_Masey,_and_Buckminster_Fuller.png" caption="U.S. pavilion at Expo 67]], pictured with [[United States Information Agency]] design director Jack Masey (center) and architect [[Buckminster Fuller]] (right)" alt="Color photo of Ivan Chermayeff, Jack Masey, and Buckminster Fuller"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Oceanário_pixel_art_(10000684346).jpg" caption="language=en-US}}" alt="Photograph of an interior space with one wall covered by blue and white tiles, that looks like a pixelated image of various fish from afar"] ::

Chermayeff was a partner at Cambridge Seven Associates, an architectural studio he co-founded in 1962 with six others, including Chermayeff’s younger brother, architect Peter Chermayeff, Tom Geismar, Alden Christie, Louis Bakanowsky, Paul Dietrich, and Terry Rankine. Many of Chermayeff’s projects in exhibition and signage design, including the Kennedy Presidential Library, signage for the Boston public transit system, and Osaka Aquarium, were developed in collaboration with CambridgeSeven.

Career in illustration

Chermayeff was an accomplished artist and illustrator. Most of his illustrations were made using the collage technique, with occasional use of mixed media, sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, serigraphy, lithography, and finger painting. Additionally, Chermayeff designed tapestries and murals. He recalled making art, collages in particular, throughout his life, beginning in his teenage years.

He was particularly drawn to bricolage, utilizing pieces of scrap paper and garbage like candy bar wrappers or used envelopes to depict expressive, abstract faces. He reported to work on collages between phone calls or meetings, with many pieces taking only minutes to assemble. One of his favorite bricolage materials were abandoned work gloves he collected from the streets of New York City. Chermayeff’s collages were exhibited in over 40 solo exhibitions throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

He authored and illustrated multiple children’s books, including Sun Moon Star, a Nativity story, with text by Kurt Vonnegut, first published in 1980. Sun Moon Star was later translated into multiple languages, including Japanese. Many of Chermayeff’s other children’s books were created collaboratively with his children and wife Jane Clark Chermayeff.

After Chermayeff's death in 2017, a collection of 700 original artworks and illustrations was donated to SVA by his children, and now comprises the Ivan Chermayeff Collection at the Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives.

Style and method

The supermarket principle

Together with Tom Geismar, Chermayeff developed a layout design approach known as "the supermarket principle" that involves using a multiple repetition of similar objects to create an impactful visual. Notable examples of its use include the 1972 poster for the Aspen Design Conference and the 1974 poster promoting the Museum of Immigration at the Statue of Liberty.

The play principle

Chermayeff rejected rigidity and prescriptiveness of modernism such as its reliance on grids, in favor of "the play principle", a term he used to describe use of concepts in the design process and openness to being guided by the project's subject matter. Notable examples of his playful approach to design are the 1975 bus shelter posters for the Whitney and the Guggenheim museums' free admission program sponsored by Mobil Oil.

Views

Chermayeff argued that designing, unlike creating art, is a methodical, rational, idea-driven activity and a service aimed primarily at solving a client's business challenge: He dismissed approaches relying on following styles and trends in brand design, stating that to be successful any brand identity needs to be original:

Awards and honors

Chermayeff received numerous industry awards including AIGA’s Gold Medal (1979), the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame (1981), the Yale Arts Medal (1985), the Society of Illustrators gold medal, the Industrial Art Medal from the American Institute of Architects, the President's Fellow Award from the Rhode Island School of Design, the Gold Medal from the Philadelphia College of Art, and the Cooper Hewitt’s 2014 National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement. He held an honorary doctorate in fine arts from the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Chermayeff was a longtime trustee of Museum of Modern Art in New York, a 1963–1966 president of AIGA, and 1988–1996 board director at the Smithsonian Institution. In 1972, he co-chaired the First Federal Design Assembly as part of President Nixon's Federal Design Improvement Program funded by National Endowment for the Arts.

A faculty member at School of Visual Arts in New York, he also taught design at Brooklyn College, Cooper Union, and the Parsons School of Design.

Influence and legacy

Chermayeff is considered to be the author of some of the most recognized logotypes in the history of design, and one of designers who shaped the profession of commercial graphic design. He was one of the first design practitioners to refer to design as problem-solving.

Personal life

Chermayeff lived on Upper East Side in Manhattan, New York City. Throughout his lifetime, he also owned residences in Girona, Spain, Litchfield, Connecticut, and Garrison, New York.

Chermayeff's final public appearance was at the AIGA Design conference in Minneapolis in October 2017. He died on December 3, 2017, at the age of 85, in New York City.

He was married to Sara Anne Duffy Chermayeff (née Sara Anne Duffy), the daughter of Edmund Duffy, from 1955 until 1977, and to exhibit curator Jane Clark Chermayeff (née Jane Clark) from 1978 until her death in 2014. He had four children: Sam Chermayeff, an architect based in Berlin, Maro Chermayeff, producer, filmmaker, and founder of MFA Social Documentary Film at School of Visual Arts, artist Sacha Chermayeff, and photo editor Catherine Chermayeff. His younger brother Peter Chermayeff is an architect known for aquarium designs.

Books

Books by

  • Ivan Chermayeff. Observations on American Architecture (New York: Viking, 1972, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff, Richard Saul Wurman, Ralph Caplan, Peter Bradford, Jane Clark. The Design necessity: a casebook of federally initiated projects in visual communications, interiors and industrial design, architecture, landscaped environment (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1973, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff. Collages (New York: Abrams, 1991, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff, Fred Wasserman, Mary J. Shapiro. Ellis Island: An Illustrated History of the Immigrant Experience (New York: Macmillan Pub Co, 1991, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff, Tom Geismar, Sagi Haviv. TM: Trademarks Designed by Chermayeff & Geismar (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff. Suspects, Smokers, Soldiers, and Salesladies: Collages by Ivan Chermayeff (Baden, Switzerland: Lars Müller Publishers, 2001, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff, Tom Geismar and Steff Geissbuhler. Designing: (New York: Graphis, 2003, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar. Watching Words Move (New York: Chronicle Books, 2006, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff, Tom Geismar, Sagi Haviv. Identify: Basic Principles of Identity Design in the Iconic Trademarks of Chermayeff & Geismar (New York: HOW Books, 2011, )

Books about

  • Identity: Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv (New York: Standards Manual, 2018, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff: Mostly Early Covers (Somerville: Katherine Small Gallery, 2018)

Children’s books illustrated by

  • Sandol Stoddard Warburg. The Thinking Book (Boston: Atlantic-Little, Brown, 1960)
  • Ivan Chermayeff. 3 Blind Mice and Other Numbers (New York: Colorcraft, 1961)
  • Ogden Nash. The New Nutcracker Suite and Other Innocent Verses (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1962)
  • Kurt Vonnegut & Ivan Chermayeff. Sun Moon Star (New York: Harper & Row, 1980, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff, Jane Clark Chermayeff. First Words (New York: Abrams, 1990, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff, Jane Clark Chermayeff. First Shapes (New York: Abrams, 1991, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff. Fishy Facts (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1994, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff. Furry Facts (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1994, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff. Feathery Facts (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1995, )
  • Ivan Chermayeff. Scaly Facts (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1995, )
  • Eve Merriam. The Hole Story (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995, )

References

References

  1. 032c. (2017-12-05). "The CHERMAYEFF Century {{!}} 032c".
  2. "Bentley Wood, East Hoathly with Halland - 1468363 {{!}} Historic England".
  3. "Bentley Wood listing – The Twentieth Century Society".
  4. Lupton, Ellen. "Designer of the Smithsonian Sunburst Logo Dies".
  5. "Designculture • Ivan Chermayeff".
  6. Fox, Margalit. (2017-12-04). "Ivan Chermayeff, 85, Eminent Designer of Familiar Logos, Dies". The New York Times.
  7. "Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv".
  8. "Ivan Chermayeff and Thomas H. Geismar {{!}} Cary Graphic Arts Collection {{!}} RIT".
  9. "Ivan Chermayeff {{!}} Smithsonian American Art Museum".
  10. Heller, Steven. (2017). "The moderns: midcentury American graphic design". Abrams.
  11. "Chermayeff & Geismar".
  12. TypeRoom. "Visionary, modernist, legend: Ivan Chermayeff in his own words - TypeRoom".
  13. (2018-02-13). "Making a Mark: Visual Identity with Tom Geismar".
  14. Baird, Richard. "Growth from a central foundation".
  15. "Eye Magazine {{!}} Feature {{!}} Symbols and survival".
  16. "PBS Logo – Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) – 512 creative professionals from 46 countries".
  17. (2020-11-13). "Archives of Ivan Chermayeff, the designer behind Smithsonian sun and MoMA logo, donated to New York's School of Visual Arts".
  18. "{{!}} BeautyMatter".
  19. Pullman, Chris. (2008-11-23). "What I've Learned".
  20. (2018-07-06). "No. 201: Candy and Paper, Together At Last; Early Book Covers by Ivan Chermayeff; a Bold Nike Campaign + More". Eye on Design.
  21. Dunne, Carey. (2014-07-25). "7 Questions For Logo Design Legend Ivan Chermayeff".
  22. (2017-12-04). "Legendary Logo Designer Ivan Chermayeff Dies". Fast Company.
  23. "A Look Back - NYU Stern".
  24. AIGA. (2018-07-02). "An Intro to Ivan Chermayeff's Early Work".
  25. AIGA. (2015-04-23). "Interview: Ivan Chermayeff".
  26. (2017-12-08). "Goodbye Ivan".
  27. "Ivan Chermayeff, Thomas Geismar. Pan Am Bali. 1972 {{!}} MoMA".
  28. "Ivan Chermayeff {{!}} MoMA".
  29. (2008-12-07). "Q& A: Ivan Chermayeff, Designer of the Kennedy Center Honors Medal". [[The Washington Post]].
  30. Kingsberry, Janay. (2025-08-15). "Kennedy Center drops family that made Honors medallions for 47 years". [[The Washington Post]].
  31. Hildreth, Randi. (2025-12-08). "Kennedy Center medal redesign sparks emotional response from Baturin family after 47 years".
  32. "Ivan Chermayeff".
  33. Quito, Anne. (2020-12-01). "The Archives of This Graphic Design Star Have Found a New Home".
  34. Artsy. (2016-03-18). "Lively Collages and Sculptures from Ivan Chermayeff, Co-Designer of Logos for NBC, PBS, MoMA".
  35. "Ivan Chermayeff Collection {{!}} SVA Archives".
  36. Beach, Charlotte. (2024-09-24). "SVA's Latest Exhibition Showcases Ivan Chermayeff's Personal Art Practice".
  37. Belcove, Julie L.. (2016-03-14). "Ivan Chermayeff the Incredible". 1stDibs Introspective.
  38. Wainwright, Oliver. (2014-07-21). "Ivan Chermayeff: the logo genius". The Guardian.
  39. "SVA Archivist Beth Kleber on the Art and Design of Ivan Chermayeff {{!}} School of Visual Arts {{!}} SVA NYC".
  40. "Eye Magazine {{!}} Feature {{!}} Abandoned gloves".
  41. "CHERMAYEFF, IVAN".
  42. Heller, Steven. (2017-01-09). "Look Up Yonder".
  43. (2020-11-13). "Archives of Ivan Chermayeff, the designer behind Smithsonian sun and MoMA logo, donated to New York's School of Visual Arts".
  44. Ripert, Geoffrey. (2015-08-12). "Come, All Ye Weary {{!}} Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum".
  45. Heller, Steven. (2017-12-04). "Memory of an Eclectic Modernist: Ivan Chermayeff".
  46. Kenedi, Aaron. (2011-09-14). "Marks Men: An Interview With Ivan Chermayeff, Tom Geismar, and Sagi Haviv of Chermayeff & Geisma".
  47. (2017-12-04). "Prolific logo designer Ivan Chermayeff dies aged 85".
  48. Rooney, Alison. (2014-01-11). "Garrison Art Center Celebrates 50 Years".
  49. "Renowned graphic designer Ivan Chermayeff has died aged 85".
  50. (2017-12-04). "In memoriam: Ivan Chermayeff {{!}} Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum".
  51. Reif, Rita. "Fresh Look Is Due In Federal Design". The New York Times.
  52. Budds, Diana. (2017-03-06). "Nixon, NASA, And How The Federal Government Got Design". Fast Company.
  53. Menking, William. (2017-12-03). "Graphic designer Ivan Chermayeff passes away at 85".
  54. Powers, Alan. (2017-12-28). "Ivan Chermayeff obituary". The Guardian.
  55. Plitt, Amy. (2019-08-12). "A design legend's Upper East Side penthouse wants $2.6M".
  56. Robbie. (2021-04-26). "Casa Chermayeff — Stories Apartamento Magazine".
  57. "Ivan Chermayeff - ADC Hall of Fame".
  58. "SO – IL {{!}} Chermayeff House".
  59. Quito, Anne. (2017-12-04). "Ivan Chermayeff, the graphic designer who defined the look of corporate America, has died".
  60. "Paid Notice: Deaths CHERMAYEFF, SARA ANNE DUFFY".
  61. "Paid Notice: Deaths CHERMAYEFF, JANE CLARK".
  62. "Get To Know: Maro Chermayeff, Chair, MFA Social Documentary Film {{!}} School of Visual Arts {{!}} SVA NYC".
  63. (1973). "The Design necessity; : a casebook of federally initiated projects in visual communications, interiors and industrial design, architecture, landscaped environment". Cambridge, Mass., : MIT Press.
  64. Heller, Steven. (2018-06-15). "Weekend Heller: Chermayeff's Early Book Covers".
  65. Buell, Ellen Lewis. (1960-09-18). "Things to Dream of; THE THINKING BOOK. By Sandol Stoddard Warburg. Designed and illustrated by Ivan Chermayeff. Unpaged. Boston: Atlantic-Little, Brown. $3. For Ages 5 to 8.". The New York Times.
  66. Inglis, Theo. (2019). "Mid-century modern graphic design". Batsford.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

american-graphic-designersamerican-poster-artists20th-century-american-lithographersamerican-collage-artistsamerican-children's-book-illustratorslogo-designersaiga-medalists1932-births2017-deaths20th-century-american-illustratorsyale-school-of-art-alumnischool-of-visual-arts-faculty