Major Project: Artist Research

 Ivan Chermayeff

Ivan Chermayeff was one of the best American graphic designers, the son of the Russian born, British architect Serge Chermayeff. He was born in London, 1932 and died 2nd of December, 2017. He was an admired graphic designer. He designed the most recognisable logos for the famous companies. He worked for 60 years and he never retired. Ones of the most known work of him is a mobil logo. 

Photograph: Alamy

Chermayeff was a talented illustrator artist as well as graphic designer. Many of the graphic works he created feature both abstract geometric shapes and symbolic images, showing the perfect blend of rational logic and imagination.

In 1950 Chermayeff graduated from the Andover Phillips Academy in Massachusetts. He studied at Harvard University until 1952 and at the Design Institute (New Bowhouse) by 1954. He graduated from Yale University as a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1955. In the same year, he moved to CBS as art director of album design after completing a short apprenticeship with American graphic design pioneer Alvin Lustig.

Chermayeff and his partners claim that their job is "problem-solving," which involves first figuring out what the problem really is. He co-founded a concern now known as Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv. The company is known for its sleek modernist design, using bold primary colors, and was one of the first companies to convey corporate image through abstraction, simplifying the cumbersome signage that dominated the business landscape in the first half of this century.

In an interview with him we can read that he wanted to be a graphic designer, because he just felt that. When he started to design know one knows what graphic design is. It was beginning of it. That is why he hat to develop it personally and learn on his mistakes.

Ones of his co-founders Tom Geismar said abut him: “Ivan was a brilliant designer and illustrator, with a vibrant personal style that reflected joy, intelligence and wit. He loved surprise, large-scale objects, and the colour red. For over 60 years, Ivan and I have enjoyed a partnership, to which we each brought complementary talents, in an alliance cemented by shared values and mutual respect. Ivan’s contribution to the field of design will remain unsurpassed.”