Book List of the Week

In the Realm of Ideas: The Book Lists of Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar

By Steve Kroeter March 1, 2011
Ivan Chermayeff
Ivan Chermayeff

Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar have been working together for more than 50 years to create visual identities and brand personalities for their clients. The portfolio of their work together—including their partner, Sagi Haviv, who joined the firm in 2003—encompasses many of the world’s most recognizable logos and trademarks, from the Chase octagon to the NBC peacock.

In one way, a trademark is about as different from a book as you can get. The concept of a book, after all, is a page-after-page sustained argument or story that has a beginning, middle, and an end. The concept of a trademark, on the other hand—if done well—is a single, definitive, iconic image.  But both depend on ideas.

Tom Geismar
Tom Geismar

Chermayeff and Geismar describe what they do as “idea-driven graphic design.” Books are above all about ideas. And ideas that “make one look or think again,” in the words of Ivan Chermayeff’s book list introduction, or are “eclectic,” as Tom Geismar’s book list introduction reads—characteristics that are central to their design work—are very much in evidence in the book selections submitted by these two designers and thinkers.

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