Chermayeff & Geismar is a New York-based branding and graphic design firm. It was founded in 1957 by Yale graduates Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar. The firm is famous for designing logos for such companies as Pan Am, Mobil Oil, PBS, Chase Bank, Barneys New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Xerox, Smithsonian Institution, NBC, Cornell University, National Geographic, and many others. Ivan Chermayeff and Thomas Geismar were awarded the AIGA Medal in 1979.
In 2007, designer Sagi Haviv became the third partner at the firm. In 2008, Haviv, Chermayeff and Geismar released a new identity for the Library of Congress, and in 2009 redesigned the logo of the fashion brand Armani Exchange. In recent years, the firm created identities for the Kennedy Center Honors; Hearst Corporation, the Southern Poverty Law Center, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Conservation International, the Women's Tennis Association and other major institutions.
Chermayeff & Geismar is also known for the exhibits and environmental art installations it has designed, including the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, the Statue of Liberty Museum, two Worlds Fair pavilions (the U.S. pavilions of 1967 and 1970), and the red number 9 at 9 West 57th Street in New York City. In 2008, the new Star-Spangled Banner exhibit designed by the firm opened at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The firm also designs motion graphics such as the titles for the Emmy-Award winning PBS documentary series Carrier and in 2009, created a motion graphics display for Alicia Keys’ annual fundraiser for her Keep a Child Alive Foundation.