Logo genius Ivan Chermayeff's secret joys

The graphic designer behind the some of the world's greatest logos on what defines the discipline.

At his Design Indaba Conference talk in 2008, graphic designer Ivan Chermayeff looked back at his 50-year career as a graphic designer to understand what defines the discipline. A prolific designer, illustrator and artist, he has been responsible for many iconic logos that have imprinted themselves in global visual culture, including Pan Am, Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Modern Art, National Geographic and Mobil. His ouevre includes collages that would have had Picasso green with envy.

Adept at looking at things from multiple perspectives, it is no surprise that he sees his work playing multiple roles: destroying myths, playing around, breaking rules and making order out of chaos. Chermayeff also reveals here that he has a secret obsession with collecting garbage from all over the world and then making collective visual experiments with it.

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