Tom Geismar
- Graphic Design
Contents 6 sections +
Contents
Overview
Tom Geismar and Ivan Chermayeff, both Yale graduates, founded an American graphic design firm in 1957. Robert Brownjohn joined that year, and the firm operated as Brownjohn Chermayeff & Geismar until his departure in 1960. A Dialnet account places the firm’s establishment in New York and describes it as a reference point in identity design. The agency is now known as Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv; Logo Geek identifies Geismar as a founding partner and reports that he worked on logos for Mobil Oil, Xerox, and Chase Bank.1,2,3
At a glanceSourced facts
At a glance
Design practice
Geismar said the firm conducts interviews and audits and studies competitors, clients, and their culture before beginning design work.3 He considered presenting proposed logos to clients an important part of the design process.3 Geismar said that for more than 30 years the firm charged a consultancy fee as well as for time spent on hundreds of projects.3
He described work for universities as especially difficult because faculty, alumni, and students had strong investments in them.3 Geismar recalled using a photostat machine to enlarge designs, giving 400 percent as an approximate example rather than a precise setting.3
Watching Words Move
According to a 2006 paper in Chronicle Books, Geismar and Chermayeff produced the typography booklet Watching Words Move in 1959.4 A CiNii catalog note describes the booklet as a gift book for designers and design students, while a reviewer says later essays add value for readers familiar with the original.4
Sources
- 1Chermayeff & GeismarThe Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Design (2016) · Research · Tier A
- 2Chermayeff & Geismar: a la caza de lo apropiado, lo simple, lo memorableVisual: magazine de diseño, creatividad gráfica y comunicación (2021) · Research · Tier C
- 3Interview with Design Legend Tom Geismar | Logo GeekLogo Geek · Other · Tier C
- 4Watching words moveChronicle Books (2006) · Research · Tier C
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Image plates
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Lifeline
1957–2026 · scroll to travel1957
1959
1968
Xerox logo used from 1968-2008.Wikimedia Commons ↗
Xerox logo used from 1968-2008.The original uploader was Tvwade at English Wikipedia. · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons 2026
The logo of United States Semiquincentennial – 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026, created in…Wikimedia Commons ↗
The logo of United States Semiquincentennial – 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026, created in partnership with Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv.United States Semiquincentennial Commission and Chermayeff… · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
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4 dated events from this entry and its sources · Elapsed: years since 1957, the first dated event
