Ivan Chermayeff

Ivan Chermayeff (b. 1932) is an artist and designer who contributed to Sesame Street Magazine in the 1970s, including cover for the June 1973 edition. He didn't typically draw Muppet characters, but instead stylized pieces focusing on heavy paint streak and color. One of his pieces (a two-page spread of 13 eggs) was reprinted in The Sesame Street Library volume 13.‎

Chermayeff also designed a local New York landmark, a ten foot tall metal sculpture of a red number 9 located on West 57th Street. The number was featured in a Sesame Street film insert about finding 9s in New York. It has also appeared in the background of films (including Superman).

Chermayeff was a founding partner of the design firm Chermayeff & Geismar, begun in 1957 (and renamed Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv in 2013 to reflect a newer partner). They designed logos for major corporations, including the NBC peacock (simplified to six feathers from eight) and logos for Pan Am airlines and Chase Manhattan Bank.

As an illustrator, Chermayeff has worked on books ranging from an illustrated history of Ellis Island to Ogden Nash's The New Nutcracker Suite and Other Innocent Verses and Kurt Vonnegutt's Sun, Moon, Star. He authored Observations on American Architecture (1972) and various books or essays on design, as well as illustrating children's fact books about birds, mammals, fish, and reptiles. His personal collage work has been exhibited in museums.