Famous Graphic Designer – Sagi Haviv

‘The computer will not help you connect with your creative impulses. A pencil will.”

 

Sagi Haviv

is a partner and designer at Chermayeff & Geismar, and at 34 is the youngest partner in the firm’s history. Among his numerous projects for the company are the logo designs and identity systems for the Library of Congress, National Parks of New York Harbor, Radio Free Europe, Council on African American Affairs, and the fashion brand Armani Exchange.

Born in 1974 on Kibbutz Nachshonim in Israel, he grew up on the Kibbutz and later attended the Art high school Telma Yelin in Givataim. In 1996 he moved to New York and studied Graphic Design at the Cooper Union School of Art during which time he achieved many awards such as: 2002 – Dan Friedman Prize; 2003 – Art Directors Club, Scholarship prizes; 2003 Lubalin Fellowship, finally graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

After graduating in 2003 from the Cooper Union School of Art, Haviv joined the famous Chermayeff and Geismar graphic design company. Very soon he was to shine by producing a unique form of showcasing the company’s work by designing a ten minute animated film of all the trademarks used by the company for its various customers. This was the first animated sequence that had been designed and showed his unique view on design.

He won awards in Tokyo and New York after exhibiting his work in New York (2003); the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC (2004); Ginza Graphic Gallery in Tokyo (2005); Centro in Mexico City (2006) and the Pera Museum in Istanbul (2007). Sagi’s other motion graphic works includes the opening sequences for the Emmy Award winning PBS Documentary series ‘Carrier’ and ‘Circus’, as well as the animation for the closing performance at Alicia Key’s ‘Keep a Child Alive Benefit’.

In 2005 Chermayeff & Geismar recognised Sagi Haviv’s undoubted talent by promoting him to a partner in the company where he continues to develop institutional and corporate identities, print and motion graphics and art and architecture for many different clients in the United States and other countries such as in Japan, Korea, India, Taiwan, Mexico, Dubai, Turkey, and Russia.

An example of Sagi Haviv’s brilliance is in his commission for Conservation International, an organisation set up to protect nature and the people who depend on it around the world. A recent press release from the company stated that they were no longer content to merely save the environment, Conservation International has decided to redefine its identity and role as an organization from one that protects nature to one that protects the whole world “for the well-being of humanity at large.” Set to the task Haviv designed a blue circle to symbolize a blue planet, emphasized, supported, and sustained by a green line underneath. The mark can also be seen as a unique human form and, as a result, works both as a powerful brand signal for Conservation International and the group’s critical new mission.

“The new symbol for Conservation International is an instance in logo design where the power is truly embedded in the simplicity,” says Haviv. “Yet it is expressive enough to help the organization redefine itself, and therefore has the potential to become a true international icon. It was a perfect fit.” Simplicity is the key point in his work as could be seen by the work he did for Conservation International.

He teaches Visual Identity Design at the school of Visual Arts in New York. In 2011, he co-authored with his partners, Tom Geismar and Ivan Chermayeff the book ‘Identify’.

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