Attended Harvard University and the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology in the early 1950s. He later graduated from the School of Art, Yale University. In 1957 he was a cofounder of the design firm Brownjohn, Chermayeff & Geismar that was reorganized in 1960 as Chermayeff & Geismar Associates which is noted for graphic and exhibition design. Both Chermayeff and Thomas Geismar are partners in the office of Cambridge Seven Associates, an architectural and multi-disciplinary design firm in Cambridge, MA. Since 1967 Chermayeff has served on the Board of Directors for the International Design Conference, Aspen, CO and is on the Board of Directors of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/people/18042085/ |title=Ivan Chermayeff |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>