Ivan was born in 1932 in London. His father was a well known industrial designer and architect, his father was a Russian born British. In 1940, the whole family moved to United States, then his journey began. He managed to get into Harvard, Yale, then Institute design of Chicago and eventually graduated. Back at Yale, he met Tom Geismar- which eventually together established New York based branding and graphic design firm - Chermayeff&Geismar&Haviv.

He is one of the founder of Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv - a well known branding and graphic design firm, the most influential one, in a sense.It is said he is the most influential people in the graphic design industry, he has played significant role in establishing numerous firms' reputations.Such as NBC, Pan Am, Mobil Oil, Showtime, Chase Manhattan Bank, PBS, those firms are recognized worldwide.

Back to his early career, Ivan worked for Ivan Lustig and CBS.