Norman Ives was a member of the first graduate class in graphic design at Yale University under the direction of Josef Albers and was invited to join the faculty in 1952, his graduation year. Ives became a full professor in 1972. Letterforms were the constant imagery in both his personal and professional work. His individual graphic work encompassed logos, symbols and posters. In 1960, a partnership with his student colleague Sewell Sillman established the publishing company Ives-Sillman, Inc. The firm produced limited editions of screenprints and portfolios faithfully translating into ink on paper the detail and colours of works from numerous artists including Ad Reinhardt, Willem De Kooning, and Josef Albers. Many of his finest pieces were architectural commissions for murals and bas-reliefs in banks, schools, and theatres, constructed from letter fragments. Ives also published Eight Symbols, in which he dissected and choreographed the ground relationships of his trademarks/symbols.