Simon Abranowicz

About

Art Director with infinite energy and a superabundance of ideas. Living in the Catskills. Clients include Nike, Equinox, GQ, Converse, 300 Entertainment, Mind of A Genius, Ne.Sense, VFiles, Slam Jam, and The New York Times.

Currently working at GQ & GQ Style (Art Director), ABBR. Projects (Founder, Art Director), Simon Type (Founder), and Sounds (Designer).

Special thank you to Jen Yuan for developing this website.

simon@abranowicz.com simontype.com abbrprojects.com instagram are.na

Art Direction

Sounds

Sounds is an ever-evolving concept and space based in Park Slope, Brooklyn. In 2019, I was enlisted to define its new brand strategy, design its new brand identity (including photography, typography, iconography, video, and animation), and develop its new e-commerce platform.

Since launching the new brand, I have been asked me to stay on the team as their in-house designer, responsible for both maintaining the brand
and applying it to their growing suite of in-house products.

Collaborators

Photography
① Matthew Martin
② Matteo Mobilio.
③ William Abranowicz

Le Club Mains

In 2017, I co-launched Le Club Mains, a jewelry company focused on hands. The Jewelry is designed in NY and made by a friend in Taiwan.

To launch the brand, I designed a custom typeface, an illustrative style meant to emulate hand carving, and art directed and styled a serious of product images. Over the past few years, I’ve gathered hundreds of
hand-centric photos for an the LCM instagram page.

Collaborators

Partner
① Jen Yuan

Manufactuer
① Kao Yumin

Photography
① William Abranowicz

Writing
① Zander Abranowicz

Kaytranada

In early 2020 I had the opportunity to art direct a shoot with Kaytranada for GQ. Photographer Matt Martin and I played with high contrast beams of light, perspective, and reflection to produce playful and surreal images.

Collaborators

Photography
① Matt Martin

Styling
① Taryn Benksy

Photo Assistant
① Emanual Rosario

Sneaker of the Week

Sneaker of the Week is an ongoing franchise of GQ.com’s favorite sneakers. The “SOTW” is a playground of creative opportunity. Collaborating with our in-house photographer, I art direct and style several still life photographs for each shoe, stylistically veering towards the surreal, often resulting in bright and playfully arresting visuals.

Collaborators

Styling
① Simon Abranowicz

Photography
① Matthew Martin
② Matteo Mobilio

Esquire The Code

Esquire’s front of book section dedicated to menswear. I was put in charge of directing the majority of the shoots for this section. This involved sketching, concepting, styling, art and photo direction as well as designing the pages.

Collaborators

Photography
① Jeffery Westbrook
② Allie Holloway

Slime Co

slime co was a streetwear brand I started while I was a student at Syracuse. It began as a simple exercise in creative freedom. A means to pursue uninhibited design, illustration and audacious photography.

Collaborators

Photography
① Eric T. White
② Gabby Jones
③ Amina Gingold

Design

Nike NYC

In the spring of 2020 I was commissioned by Nike NYC to design a series of shirts and hoodies exclusive to the Nike NYC stores. Titled the NYC Tourist collection, I was asked to capture the quintessential spirit of athletic life in the city. I was inspired by the fast paced, cut throat, busy bee quality of urban life. More merchandise will be released soon on nike.com.

Collaborators

Copywriting Assistance:
① Zander Abranowicz
② Meghan Reilly

Photography C/O Nike

Sounds X Moodflower Teas

Moodflower is an experimental designer of herbal teas and potions, with the goal of creating recipes that encourage self-care. I was tasked with designing the tea labels in two forms, a 16oz jar and a 2oz bag, for FDA approval. Instead of designing a typical logo, I created a grid and illustration system that changes for each product. Infographics on the sides of each label describe the ingredients and formulation of the tea. Poetic descriptions of the tea, along with quotes pulled from historical figures who personify the various formulations elevate the teas to the level of a luxury product.

Moodflower is now sold around the country in Austin Motel, Nordstrom, Superior Merchandise Co, Humboldt House, Gifted, and Covet & Lou.

Collaborators

Writing
① Zander Abranowicz

Production
① Taylor Renn

Partner
① Sounds

Mindchatter

Creative direction, illustration, and design for New York based singer, DJ, and producer, Mindchatter. This is an ongoing collaboration with the artist to create all of his visuals, from album art to videos and stage graphics.

Collaborators

4D Animation
① Zoe Ambinder

Submit Music

Cover artwork for New York based lo-fi label Submit Music. Submit Music grants me carte blanche when designing their cover artwork. Using a blend of original illustrations and open source imagery I’m able to infinitely experiment and compose visuals as I see fit.

Collaborators

Liaison
① Lorenzo Cook

Sounds

Sounds is an ever-evolving design studio focused on the creation of thoughtfully produced and meticulously crafted goods for life, work, and home. In 2019, I was enlisted to define its new brand strategy, design its new brand identity and develop its new e-commerce platform.

Since launching the new brand, I have been asked to stay on the team as their in-house designer, responsible for maintaining the brand and applying it to their growing suite of in-house products.

Collaborators

Creative Direction
① Ester Kislin

Production
① Taylor Renn

Photography
① Nicky Marino

Writing
① Zander Abranowicz

Website
① Aaron Cohen (Dev)
② Abbr. Projects (Des)

Pitchfork

The GQ team was asked to perform a visuals audit and overhaul for Pitchfork.com. Our goal was to create imagery that was tactile, heavily involved, and wholly unfamiliar. Using clashing, vibrant colors, gritty textures, and mixed medias, we produced layered, complex, and kinetic compositions.

Collaborators

Creative Direction
① Rob Vargas

Design Direction
① Keir Novesky

Designer
① Drew Litowitz

Jossy's Giants FC

Jossy’s Giants is a NYC soccer club with heritage exuding poetry on and off the pitch, for over 15 years. Over the course of the last 4 years, I’ve been designing the look of the club. The club’s slogan, “Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Giant” informs much of the design, which feeds off energy from the pitch, located on Grand St, smack in the middle of a chaotic section of Chinatown and the LES.

Various Logos

A selection of logos for various clients, teams, organizations, events, people, and businesses.

In second grade, when my parents got me a soccer ball that came with a kit to decorate the ball, I drew tons of made-up logos all over it. I’ve been obsessed with logos ever since.

Playing Cards

During quarantine I’ve been playing a lot of cards with my family. I was inspired to design a deck of my own. I ordered a limited edition of 100 decks, designed using SA Mathis, a typeface I finished drawing during quarantine and a series of gradients inspired by the animations on the Simon Type website. The cards are 310GSM casino quality playing cards with a linen finish. Each box is cello wrapped for protection. Email me for whole sale options or to make a purchase. Designed in the Catskills, printed in the USA.

The Good Few

Art direction and branding for NYC rock band The Good Few. I developed a suite of logos, a bespoke set of typefaces, and a vibrant color palette to create album and single art, merchandise, and flyers that stand out fro the sea of competition. One of my favorite clients to work with and very fun to see perform live.

The Five Borough Banya Society

The FBSS is an organization of friends who gather for periodic visits to NYC’s finest bath houses. These baths, (or ‘banya’ in Russian) offer a meaningful respite from the rigors of modern life. Away from technology, obligation, and clothing, friends reconnect and sweat out life’s worries, without distraction.

Collaborators

Creative Direction
① Zander Abranowicz

Product Photography
① Jeffery Westbrook

Cardozo Art Law Society

Identity for the CALS at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo Law School. Art Law is the body of law including domestic and foreign law, and multilateral treaties and conventions, that regulates and is applied to artists, fine art, and cultural property. This definition informed my design ethos, using type and color that are run-of-the-mill. I wanted to create something own-able and recognizable derived from this palette of typically un-ownable parts, thereby playing into a theme of intellectual property meets the Gestalt principal.

Collaborators

Writing
① Meghan Reilly

By Pensa

Nikki Pensabene is a New York baker who has been featured in Martha Stewart Weddings, Harper’s Bazaar, and on the Food Network. With an eye for edible artwork and a devoted following, Nikki launched By Pensa in 2016, to the joy of many wedding and birthday partygoers.

Nikki hired me to create a brand for her, using graphic illustrations,
paired-back typography, and a memorable logo, that position Nikki as an artist first.

Partap Brothers

The Partap Brothers are proud ambassadors of the Sikh community. They have spent more than 3 decades in North America and abroad perfecting their talent. Their absolute dedication to classical Kirtan, or the musical recitation of sacred Sikh texts, is of great pride to Sikhs everywhere. Branding, writing, illustration, and design by Qual Agency.

Collaborators

Creative Direction
① Zander Abranowicz

Writing
① Zander Abranowicz

Alyx X Slam Jam

In 2016, Matthew Williams tasked Qual Agency with designing graphics for a fall 2017 Alyx line. Elia Fornari pitched the idea of reconstructing DEA patches to speak to Williams’ California upbringing. We were provided a word bank to inspire images and phrases.

Collaborators

Creative Direction
① Matthew Williams

Art Direction
① Elia Fornari

Design Assistance
① Allen Chiu

Writing
① Zander Abranowicz

GQ Merch

GQ launched a full blown merch shop in 2020 after a successful string of one-off t-shirts for cover launches and GQ parties. Here is a small selection of some of my favorite GQ grails.

Collaborators

Creative Direction
① Rob Vargas
② Will Welch

Design
① Keir Novesky

Furniture Archive

I was commissioned by designer and archivist Raf Porter to design a shirt for the launch of his Furniture Archive brand, titled the ‘Politecnico’ collection. The all-over print graphics reference the work of Gio Ponti, a multidisciplinary designer and alumni from the oldest design university in Italy, the Politecnico di Milano.

Collaborators

Creative Direction
① Raf Porter, Furniture Archive

Editorial

GQ Style

With the redesign of GQ Style, our goal was to make an overall more bold and engaging design. Utilizing thick strokes, a chunky sans serif, and large blocky body copy, the Fall 2018 issue of GQ Style (staring “Tyler the Creative Director”) is sleeker and more singular than ever.

Collaborators

Creative Director
① Rob Vargas

Design Director
① Keir Novesky
② Justing P. Long

GQ

Currently I’m the art director of GQ, which houses GQ Style, GQ.com, and in the past year Pitchfork.com as well. I’ve always wanted to be involved with GQ, as a fan of both style and paper that smells like cologne.

When I started, my team and I conducted a total redesign of the magazine, with a focus on labor-intensive typographic work, resulting in inimitable editorial design.

Since our redesign, both GQ and GQ Style have recieved SPD and ASME awards in various categories for design.

Collaborators

Creative Director
① Rob Vargas

Design Director
① Keir Novesky

Businessweek

After a summer internship at Bloomberg Businessweek, I was brought on as a freelance Art Director. It was one of the best places I could have ever imagined working and I learned a lot from the amazing team in my year there.

Collaborators

Creative Direction
① Rob Vargas

Esquire

Served as Deputy Art Director at Esquire under the Great Anton Iouknovets. Here are a few of my favorite pages I designed in my time there.

Collaborators

Creative Director
① Anton Ioukhnovets

Art Director
① Raul Aguila

Illustration

GQ.com

Image making, conceptual illustrations, collages, treatments, and photo manipulation for GQ.com.

Collaborators

Photo Research
① Matteo Mobilio.
② Daria DiLello

Commisions

A small selection of commissioned illustrations for various clients.

Allure Magazine

The New York Times

Personal

I started to like my drawings in the 10th grade. Here are a selection of my favorites since then. For more, follow my gram.

300 Entertainment

300 Entertainment is an independent American music label founded by Lyor Cohen. 300 was one of Qual’s earliest clients. Over the past few years, they’ve enlisted us to produce material for them, from single art and tour posters to snapchat filters and merchandise.

Collaborators

Creative Direction
① Mark Kallman

Design Assistance
① Allen Chiu

Ten To One Rum

Ten To One Rum was born from the need for an authentic Caribbean rum brand in the United States. Their brand ethos is finding “beauty in the blend” of island and urban living. I was commissioned by Studio Institute to create the look and feel of their Instagram presence. In collaboration with Institute, I Art Directed their “beauty in the blend” aesthetic, making playful collages and branded content, much of which is focused around the brands mascot, Isla the Ibis.

Collaborators

Creative Direction
① Studio Institute
② Kate Koeller

Typography

Simon Type

Simon Type is a personal project and outlet for production and distribution of fonts. I love the idea of owning the entire process of design, from the inception of the idea, down to execution of the idea. Working with typefaces that I create helps me control every aspect of the design process.

Collaborators

Web Design
① Abbr.Projects

Web Development
① Ross Vandenhoeck

Ne.Sense

Ne.Sense is a fashion retailer operating out of Taiwan. Ne.Sense hired Qualitype to design a custom typeface (we called it Ne.Sans) to be used across all expressions of the brand, from clothing labels, to event invitations, to physical spaces, to the Ne.Sense website.

Collaborators

Creative Direction
① Jen Yuan

Co-Type Design
① Allen Chiu

American Originals

Custom typeface for William Abranowicz’s (my dad) book American Originals. I tried to make something as expressive and imperfect and human as the spaces Bill was drawn to photograph.