Athletics
The Team
Athletics has 14 people. Of those, 3 are studio heads and 0 are managerial.
24% of studios are medium-sized (6-20 people).
Gender Breakdown
79% male
21% female
Average height
5’7”-5’9”
Shortest: 5’0”
Tallest: 6’0”
Average age
30-35
Youngest: 21
Oldest: 42
Number of freelancers/year
6-10
1-5 are long-term freelancers
Number of interns/year
1-2
Average: 1-2
Studio Disciplines
Breakdown of Work
Number of studio projects
26–50
Pro-bono projects
1–5
Strategy/Execution
39% Strategy
61% Execution
Primary Specialties
- Art Direction (58)
- Books (52)
- Brand Strategy (42)
- Branding & Identity (77)
- Broadcast Graphics (18)
- Editorial/Publication Design (51)
- Exhibition Design (33)
- Experience Design (33)
- Illustration (45)
- Information Graphics (41)
- Interaction Design (36)
- Mobile Design (30)
- Motion (29)
- Print (75)
- Sound Design (6)
- Web Design (59)
- Web Development (25)
Outside the scope of the studio
- Industrial Design (35)
Clients’ Industries
- Fashion (45)
- Finance & Investment (26)
- Healthcare (18)
- Media & Publishing (58)
- Music (28)
- Products (32)
- Restaurants & Food (29)
- Sports (22)
- Technology (37)
- The Arts/Cultural Institutions (71)
Sister Studio
Labour
Athletics’s Clients
- Advertising Age
- Bonobos
- Condé Nast (3)
- Creative Time (3)
- Forbes
- Google (14)
- Major League Soccer
- Merriam-Webster
- New York Post
- News Corporation
- Oak
- Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
- The New York Review of Books
- Thought Catalog
- Wolff Olins
James Ellis, Partner
Demographics
Age 30, Male, from Atlanta, GA, United States, now lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY. Formal education is high school dropout, primary design education is self-taught.
What’s been the biggest influence on your design career?
I realized design was a profession when I was twelve. A friend's mother showed me how Photoshop worked, and helped me bootleg a copy of Photoshop 3. After slogging through a Classroom in a Book, I talked my way into an internship at a local design studio the summer after 7th grade. There I was exposed to a design culture I didn't realize existed. I remember obsessing over mid-90s Emigre magazines with the same fervor as the Fugazi records I had in regular rotation. In design and music I found my place in the world. Dropping high school, moving to New York, forming Athletics — for me, everything traces back to the good fortune of an extraordinary summer job in Conyers, GA.
Years in Design Industry
15 years
Average: 17 years
Previous Design Employment
- Olive Media
Time spent designing
30% actual
80% desired
Jason Gnewikow, Partner
Demographics
Male, from Madison, WI, United States, now lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY. Formal education is some college/university, primary design education is self-taught.
What’s been the biggest influence on your design career?
I came to design through music. Being involved in the punk scene exposed me to the DIY culture of making your own zines and records and that allowed a lot of creative people to feel like they could participate in anything they set their mind to regardless of education. I started designing record sleeves for my own bands which led to designing for other bands as well and so it went. Around the same time I was getting into punk I also became obsessed with the Pet Shop Boys music and records. As with punk I was always turned on by anything different and those records, designed by Mark Farrow was so foreign, unique and different than anything I was seeing. That had a huge impact on me aesthetically and definitely shaped my design sensibility.
Years in Design Industry
15 years
Industry before design
Musician
Previous Design Employment
Time spent designing
30% actual
80% desired
Matt Owens, Partner
Demographics
Age 42, Male, from College Station, TX, United States, now lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. Formal education is graduate degree, primary design education is school (Cranbrook Academy of Art).
What’s been the biggest influence on your design career?
My biggest influence has been my twin brother Mark. Growing up skateboarding and listening to DC hardcore bands definitely gave me a degree of independence, drive and restlessness as well.
Years in Design Industry
18 years
Industry before design
I washed dishes, was in a band and worked at the college computer lab
Previous Design Employment
- volumeone
- one9ine (2)
- Methodfive
Time spent designing
40% actual
90% desired
Location
The Space
The studio is about 2500 square feet. It’s rented and they’ve been there for 9 months. They share a space with 1 other company/individual.
Approximately 179 square feet/person. The average is 210 square feet/person.
37% of studios share a space.
Number of times moved
3
Total people in space
14
Athletics: 14, Other: 0
Other businesses in the space
- Strategy/Consulting
- Video/motion/broadcast
- Writing, Copy Editing or Content Creation
Amenities
- Bike storage (26)
- Cleaning service (44)
- Coffee maker (53)
- Dishwasher (24)
- Free booze (28)
- Free drinks (27)
- Free snacks (27)
- Freezer (43)
- Garden (8)
- Library/book collection (67)
- Photo studio (8)
- Photo/video equipment (45)
- Pin-up board (43)
- Private bathrooms (34)
- Waiting area / reception (26)
- Whiteboard (23)
Number of conference rooms
2
Client meetings held in studio: Approximately half
Number of plants
1-5
Decorations
Books and bookshelves, Our friends' artwork, Our work, Process materials for ongoing projects, Whitespace
Desk Policy
To each their own: some keep their desks tidy, while others like it messier.
Space Satisfaction
We like it, but plan to make some changes to the space
Working Days
Working week
The work week is 50-59 hours/week, core hours are 8:30-7:30, with the first in at 8:30am and the last out at 7:30pm.
31% of studios work 50-59 hours/week.
The average is 40-49 hours/week.
Paid Vacation
11-15 days
41% of studios in this range
Paid Holidays
10 days
Average: 7
Work Weekends?
Once a month
Take Summer Fridays?
Every once in a while
Busiest Time of day?
It’s high intensity all day
Favorite Typefaces:
- Akkurat (8)
- Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk (5)
- Brown (4)
- Helvetica / Helvetica Neue (14)
- Replica Pro
- Theinhardt
Culture
Music
Plays music for 70% of the day at an average volume. Currently obsessed with Éthiopiques, David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, and most played over the last year is The new Rhye record, Woman.
Side Projects
We aim to do a different side project every year: exhibitions, small books, etc.
42% of studios have side projects.
Biking to work
3
127 bikers across all studios
Pick your poison
Beer
Overall Noise Level
Loud
4% of studios are loud
Studio pets
1 dog
32% have pets at the studio
Extra-curricular activities
Audio engineering, playing music, skateboarding, gardening, perfumery, robotics, running, fishing.
Work from home?
Once a month
Encourage freelance work?
Yes
Internal studio meetings
Once a week
Lunch Habits
Eats in small groups
Favorite delivery/take-out: Joe's Busy, Dumont Burger, Dépanneur
Eat out for lunch?
A couple times/month
Favorite sit-down lunch: Meatball Shop
Critiquing Process
Studio Outings
Dinner, Drinks after work, A retreat in upstate NY
Favorite Place(s): The Graham and Co., The Wythe Hotel