Brobel Design

A design studio in northern New Jersey, Brobel Design is led by Ed Gabel and Ian Brown, who have more than 50 years of combined graphic design experience. They have designed several TIME covers through the years and have produced TIME’s animated cover for the past seven years. Brobel Design invited Steve Warner to TIMEPieces.

 

Artist Statement

Title: The Building Blocks for our Future

In considering the phrase, “Building a Better Future,” the first word that jumped out at us was building. And what better captures the notion of building than Lego blocks? They’re simple, iconic, and timeless – not to mention just plain fun. They’re adored by generation after generation of children everywhere, and the future, of course, belongs to our children.

So a Lego-inspired theme became our starting point. Giving thought to what would make for a better future, we toyed (no pun intended!) with concepts like world peace and eradicating global hunger, but ultimately settled on the environment and taking care of Planet Earth. With that in mind, old technologies being replaced by cleaner, greener, and safer options seemed like a great approach. We’re happy with the result and are honored to be partnered with TIME for this project. (And we sure have a whole new appreciation for the folks behind the Lego movies!)

 

About the Artists

Brobel Design is a boutique design studio based in northern New Jersey. We are a full-service studio that brings projects to life with our design, interactive, and animation expertise. Partners Ian Brown and Ed Gabel have extensive backgrounds in journalism and storytelling. Before forming Brobel Design in 2014, they worked in the fields of design and illustration for national publications.

Ian Brown has over 20 years’ experience in the design and publishing industry. He has worked for various national publications, including Discover, Runner’s World, Men’s Fitness, Field & Stream, Men’s Health, and Scientific American. Over his career, he has accumulated extensive experience in all aspects of design, production, and animation.

Ed Gabel has more than 30 years’ experience in the publishing industry and specializes in 3-D graphics and animation. He began his career illustrating for newspapers, which led to a position with TIME. His artwork has appeared on the covers of TIME, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and ESPN The Magazine, among others.

 

@brobeldesign | @brobeldesign | www.brobeldesign.com

View on OpenSea here.

Contact us at letters@time.com.