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Have the Boards Changed Your Views / Approach?


OnWis97

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This was inspired by an except of a post in another thread: There's no one that comes here that thought "Man, I thought Tampa had some nice unis but now that I've read 25 times that they look like the the Maple Leafs, I don't like them anymore."

This got me thinking about whether or not my 10-years (wow) perusing these boards has impacted my tastes or understanding. I am not a designer; just a guy that's into uniforms (more than logos) and got sick of the eye rolls from everyone when I talked about it. So I found a place with "like" people.

Similar to the above quote, the fact that most of you prefer red/black Devils to red/green does not dissuade my opinion that the latter is the best uniform in NHL history while the former is solid but non-remarkable. But I have been swayed on a few things (the most notable involving my own team)...

  • The Twins "TC" cap. I hated the underlined "M" and was very glad to see the "TC" back. But it was pointed out here that the red "C" does not have enough contrast from the blue background and gets sort of lost. I probably never noticed this because I am "too close" to it. So prior to my involvement here, I had that hat in the top 10. It's now in my bottom 10 and I really wish that when they cleaned up their uniforms for Target Field, they'd have made the letters both red and outlined it all in white. If I'd never have been on the boards, I'd probably still rate that cap much higher.

That's the only "specific" I can think of off hand. But my approach has changed in a couple of ways:

  • I think I've been swayed to an extent on loving brighter colors; there is a philosophy held by many here that the trend toward darkening has been bad...heck, I barely noticed sometimes how much darker, say, the Oilers 90s change was vs. the 80s. Or the current Sabres vs. the 80s. I actually like the 90s Oilers, but I also want to see some vibrancy back. In any case, definitely notice shades a great deal more now.
  • I certainly have a much better understanding of "why" things change; particularly the role of the manufacturers and the need for all new uniforms to have "proprietary" number fonts. Of course, that has just made me more cynical.
  • I have a much greater appreciation for the wide array of tastes. Had I never joined the boards, I would probably assume that everyone hates the new Bengals uniforms, or the fact that the Sabres wore black uniforms, or the Islanders' Fisherman logo...honestly, that's kinda stupid; these designs existed (and in some cases thrived) for a reason. This is probably the one area that's helped me most "in life"...I think I was honestly lacking the ability to see things from the eyes of others. Now when someone tells me why they like, say, the new Bucs uniforms, I can understand (without agreeing). Has it helped me enough to offset the wasted time? Probably not.

Still, most of my opinions (I hate Oregon not wearing school colors in big games), tastes (I hate gray facemasks and campy logos), and approaches (I still don't care about football sock color and rarely even notice) have not changed, but a bit of it has.

Just curious whether anyone else has changed in these ways because of the rest of us uni/logo nerds.

Disclaimer: If this comment is about an NBA uniform from 2017-2018 or later, do not constitute a lack of acknowledgement of the corporate logo to mean anything other than "the corporate logo is terrible and makes the uniform significantly worse."

 

BADGERS TWINS VIKINGS TIMBERWOLVES WILD

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When I first joined the forum I was all about modern football uniforms and I wanted teams like Cleveland, Alabama, Penn State, and Texas to update their uniforms to modern designs. I was in love with Oregon's diamond plated uniforms and thought they were the coolest thing ever. But now, my tastes have changed drastically as I prefer traditional uniforms with modern touches and I believe certain schools/teams should refrain from using modern updates. The Oklahoma Sooners and Florida State Seminoles are perfect examples of don't change a design because it is old because both of their new updated uniforms suck. Now we can only wonder how Nike is going to destroy the Cleveland Browns next year when all they ever needed was a white facemask and orange pants.

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First of all, good topic.

I started lurking on the boards when I was around 15 so I'm not sure if I had developed much of a viewpoint at that point. I liked sharp looking uniforms. I liked, at the time, uniforms that adopted the darker color trend and most of my concepts reflected that. That was around 2003 so teams had an alternate jersey at the most. I can remember thinking it was ridiculous how many different looks the Diamondbacks wore.

The boards definitely taught me to think critically about why I liked or disliked a certain uniform or logo and they taught me how to articulate those feelings. The boards taught me how to break down a uniform into individual decisions the designer(s) had made. I mentioned this as a guest on BASS, but the boards also taught me how to write.

Things that haven’t changed for me:

- I prefer traditional football uniforms.

- I like uniforms that take a small traditional element and tweak it in a modern way without going overboard.

- I'm a big fan of restraint and subtlety rather than a look that jams itself down your throat. Example: Vikings now vs the previous Vikings uniform. They're both presenting the same message, but one doesn't go overboard. Pun intended.

- I don’t like teams deviating from their established brand.

- I prefer teams stick to the established aesthetic of the league in which they play

- Striped socks on football uniforms are great

- I like when teams stick with looks for long periods of time and when they do change it’s to improve the uniform rather than just changing for the sake of changing

- I hate when teams like the Minnesota Wild have wildly different home and away uniforms

- I like consistency across the platform (if you have a stripe on your sleeves it should match the stripes on your pants).

- I don’t like mixing and matching uniform elements. Example: the Chiefs red pants were designed specifically for the white jersey and shouldn’t ever appear with the red jerseys.

Things that the boards have influenced:

- I’ve become more accepting of monochromatic football uniforms. I don’t love it and in many cases it looks terrible (such as when it’s used with brighter colors), but I think it looks good in some instances.

- Like the OP I’ve swung back to preferring bright colors. I like when teams wear colors that fans can get behind instead of uniforms designed specifically to look good when the jersey is worn with a pair of jeans. The Oilers are a good example. I liked their navy 90’s uniforms, but the royal blue and orange is so much more endearing. Nobody bleeds navy blue, copper, and red.

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Like everyone, I joined as a uniform/logo nerd, but in the time I've been here, I've learned so much more about the history of teams' designs and discovered lots of looks I never knew existed.

As far as specific cases of the boards changing my views, the Milwaukee Brewers come to mind. For my first year and a half or so, I was a staunch supporter of their current look and despised the 1990s "Germanic" set. However, several discussions led me to do a complete 180, as I now love their Germanic look and dislike their current one.

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i dont know if the boards have changed my views/opinions in general, but ive always appreciated the perspective from a non-designer fan base that actually cares about whether or not a team should wear white cleats or black. it's always interesting to read comments on a new release. you get the whole scope of opinions from "worst thing that has ever happened" to "this is amazing" and there are always some laughs to be had. (thats Navy's helmet).

i also like many, have learned a lot from others here though. Harrington is as sharp of a designer as you will ever find and always appreciated his thoughts and knowledge. ColorWerx's knowledge of anf devotion to color is always appreciated. ive seen logos and uniforms here that i never knew existed and that is always exciting. it still happens today, someone will post a picture of something about every month that ive never seen before. i've been able to gather a ton of what i know about the history of sports design from here.

slightly off topic, but one of my favorite things about the boards is to see some of the regular fan base folks go at it with people that design the stuff they love, or hate. theres lots of designers here you guys know, but there are quite a few who dont really make it known who they are and i know of a couple of "higher ups" around here. i love to see some kid say "a monkey could have designed these jerseys, they're garbage!" when quoting the guy who designed them, or saying "this font is terrible" to the cat that created it. always LOLz.

 

GRAPHIC ARTIST

BEHANCE  /  MEDIUM  /  DRIBBBLE

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I don't think my preferences have changed. I've come to be more informed about the history or the similarities of certain designs, but I don't think anything that I liked or didn't like previously has changed since joining this forum.

But It is healthy to see viewpoints that are different from mine. At least by this forum, my urge to think someone is foolish for liking something I view differently, is mostly gone.

Go A's!

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At least by this forum, my urge to think someone is foolish for liking something I view differently, is mostly gone.

yea same here. design is a lot like internet porn. no matter how F'd up, revolting, or disgusting something is, there's someone out there who is going to be into it. even the Buccaneers have sold jerseys this year.

 

GRAPHIC ARTIST

BEHANCE  /  MEDIUM  /  DRIBBBLE

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slightly off topic, but one of my favorite things about the boards is to see some of the regular fan base folks go at it with people that design the stuff they love, or hate. theres lots of designers here you guys know, but there are quite a few who dont really make it known who they are and i know of a couple of "higher ups" around here. i love to see some kid say "a monkey could have designed these jerseys, they're garbage!" when quoting the guy who designed them, or saying "this font is terrible" to the cat that created it. always LOLz.

Now that is funny.

I guess I've come around on some modern looks, but prefer that traditional teams remain as a balance.

MLB and college football are probably at opposite ends of that spectrum right now, and each could probably take a step toward the middle and be okay... as long as it is the right teams that take that step. :)

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This site has made me realize how bad some of the Edge jerseys truly were/are. I now realize that teams like Florida, Edmonton, Colorado, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Islanders, etc. completely dropped the ball on their 2007 redesigns. I was 11 when they came out so I was essentially like "Kewl new jerseys!!!!" without really comparing them to the looks that they replaced. Luckily, the NHL has mostly recovered from that disaster, though the AHL and juniors are still crippled as they were shoehorned the most into Reebok's fugly templates.

Also, I pay more attention to logo detail now, eg. fonts, outlines, and bevelling. Although that seems to be moreso of a curse because now I nitpick nearly everything. I also have an eye for use of colors, such as balance and colors bleeding into one another.

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I used to like (not love) newer uniforms with piping. Now they feel very dated and passé. Same with side panels on football jerseys. In 2003, I loved the Bengals uniforms. Now? That white side panel sticks out like a very infected, sore thumb.

From a design strategy standpoint, I prefer modernized throwbacks (think Buffalo Bills and Toronto Blue Jays). Looks that use the convenience of modernity to show respect to the aesthetics of a team's past.

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I don't think that my views have changed any by coming to this board, but I have learned a ton, and I'm constantly amazed at the plethora of resources we have here. I've always felt kind of weird by the attention to detail that I've always paid towards sports logos and uniforms, so it's nice to know that there are people out there just like me.

I have to admit that I'm really close to not caring anymore. The Oregons of the world and the new-uniforms-for-every-game culture in college football, along with the camo and pink ribbons that show up nearly every week have really made me stop and question why I waste so much time thinking about this stuff.

It's the people here who keep me coming back.

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I have not changed my views a whole lot but I have noticed more things I like or dislike now that I have seen them pointed out on the site.

I have learned a lot though about logo & uniform design which inspired me to create some designs myself and for that I am very grateful.

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