Uniform "Rules"

[WavePunter]

Ok, after much reading through threads, noting various opinions, sharing some of my own, digesting feedback, etc, I have decided to start a thread regarding our own personal "Rules" for determining what makes a uniform good..

Feel free to add just one, several important ones, or your entire personal uniform rulebook.. I'll begin with just a couple of my own to demonstrate the idea and format.

FOOTBALL:

*numbers should always be white on colored jerseys and colored on away jerseys with obvious exceptions as options (silver, gold) due to the amateurish look and difficulty deciphering digits of color-on-color numbers.

*pants striping and helmet striping with 3 equal or similarly sized stripes should always include the darker color as the two outside stripes and the lighter color as the single inside stripe. (Situations like the dolphins are ok because it's essentially a single dark stripe just with thin outlines.)

*uniform striping consistency should be adhered to as well as possible across all mediums, although slight variation is acceptable and encouraged when appropriate (ex. Old Browns unis had orange helmet with B/W/B striping, so the white pants should have had B/O/B striping (consistent with B/light color/B), but instead, the white pants were O/B/O, which was NOT consistent with anything, and therefore a violation of my rule

Feel free to share your own! I'm looking forward to reading them

[the_grateful_ted]

For the numbers, I always see secondary color for numbers on a primary color home jersey, and then primary color for numbers on a white away jersey. Also a bigger one I see for alot of sports is the nickname wordmark on home jerseys and city or location wordmark on away jerseys

[WavePunter]

For the numbers, I always see secondary color for numbers on a primary color home jersey, and then primary color for numbers on a white away jersey. Also a bigger one I see for alot of sports is the nickname wordmark on home jerseys and city or location wordmark on away jerseys

I definitely agree with the nickname/location for home/away.. I think that's most prominent in baseball, but I agree across the board, when the jersey features a wordmark, it should be nickname-home, location-away..

I do have to disagree with your number coloring for football, although it's much more common and acceptable in other sports.. Orange #'s on the Orioles black jerseys is great, purple numbers on the ravens black jerseys not so much.. But yeah, baseball, basketball, and hockey for sure

[2001mark]

Rule #1: stop making dumb uniforms.

[SSmith48]

Basketball:

• Sleeved jerseys are a big no-no.
• White (or yellow or grey on some occasions) at home, color on road.
• Same color shirt and short.

Football:

• No contrasting stitching. (ex: CLE Browns)
• No camo or any other pattern on the front at all.

Hockey:

• No white pants.

Baseball:

• White at home, grey on road.
• No colored pants.

Soccer:

• No complaints, really. Just gets on my nerves when teams unveil something with neon/highlighter colors, but that is not a complaint.

[BrandMooreArt]

Wave, you've developed principles for a personal style, which is fine since that seems to be the point here, but i find it more beneficial to have a system that would fairly critique various styles and leave room for unique ideas. Afterall, the point of critique is to recognize good design, even if we don't like it. i've tried to develop this system that incorporates the principles of design and removes my own personal taste from judgement. the best i've come up with is this:

Brandon Moore’s Football Uniform Grading Scale

A – Exceptional. Design that is unique to the team and/or perfectly captures their culture/brand. May be a traditional design, but no mistaking for competitors. Technical craftsmanship is without flaws. Consistency and unity among every element and across every jersey cut and helmet design.

B – Very Good. Design is appealing and appropriate. May be a template/colors that resembles competitor(s). Perhaps a slight miss on details and/or minor flaws in craftsmanship.

C – Passable. There are multiple issues that need to be addressed in the future, or have overlooked some details. Perhaps a bad branding move, but has a solid foundation with passable design decisions.

D –Poor. Poor design decisions, and/or poor craftsmanship in multiple areas. Will have to be redone, but there is something worth saving.

F – Fail. Poor design, and poor craftsmanship through out. No cohesiveness between multiple uniforms and/or pieces. Nothing worth using again.

when i mention craftsmanship and design decisions, i'm referring to design principles: unity, variety, space, repitition, hierarchy, etc. . . applied to all the elements: color, type, texture, shape, etc.

for an example in action, i would grade NFL teams Falcons, Bears, and maybe Raiders and Packers as an A (havent given much thought to those last 2). i would give an F to the Panthers and Buccaneers, and the Dolphins are pushing the D/F line

[WavePunter]

You hit the nail on the head when you said it was the point here.. I'm not trying to grade anything here, and your grading scale seems to be subjective enough that multiple people could come out with vastly differing grades for teams.. My point was to just try to narrow down how we look at uniforms, what we value as important or "a necessity" in uniform design, and honestly, to kinda force people to choose a side with certain things about which they feel strongly.. I've seen people commend one logo due to its rich detail and accurate depiction, then turn around and nitpick another logo for being too much of an illustration and not really a logo, when I may consider the two to be on par with one another (and I could come up with several other similar examples, you get the point).. But I always find it fun and helpful in situations where multiple people are analyzing and collaborating, to force people to evaluate and essentially "define" their own stance on a topic.. Often it leads to open-mindedness and enhanced discussion on the topic at hand.. Granted, this is a separate thread and unrelated to any specific topic, but that doesn't mean it won't be fun to see what sort of thought each of us puts into uniform critique, and gauge the various levels of importance each of us places on the different elements of a uniform.. Of course, my "Rules" are probably skewed slightly toward my personal preference, but I also leave plenty of room for custom and "proprietary" options within my Rules.. During the four years I spent broadcasting college and high school football games on the radio, I discovered that white numbers on colored jerseys (usually with secondary-color outline) are A: infinitely easier to see, and B: typically classier and nicer-looking if the uniform has ANY other white to offer some balance (and usually even if it doesn't).. It's just a very professional looking thing, and most teams don't consider the shade of their secondary color when making uniform decisions, so they end up putting red numbers on a blue jersey or orange numbers on a brown jersey, and it can't be read from any sort of distance.. And a number that can't be read looks like a blob, and no one designs uniforms with blobs on the chest.. The high school team I did the radio for wore navy jerseys with powder blue numbers, and you couldn't make them out at all from the box (and I have 20/20 vision), and of the weather was bad --- forget it..

As for my helmet and pant striping, that's pretty much just opinion, but again, aesthetic logic is involved.. For example, if the cowboys swapped their stripe colors, it would be W/B/W on a silverish helmet, so from any distance, the white stripes could get lost and blurred with the silvery color of the helmet, but instead, the light colors are separated by the darker stripes, and the white is set off nicely sandwiched between the blues. The Washington redskins and Carolina gamecocks both have it backwards on their helmets IMO, as did the browns recently and the dolphins in the 80's.. Sure, it's personal preference, but not based solely on what I think looks good.. But rather, it's based on logic that benefits the display and presentation of a teams colors, the visual limitations of the viewers, and a common appreciation of proper display..

A grading scale is certainly a nice idea though, but some objective qualities should also be considered. It would also be nice to incorporate a way to differentiate between teams who have a similar grade but Team 1 has a certain great unique element that brings a crappy C uniform up to a B, whole Team 2 has a single element bringing an A uniform down to a B.. Because a uniform that's a few tweaks away from bumping up a grade level is probably an overall better uniform than one that had kinda maxed itself out as good as it can at the same level as the other..

I do like the idea though, and the thought/precision that went into your grading scale is creative and rather genius!

[Red Wine Pirate]

[VikWings]

Hockey: jerseys should always have a horizontal/hem/waist stripe.

Football: Helmet should always match either the jersey or pants on both uniforms.

• EX1 : Color/Color/White, Color/White/Color *
• EX 2: W/C/W, W/W/C* (on road numbers should match pants.)
• EX 3: Color1/Color2/Color1, C1/W/C1 (New Browns would be an example of this with O/B/O and O/W/O)

*Exceptions being all white looks.

[nuordr]

Football Uniforms:

1. No gray facemasks where gray is not used throughout the whole uniform - Bad Example - Bad Example 2 - Good Example - Good Example
2. If the helmet has a stripe(s), then the pants should have a stripe(s). Bad Example - Bad Example 2 - Bad Example 3 - Good Example - Good Example 2 - Good Example 3
3. No solid white pants - Example 1 - Example 2 - Example 3
4. No plain colored pants in the NFL - Example 1 - Example 2 - Example 3
5. No Chrome on the Helmets, Facemasks or Logos
   1. If a chrome helmet is used, it should never be paired with a chrome logo (vice-versa): Bad Example - Good Example - Good Example 2
   2. If a chrome or metallic helmet is used, it should not be paired with a standard facemask unless it is black: Bad Example - Good Example
6. A helmet needs logos on both sides of the helmet, it should never have a logo on one side and a number on the other. The only exceptions to this rule is for traditional teams such as Penn State, Alabama, Army, Notre Dame, and so on.
7. If there are stripes on the jersey, they should be on other parts of the uniform as well. I like that stripes helps to break up a look and it is not just one solid color. This is where I believe Oregon screws up the most as their uniforms are solid blobs or color.

[Sterling84v2.0]

"WavePunter, the kind of control you're attempting is not possible. If there's one thing the history of uniform design has taught us, it's that patterns will not be contained. Color breaks free. It expands to new territories. It crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but - well, there it is."

[BadSeed84]

Well the golden rule of these boards is:

#1 Stripes, stripes and more stripes please.

[nuordr]

Well the golden rule of there boards is:

#1 Stripes, stripes and more stripes please.

I love some stripes!!!

[BrandMooreArt]

"WavePunter, the kind of control you're attempting is not possible. If there's one thing the history of uniform design has taught us, it's that patterns will not be contained. Color breaks free. It expands to new territories. It crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but - well, there it is."

the only one i have on my side is the blood sucking lawyer!

[WavePunter]

"WavePunter, the kind of control you're attempting is not possible. If there's one thing the history of uniform design has taught us, it's that patterns will not be contained. Color breaks free. It expands to new territories. It crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but - well, there it is."

I'm not attempting any kind of control.. I have no idea what you're talking about, and it seems like you might not either.. I know we all view uniform design elements differently when judging whether a uniform is "good" or not, and I just thought it would be fun to see what each person considers important in uniform design, that is all.. I have no desire to control anyone or anything on these boards. Just wanted everyone to share their opinion regarding uniform aesthetic "Rules of thumb"

[IceCap]

"WavePunter, the kind of control you're attempting is not possible. If there's one thing the history of uniform design has taught us, it's that patterns will not be contained. Color breaks free. It expands to new territories. It crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but - well, there it is."

I'm not attempting any kind of control.. I have no idea what you're talking about, and it seems like you might not either..

[lahaye7]

how about use your school colors or country's flag colors?

[Lights Out]

Also a bigger one I see for alot of sports is the nickname wordmark on home jerseys and city or location wordmark on away jerseys

This is a big one for me. I know it's silly, but it bothers the crap out of me when teams go with the same wordmark on the home and the road. Whether or not it's true, it gives the impression of laziness on the team and/or designers' part.

I also feel that the home and road wordmarks should match. I hate when baseball teams use a script at home and a block wordmark on the road.

Another rule I haven't seen mentioned is that monogram logos should always use the first initial(s) of the city name, not the team name.

[BrandMooreArt]

You hit the nail on the head when you said it was the point here.. I'm not trying to grade anything here, and your grading scale seems to be subjective enough that multiple people could come out with vastly differing grades for teams.. My point was to just try to narrow down how we look at uniforms, what we value as important or "a necessity" in uniform design, and honestly, to kinda force people to choose a side with certain things about which they feel strongly.. I've seen people commend one logo due to its rich detail and accurate depiction, then turn around and nitpick another logo for being too much of an illustration and not really a logo, when I may consider the two to be on par with one another (and I could come up with several other similar examples, you get the point).. But I always find it fun and helpful in situations where multiple people are analyzing and collaborating, to force people to evaluate and essentially "define" their own stance on a topic.. Often it leads to open-mindedness and enhanced discussion on the topic at hand.. Granted, this is a separate thread and unrelated to any specific topic, but that doesn't mean it won't be fun to see what sort of thought each of us puts into uniform critique, and gauge the various levels of importance each of us places on the different elements of a uniform.. Of course, my "Rules" are probably skewed slightly toward my personal preference, but I also leave plenty of room for custom and "proprietary" options within my Rules.. During the four years I spent broadcasting college and high school football games on the radio, I discovered that white numbers on colored jerseys (usually with secondary-color outline) are A: infinitely easier to see, and B: typically classier and nicer-looking if the uniform has ANY other white to offer some balance (and usually even if it doesn't).. It's just a very professional looking thing, and most teams don't consider the shade of their secondary color when making uniform decisions, so they end up putting red numbers on a blue jersey or orange numbers on a brown jersey, and it can't be read from any sort of distance.. And a number that can't be read looks like a blob, and no one designs uniforms with blobs on the chest.. The high school team I did the radio for wore navy jerseys with powder blue numbers, and you couldn't make them out at all from the box (and I have 20/20 vision), and of the weather was bad --- forget it..

As for my helmet and pant striping, that's pretty much just opinion, but again, aesthetic logic is involved.. For example, if the cowboys swapped their stripe colors, it would be W/B/W on a silverish helmet, so from any distance, the white stripes could get lost and blurred with the silvery color of the helmet, but instead, the light colors are separated by the darker stripes, and the white is set off nicely sandwiched between the blues. The Washington redskins and Carolina gamecocks both have it backwards on their helmets IMO, as did the browns recently and the dolphins in the 80's.. Sure, it's personal preference, but not based solely on what I think looks good.. But rather, it's based on logic that benefits the display and presentation of a teams colors, the visual limitations of the viewers, and a common appreciation of proper display..

A grading scale is certainly a nice idea though, but some objective qualities should also be considered. It would also be nice to incorporate a way to differentiate between teams who have a similar grade but Team 1 has a certain great unique element that brings a crappy C uniform up to a B, whole Team 2 has a single element bringing an A uniform down to a B.. Because a uniform that's a few tweaks away from bumping up a grade level is probably an overall better uniform than one that had kinda maxed itself out as good as it can at the same level as the other..

I do like the idea though, and the thought/precision that went into your grading scale is creative and rather genius!

i don't want to dimish the point of the thread at all and no one can say you're wrong in your taste and preferences. your point about white numbers stood out to me here though, because that is an area that alway requires a lot of thought when doing concepts of my own.

personally, i think color numbers on color jerseys is a great look, so in order to execute that with maximum readibility, you have to look not only at the contrast in value/color of the numbers but the number font itself. the craftsmaship and readability of numbers is something i would account for in my grading scale. often, a number font starts out bad and after a designer/team applies multiple strokes to it or drop shadows, or sublimated textures, if decreaces the readability of the number. you'll sometimes see 2's, 5's, 6's close up after all the decoration is applied and completley lose the form of the number. that is bad type design and bad application.

the school whose numbers were hard to read sound like they definitely could use more contrast given their colors, but what fonts were they using? was it a traditional block? was it a block that was stroked 2 or 3 times? drop shadow? there are variables here that i think we have to account for before righting off color-oncolor as bad design. of course everyone likes what they like and maybe the most readble number in color still isn't your thing, but as a designer i don't want to eliminate any options from a design before i even get started with it.

[ConcreteCharlie]

I think these are an exception to your white number rule. Beautiful to me.