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ESPN Uni Watch Ranks the Best Dressed Cities


TheLAKnight

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my professional design opinion is he has poor taste and his work is lazy.

You like what you like because you like it.

we'll have to agree to disagree as usual, but no. my overarching point was, my taste in design (and i'm sure many others') is not driven by purely aesthetics or personal emotional attachment. my taste in movies or music, yeah probably driven more by aesthetic.

 

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I disagree with the idea that design can be boiled down to a specific set of rules, empirical and objective in nature. Specifically:

therefore, hopefully, giving an insight as to why a design is good, why it works, or why is does not. that takes subjectivity out of it; design is never about "what looks good". design is the science and strategy of art. that is the foundation on which designers (any you can name that frequent here) build and evolve their own taste; design to us is not just about what looks pretty. good designers don't dislike something just because of the way it looks, there is reason to the "Designer lingo"

There might be rules that help guide things, but sometimes the examples that break those rules become the next big thing and part of the new set of rules. Sometimes things work because they break rules. There might be rules and strategy, but at the end, it is subjective. Nothing is 100% beloved or 100% hated, you might make the best design that follows every rule and does everything right...and your client might hate it. there's always subjectiveness involved, opinion matters at some point, at some eventual juncture, and that cannot be forgotten.

I'll respect any opinion that you can defend.

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The thing is that Lukas holds a position of knowledge and authority in this community. Outsiders will take his opinion as fact and run with it, which is how I can see people getting upset about this "article". He shouldn't be writing articles about opinion, he should be writing them for the majority. If I were in his position, I wouldn't be writing about what I personally think, I'd be writing what the majority thinks. I find the Blackhawks jerseys the most overrated in the sport, but I'm not gonna rate them what I think they'd be, I'd rate them what others would expect, that's the whole point of having these kinds of articles. What's the point of making an article about the best dressed cities then have all the ratings completely subjective of one person's opinions? Yes, art is subjective, but his opinions are pretty :censored:ty. With opinions like he has, it surprises me how he even carries the job he has. But I think we're forgetting that we don't even know what his motives are. Maybe he wrote this to strike controversy and to get it around the community since more views = more revenue. I personally really don't care for these kinds of articles, since I know I'm not gonna agree with everything 100%, but the fact is he needs to show more leniency.

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That is true. Outsiders will take his opinion as fact. That would be the case, regardless of who was in his position. In the end? It just comes down to some people liking whoever the guy in that position happens to be less than some other people.

I think a big part of the problem is the lack of explanation. It's bad enough that he rated the Patriots' uniforms higher then the Blackhawks' uniforms. He doesn't even explain why!

That's probably not his call though. He probably has a word count to work with. Not every city will get a team-by-team breakdown. Now maybe that means he never should have written the article at all. Except that may not have been his call either.

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True, but I feel that if he just stated that the article is based solely on his opinion, there wouldn't be such an uproar. His description for the article just makes this situation worse. The fact that he basically said that he did research on the matter kind of defeats the whole subjective opinion side of this.

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For what it's worth, Lukas responded to a few of the more common complaints in a uni-watch post:

http://www.uni-watch.com/2015/08/20/cubs-tigers-throwback-to-1945/

“You rated the Patriots too high.”First, there was a glitch yesterday that affected the Power Rankings page. For the first few hours that the piece was up, the scores for the Boston teams were wrong — they were all listed as 8. The proper scores, which we eventually inserted once we discovered the error, are Red Sox (8), Patriots (7.5), Celtics (8.5), and Bruins (9.5). Most of the objections to the Pats’ score came in while it was mistakenly listed as 8, which I agree is too high. But I think 7.5 is just right. It’s true that the Pats would look better without the side panels. Aside from that, though, I think they’re a good-looking team (especially on the road, where the have striped socks). Is their current design as good as the Pat Patriot-era design? No, but it’s still a solid design, at least to me.

“You rated the Blackhawks too low [7 out of 10].” As I’ve explained many times over the years, I’m not a fan of the Blackhawks’ red uniform, which I think is too loud.

“You should have included MLS kits.” As I explained in yesterday’s post, I didn’t include MLS kits because they change too often, most of them feature big ads that keep me from taking them seriously, and I’m ill-equipped to assess soccer kits anyway.

“You should have deducted points for the Oakland Coliseum.” Actually, I considered adding a point for the Raiders playing on a baseball infield for the early part of the season — I love that look. In the end, though, I decided it was too minor an issue for something that only affects one or two home games.

“You’re nuts! Everyone knows [whatever].” Lots of people took me to task for going against popular opinion. As I tried to explain to such people, it’s not a critic’s job to worry about what is or isn’t popular. As some of you may recall, we explored that topic in greater detail about a year and a half ago.

All in all, a fun project. Thanks to all who took the time to check it out.

Not the best or most in-depth explanation, but at least there's a thought process to it. That last link about the roles of critics isn't bad either, but I'm a bit biased, I've been reading uni-watch for years and as a Pittsburgher, I'm happy with #2 (especially with the Pens home and away bringing us down)

I'll respect any opinion that you can defend.

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Yes, design is subjective. But that doesn't mean that my assessment of Lukas as a columnist should be thrown out the window because of that. I don't dislike him because I disagree with him; I dislike him because he's bad at critiquing design.

Take someone like Armin Vit, who reviews branding projects over at Brand New. I don't always agree with his assessments, but everything he writes is thoughtful and well-versed. He looks at every design in an objective manner and outlines his justifications well. Lukas does the opposite of that.

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For what it's worth, Lukas responded to a few of the more common complaints in a uni-watch post:

http://www.uni-watch.com/2015/08/20/cubs-tigers-throwback-to-1945/

“You rated the Patriots too high.”First, there was a glitch yesterday that affected the Power Rankings page. For the first few hours that the piece was up, the scores for the Boston teams were wrong — they were all listed as 8. The proper scores, which we eventually inserted once we discovered the error, are Red Sox (8), Patriots (7.5), Celtics (8.5), and Bruins (9.5). Most of the objections to the Pats’ score came in while it was mistakenly listed as 8, which I agree is too high. But I think 7.5 is just right. It’s true that the Pats would look better without the side panels. Aside from that, though, I think they’re a good-looking team (especially on the road, where the have striped socks). Is their current design as good as the Pat Patriot-era design? No, but it’s still a solid design, at least to me.

“You rated the Blackhawks too low [7 out of 10].” As I’ve explained many times over the years, I’m not a fan of the Blackhawks’ red uniform, which I think is too loud.

“You should have included MLS kits.” As I explained in yesterday’s post, I didn’t include MLS kits because they change too often, most of them feature big ads that keep me from taking them seriously, and I’m ill-equipped to assess soccer kits anyway.

“You should have deducted points for the Oakland Coliseum.” Actually, I considered adding a point for the Raiders playing on a baseball infield for the early part of the season — I love that look. In the end, though, I decided it was too minor an issue for something that only affects one or two home games.

“You’re nuts! Everyone knows [whatever].” Lots of people took me to task for going against popular opinion. As I tried to explain to such people, it’s not a critic’s job to worry about what is or isn’t popular. As some of you may recall, we explored that topic in greater detail about a year and a half ago.

All in all, a fun project. Thanks to all who took the time to check it out.

Not the best or most in-depth explanation, but at least there's a thought process to it. That last link about the roles of critics isn't bad either, but I'm a bit biased, I've been reading uni-watch for years and as a Pittsburgher, I'm happy with #2 (especially with the Pens home and away bringing us down)

Wow 8 to a 7.5, that made 0 difference. He still never gave an explanation.

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I think there's a difference between having an opinion, which we all do, and then adequately defending said opinion, which PL usually leaves something to be desired for me.

He's done a lot for this niche interest and he's good when all he has to do is collect and report uniform news, but the articles when he has to back up his statements with reasoning are usually a swing and a miss for me. I don't even disagree with a lot of his opinions I just wish he was better at explaining his reasoning.

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The only thing more interesting than Paul Lukas' articles? Watching people lose their minds over his articles.

wait. . . his articles are interesting?

He's a tired hack, a respected designer like Todd Radom should be in his position. Not sure why someone who has zero design sense and talent is the 'authority' but I'm personally totally bored with his semantic musings on how everything new sucks. He talks in way too many extremes, which is hardly the mark of a creative person.

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Wow. Mets a 6? Nyc behind Pittsburgh? Paul Lucas go home, you're drunk.

Mets a 6? From Lucas? I thought he still had his boner ever since they dropped the black...

I haven't read it, but I'm presuming that the awful camo alternates bring down the average.

That is the reasoning, but the camo shouldn't bring the Mets down to a 6.

He also said the NYR jerseys are "elite", yet they got an 8.5...which isn't an elite grade.

One thing is for sure...Paul Lukas still has trouble quantifying his tastes consistently. Part of the problem is he grades down - excellent uniforms aren't as high as they could be, and bad uniforms are exceptionally terrible on his scale.

And his intangibles are incredibly lame...but it's his column...

Smart is believing half of what you hear. Genius is knowing which half.

 

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The khaki masquerading as gold and the tired Reebok Edge template pull the Pens down. I wouldn't object to Pittsburgh in the number one spot if the Pens wore their throwback alternates as their primaries.

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The khaki masquerading as gold and the tired Reebok Edge template pull the Pens down. I wouldn't object to Pittsburgh in the number one spot if the Pens wore their throwback alternates as their primaries.

Hell, I wouldn't even mind them bringing back the pre-Edge jerseys. To me those were one of their best looks.

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Yes, design is subjective. But that doesn't mean that my assessment of Lukas as a columnist should be thrown out the window because of that. I don't dislike him because I disagree with him; I dislike him because he's bad at critiquing design.

Take someone like Armin Vit, who reviews branding projects over at Brand New. I don't always agree with his assessments, but everything he writes is thoughtful and well-versed. He looks at every design in an objective manner and outlines his justifications well. Lukas does the opposite of that.

This is much better explained than my more vitriolic and hyperbolic point. Paul, while I appreciate his contributions and exposure he has created, was kind of a right guy at the right place at the right time. I wish it was someone with actual design acumen would have been that guy, personally. But as a designer, that could certainly be me being slightly bourgeois.

Surely the finest food critic cannot make a perfect Beef Wellington, but what ultimately bothers me most, is that he seems to pipe his own editorial 'bits' as gospel at times. As ESPNs, thus, Most of American Sports Broadcasting's only voice, i'd prefer it to be a little less schticky and traditional.

To be fair, it's worlds better than the dude who runs UniSwag, who is a corporate shill (not that I wouldn't take that kind of access :) ) and thinks most of the drivel Adidas leaks from its bowels is "SICK!"

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