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Universal Maxims of Uniform Design


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Speaking of the Bears, here's another maxim:

 

Home and away uniforms must use the same template, however amazing things can (though by no means guaranteed) happen by bending or breaking this rule.

 

See:

 

Hockey: Blackhawks, Canadiens, and Rangers

 

Football: Bears, Giants, and Cowboys

 

Baseball: Cubs, Phillies, White Sox, Yankees, Red Sox

 

Basketball: Pistons and Sixers

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12 minutes ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

Speaking of the Bears, here's another maxim:

 

Home and away uniforms must use the same template, however amazing things can (though by no means guaranteed) happen by bending or breaking this rule.

 

See:

 

Hockey: Blackhawks, Canadiens, and Rangers

 

Football: Bears, Giants, and Cowboys

 

Baseball: Cubs, Phillies, White Sox, Yankees, Red Sox

 

Basketball: Pistons and Sixers

I feel like this should be a universal rule, but I can't really think of a very good reason why.. 

You never wear them at the same place anyway, so they really don't need to "match" much, although most teams just do.. Now I kinda wish more teams toyed around with one of their looks a bit more.. You mentioned some TERRIFIC examples there!

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5 minutes ago, WavePunter said:

I feel like this should be a universal rule, but I can't really think of a very good reason why.. 

You never wear them at the same place anyway, so they really don't need to "match" much, although most teams just do.. Now I kinda wish more teams toyed around with one of their looks a bit more.. You mentioned some TERRIFIC examples there!

 

I think because you generally want to maintain is steady visual identity and its not easy to go with two different home and away while still making them feel like its still the same team. 

 

Compare the Dallas Stars (doing it right) 

Stars14.png

 

with the Carolina Hurricanes (missing the mark)

Hurricanes11.png

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10 hours ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

Surprised that no one to my mind has brought up the possibility of making the Saint's helmet stripes solid black? 

 

Maybe not as wide as it is now but now quite as narrow as the Steelers/Giants/Raiders. 

 

Given that "helmet stripes ought to show some type of continuity with pants stripes" appears to be a near universal maxim altering the Saints helmet would be a pretty simple fix. 

 

I’d love to see the Saints in a solid colored helmet stripe.

 

6 hours ago, WavePunter said:

It's not weird at all.. I've always viewed it that way as well.. But if that exact same pattern were on the white jersey, how would we view it (same situation as the Steelers really)?.. 

One thing that I use to determine how I actually view it, is to imagine the easiest way to verbally describe it to a sales rep for a manufacturing company.. For the bears' home jerseys, I think "3 evenly-spaced orange stripes, each with thin white outlines" is probably the clearest way to describe it.. But for their away jerseys, I think "5 stripes of equal width, in a Navy/White/Orange/White/Navy pattern" would be the most efficient way to verbalize it..

Typically, if all the stripes are the same color, and they're only separated by the background color, it's easier to only count those colored stripes and ignore the background colored spaces.. When multiple colors are involved, that's when I start viewing everything as a stripe..

Also, if it's a really thin space, used just for definition (like the Packers home jerseys), I consider them "stems" rather than stripes, but when they're not background colored (bears home jerseys), I consider them outlines (or really thin stripes)..

 

Your description of the Bears’ home jersey stripes would fail the test because three equally spaced stripes could be equally spaced a quarter inch apart or equally spaced two inches apart and still be correct as the description is written. :P

 

Describing it in the simplest possible terms makes it akin to heraldry, which is really interesting. Even those blazons have a style to them and accept that there may be multiple ways to draw the arms “correctly” based on the description, which is kind of what we’re seeing here. I consider both of the Bears’ sleeve designs to be three stripes. The Steelers home is five stripes, but their road is a three stripe design (gold stripes with a black edge). The Texans’ pants are one stripe (blue or white trimmed in red). Florida’s white football jersey has a white stripe flanked with blue and orange stripes, but if you inverted one set of the blue and orange, it would just be two sets of blue and orange stripes. You get the idea. It’s the old “do you see a goblet or do you see a face” question in a different form.

 

Here’s a tough one: the Red Wings’ home jersey, it’s safe to say, has a single white stripe at the waist. Does the road jersey, then, have two stripes (a red one and a white one), or does it just have a red stripe that’s placed a few inches above the hem? Was your answer different when the stripes were straight but the hemline was contoured?

 

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8 hours ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

Speaking of the Bears, here's another maxim:

 

Home and away uniforms must use the same template, however amazing things can (though by no means guaranteed) happen by bending or breaking this rule.

 

Packers ruined their away uniforms the minute they adopted this rule. 

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12 hours ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

Surprised that no one to my mind has brought up the possibility of making the Saint's helmet stripes solid black? 

 

Maybe not as wide as it is now but now quite as narrow as the Steelers/Giants/Raiders. 

 

Given that "helmet stripes ought to show some type of continuity with pants stripes" appears to be a near universal maxim altering the Saints helmet would be a pretty simple fix. 

 

I’d agree only if they paired it with removing white from the home jersey.  It’s not needed anyway, and only muddies up the numbers and letters.

 

But as it stands, there is at least a good balance between gold, black, and white on the jersey and helmet.  And used to be on the pants as well.  

 

If the helmet is altered to match the pants, the jersey will need to follow suit or else they’re just causing another problem. 

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4 hours ago, andrewharrington said:

Here’s a tough one: the Red Wings’ home jersey, it’s safe to say, has a single white stripe at the waist. Does the road jersey, then, have two stripes (a red one and a white one), or does it just have a red stripe that’s placed a few inches above the hem? Was your answer different when the stripes were straight but the hemline was contoured?

 

 if it ain't straight, it ain't a stripe in my book ?

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i never realized we have no set standard or definition of what a stripe (or 2 or 5) even is. 

 

i like what Harry was getting at with some stripes being trimmed in another color, like the Texans pants being considered 1 stripe instead of 3. very interesting subject here

 

GRAPHIC ARTIST

BEHANCE  /  MEDIUM  /  DRIBBBLE

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37 minutes ago, BrandMooreArt said:

i like what Harry was getting at with some stripes being trimmed in another color, like the Texans pants being considered 1 stripe instead of 3. very interesting subject here

 

It's interesting because there's a few teams that fall into that category:

 

The 2006-2016 Rams white pants:

gettyimages-589405052_master.jpg?w=825

 

The 2018- Miami Dolphins

dolphins-1.jpg

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3 hours ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

 

It's interesting because there's a few teams that fall into that category:

 

The 2006-2016 Rams white pants:

gettyimages-589405052_master.jpg?w=825

 

The 2018- Miami Dolphins

dolphins-1.jpg

Those are both good examples. I know for sure that I have described the Rams' stripe on those pants a as a gold stripe trimmed in blue, I don't see it as a three stripe pattern like the Packers' or Cowboys' pants, but I guess it is right? Or is it not?

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2 hours ago, BrandMooreArt said:

i dont even know what a stripe is anymore :/

 

wondering if there is some kind of definition made by another, non-sports organization?? i feel like some military would have a standard for it

I'll do some research tonight.

51YYK9J2Q3L.jpg

oh ,my god ,i strong recommend you to have a visit on the website ,or if i'm the president ,i would have an barceque with the anthor of the articel .
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Something that came up on another thread but I feel it needs to be stated:

 

Uniforms are complete sets and must be viewed in their totality. 

 

A uniform is not limited to the jersey or cap or the helmet. 

 

It's not just the red jersey for the Niners. It's a red jersey sandwiched between rich gold pants and helmets with crisp red and white stripes. When you see that in motion, on a football player, especially on a sunny Sunday afternoon, it really makes a statement. 

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On 4/30/2018 at 8:29 AM, BrandMooreArt said:

i never realized we have no set standard or definition of what a stripe (or 2 or 5) even is. 

 

i like what Harry was getting at with some stripes being trimmed in another color, like the Texans pants being considered 1 stripe instead of 3. very interesting subject here

Tell me about it.

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1 hour ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

Something that came up on another thread but I feel it needs to be stated:

 

Uniforms are complete sets and must be viewed in their totality. 

 

A uniform is not limited to the jersey or cap or the helmet. 

 

It's not just the red jersey for the Niners. It's a red jersey sandwiched between rich gold pants and helmets with crisp red and white stripes. When you see that in motion, on a football player, especially on a sunny Sunday afternoon, it really makes a statement. 

MOD EDIT: Personal attacks on other board members will not be tolerated.

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25 minutes ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

Something that came up on another thread but I feel it needs to be stated:

 

Uniforms are complete sets and must be viewed in their totality. 

 

A uniform is not limited to the jersey or cap or the helmet. 

 

It's not just the red jersey for the Niners. It's a red jersey sandwiched between rich gold pants and helmets with crisp red and white stripes. When you see that in motion, on a football player, especially on a sunny Sunday afternoon, it really makes a statement. 

 

absolutely. heres another example i like to use

 

COF9SPB.png

 

GRAPHIC ARTIST

BEHANCE  /  MEDIUM  /  DRIBBBLE

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2 hours ago, BrandMooreArt said:

 

absolutely. heres another example i like to use

 

COF9SPB.png

Agreed.. This is why I don't have much issue with the Jaguars new jerseys, but think the pants could've been designed more effectively to tie the entire uniform together.. I think far too often now, teams try to cram their entire identity into every single uniform element.. It's just not necessary

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On 4/30/2018 at 1:20 PM, BrandMooreArt said:

i dont even know what a stripe is anymore :/

 

wondering if there is some kind of definition made by another, non-sports organization?? i feel like some military would have a standard for it

Just when we finally figured out what a catch is...now we don't know what a stripe is anymore:wacko:

 

What I do know is no MLB team that wears a chest logo at home does the same on the road, if you don't count the Cubs' blues.

2016cubscreamsig.png

A strong mind gets high off success, a weak mind gets high off bull🤬

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3 hours ago, BrandMooreArt said:

 

absolutely. heres another example i like to use

 

COF9SPB.png

 

While I agree that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, I think certain pieces of a uniform need to be able to stand on their own. I believe this in large part because when it's not on the field/court, jerseys are worn by fans. And I think fans should be able to wear something that feels complete even if they aren't on the team with every piece of equipment.

 

A baseball cap, a football helmet, or jersey of any sort should be able to stand on its own in representing the brand/identity of a franchise IMO. 

 

Now, you can have a great jersey that is poorly complimented with other elements, and you can have a weak jersey that is elevated by the whole set together, but I really think a successful design should be able to do both.

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