CN article on this year's kits

[auscyclefan94]

My rank..

AG2R La Mondiale - easy to spot, colours look nice togetherQuick Step - last years retro was better, like the red touches though
Cofidis - nice colours, nice sun, good design
Liquigas-Cannondale - nice design, colours fit well
Andalucia-Caja Granada - really nice colouring + andalucia logo is always nice
Omega Pharma-Lotto - nothing on 2010 kit, still better than most
HTC-Highroad - much improved designLampre-ISD - bright, easy to spot
Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli - the ones with fluoro shoulders look great
Europcar - could've done with a brighter green, nice with black shorts
Rabobank - nicer than the old one
Euskaltel-Euskadi - same as ever, easy to find etc
Androni Giocattoli - nice selection of colours, sponsors don't really fit
FDJ - not a patch on the old FDJ
Saur-Sojasun - it'd be nicer with more blue
Team Katusha - nice colours, but jersey + shorts don't match
Topsport-Vlaanderen - simple, but a bit boring
Colnago-CSF - good colours, but too much white
Skil-Shimano - come one! green?!
Team Radioshack - nice from the front, less so from the back
Movistar - kinda boring
Astana - weird font + lack of sun/wing
Landbouwkrediet - Europcar is pretty similar, too many sponsors that don't match colours
Team Sky - boring
Garmin-Cervelo - boring + lack of originality
Saxo Bank-Sungard - just not nice
Vacansoleil-DCM - jersey + shorts don't match again, dcm logo looks weird
Team BMC - dull
De Rosa-Ceramica Flaminia - bleuch
Leopard-Trek - so so so dull

All the ones in bold i disagree with.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

good to know


The romans knew: de gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum

 

[WonderLance]

I thout it was agood artikle well writen and with many vallid points and excelant centense strukture.

I aplaud ccyliongnews.com for they're brave choise in piking a tennage girl with little noledge of cycling or grphic design to writ storys. It has sertainly payyed of.

EDIT. I just reelized that she is on my facespace friends. I take back WHAT i said, she is not a tenn girl, but is kinda cute. she also has ITS NOT ABPOUT THE BIKE on her favirit books which is impotant for a cycling jornolist.

 

[Jukebox]

Maybe I'm in the minority but I like AG2R's brown.

I agree, It's a very good looking kit.

Along with AG2R I really like the Movistar kits, Quickstep, Lampre and Katusha, although the lack of flow with the shorts makes it worse than last years kit.

Edit: I like the FDJ kit a lot too.

 

[Anonymous]

she also has ITS NOT ABPOUT THE BIKE on her favirit books which is impotant for a cycling jornolist.

I thought you were joking initially but youre actually right.

 

[La Pandera]

The photo of the Quick Step team on a training ride in their new kit really swayed me. What I can't agree with at all is their high rating of the Katusha kit. They earlier deride several other teams' kits for a lack of design continuity between the jersey and shorts but give the Katush high overall ratings. Original yes but IMO it's about as ugly as they come. I'm curious too as to why some team's new kits are accompanied by a photo while a select few (Euskatel, BMC) were not. If it's because they essentially were unchanged then why show Sky and Rabobank? HTC gets high ratings??? Also since Lampre has always, since at least I can remember, been pink and blue why is this all of sudden an issue as being contrary to the sponsor's colors?
A very inconsistent article.

 

[Mrs John Murphy]

Crap article from a hack journalist. I know that CN needs its 'exclusive' interviews from the Uniballer but are they really so scared of him having a fit of temper that they have to post 'articles' like this to suck up to him?

Sort of thing I'd expect from Heat. What next 'Levi's Lovechild Anguish'?

 

[L'arriviste]

You can't do this properly unless you establish the principles of what actually works in jersey design (something I've tried to do elsewhere here). As a result, the criteria are specious and many of the comparisons drawn are unfair.

For example, it is unreasonable to compare the erstwhile Renault-Elf jersey with that of HTC in 2011.

The Renault-Elf jersey is memorable, iconic and in fact rather a maverick of its time. Reproductions of it are on sale and worn even today. It recognisably fits an era, that of Guimard-Hinault-Fignon, which stands in memory as particularly important in the history of professional road cycling. Why it's a maverick is because, along with the kit of a small handful of teams, it makes new and fairly innovative use of the limited printing techniques and jersey materials then available.

By contrast, one might argue that HTC's designers Moa-Nalini - indeed like all of today's designers - do not have the same sort of constraints. In addition, we have a public today that is much more design-aware. This I think is why we are generally disappointed by 2011's editions.

I think I would summarise the main problem of modern jersey design as one of proliferation. Just because you can now design a jersey with multiple, fading colours and complex lines and detailed patterns doesn't mean that you should. Equally, there are so many sponsors to satisfy - such is the parlous economic state of pro road cycling - that it becomes necessary to satisfy numerous sponsors. Just look at the last few years of Diquigiovanni-Androni-Giocattoli for examples.

Finally, in these rather schizophrenic times of ours, it should be remembered that there is nothing wrong with just evolving or maintaining a good design, as Sky has done. I might remind those here with rather shorter memories that back in the day it was actually expected, because the story developed and the sponsors gained traction. A decision like that may sell less replica jerseys, without the funk of the new, but it certainly deserves our respect when Sky has much other work to do to improve itself.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

You can't do this properly unless you establish the principles of what actually works in jersey design

Hence my poll...