Tartan Riders - Design Thread

[cavscout]

This thread is to present ideas for and discuss the design of the tartan riders cycling wear. Please feel welcome to present your ideas (preferably with images to help express the concept if possible).

The tartan to be incorporated is the Holyrood tartan

A bit of it's background:
"The Holyrood Tartan was created as an adaptation of the Royal Stewart. Many of the newer tartans took their inspiration from this popular sett, usually with some royal significance. Lochcarron of Scotland was similarly inspired to commemorate the Silver Jubilee in 1977. This tartan, with its hues of blue, sage, silver and white has remained popular and took on a new relevance when the first Scottish Parliament for 300 years was based at Holyrood." - The Scotland Shop

"Designed by Alistair Buchan of Lochcarron of Scotland to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 1977. Holyrood is the Scottish equivalent of Buckingham Palace, the Queen's official residence in Scotland. She is guarded by 'The Royal Company of Archers', a non military force provided by the chiefs of the clans." - The Scottish Register of Tartans

Templates for the Jerseys and bibs can be downloaded from the vendor web site here... http://champ-sys.com/custom/cycling/formsandtemplates

Have fun and I look forward to seeing what we can come up with.

[cavscout]

Here is my initial concept from another thread....




Instead of white, the non-tartan areas could be the blue of the Saltire and then the collar and sleeves would be edged in a row of St. Andrews crosses all the way around.

I like the idea of the tartan fading out into Saltire Blue or some other solid color. Either from the top down or the bottom up or top corner to lower opposite corner. This photo might give the idea of the type of fading / dissolving I'm envisioning. Imagine the orange squares are the tartan area and the tartan dissolves into the solid color area.


I'll play with some more templates to get a design of it fading from the bottom up.

[CDNSushi]

Cavscout,

Depending on the final design, I would also possibly be interested in a jersey. I will leave the creativity to you.

One thing I will mention, though is that since I am not actually Scottish, I probably wouldn't be in on a design that incorporated the Saltire or St. Andrew's crosses. I have absolutely nothing against those symbols, but they are foreign to me. I would no more wear a Saltire on my clothing than I would, say (for example) the Slovak coat of arms. A neat design to be sure, but meaningless to me.

But I am just one voice. Please do whatever you think will look best from your angle and not mine.

[cavscout]

Thanks for the perspective. Would it change the impression if the saltires were not actually individual flags but rather simply a blue band with a contiguous and adjoining series of St. Andrews crosses on it. Something like this....


or (it may not be visible on some monitors but there is a white border along all 4 edges of this one.)


or layer the lines

[NewGuise]

I likely just missed the relevant post (those XMarks access problems continue to plague me!), but ... was there a particular reason that we could not go for the XMarks tartan? I like the Holyrood a great deal, but the XMarks tartan is already a signifier for all of us here, and would look terrific on a jersey (which could mostly be just that bright blue)...

[cavscout]

I likely just missed the relevant post (those XMarks access problems continue to plague me!), but ... was there a particular reason that we could not go for the XMarks tartan? I like the Holyrood a great deal, but the XMarks tartan is already a signifier for all of us here, and would look terrific on a jersey (which could mostly be just that bright blue)...

This was just not a project the tartan owner was prepared to get involved in at this time. I completely understand that the plate is pretty full with other tasks right now. In the long run I think this works out a lot better for the group buy concept though, as the people who are purchasing the items will have total say in how it turns out.

Great discussion and ideas folks! Keep it up! I think this is moving along really well.

Absolutely the club cut is where I "fit in" as well

I'm liking the wrap or full-wrap panel short. I like the visual of the tartan going all the way up the back of the short as a kilt would. Whichever way, I don't see the need to fade the tartan on the shorts. Jsut a straight forward tartan print would be best there.

With the cross pattern, I had intended that to be around the collar and the sleeve cuff but it was just an idea to kick around.

The splash effect is similar to the fade /dissolve but I think I prefer the more graduated transition of the fade. It's my anal complusive side I think that wants either a clean, crisp edge or a smooth, gradual transition.

I'd like to have a lot of discussion on logos and lettering as I typically don't like to wear any thing with large advertisements on them. A small logo is not too bad, besides I think the tartan will do most of the talking when folks see it. A logo is a whole other design thread Anyone want to head that one up? I'm thinking ideal placement would be arm or left or right breast or collar. We will have to factor in that the vendor will have their logo on the garment as well so how we work with that to prevent it from becoming too "busy" needs to be considered.

Zipper is no issue for me. Most of my Jerseys are half zippers but I often wish I had a full zipper. And since they are the same price....

[CDNSushi]

Cavscout: That looks good. Something like that I could go for -- it's subtle -- subtle is nice. :-) (My fav. is the stacked line design -- I like the gray borders on the white, it gives it a bit of a 3D quality) :-)

[chasem]

I'm okay with the gray bordering the white, as long as it doesn't disrupt the white.

[Squeaky McMurdo]

I don't have the patience to sit and fade the tartan in increments, but the splash effect is kind of cool don't you think?



With or without the "Tartan Riders" and maybe less tartan on the bottom

--Chelsea McMurdo--

[kilted_brewer]

Looking good! I like where it's going. It'd be great to have tartan on the pockets in back as well as the sleeves. I'd be fine with some tartan on the bottom of the front panel as well, or could live without it. I don't have a strong opinion on the saltire element, but I think fewer design elements may be better, so I guess I'd prefer to see it as a flag at "logo size" in the white area on front (left breast?) rather than as a border on the sleeves or collar.

As someone who has bored quite a few people talking about fonts, letterforms, and even type designers, I'd like to see a few options for the font the "tartan riders" is set in, and I would also support a jersey without any text. I'll experiment a bit and post some other options.

Thanks, all!

I don't have the patience to sit and fade the tartan in increments, but the splash effect is kind of cool don't you think?



With or without the "Tartan Riders" and maybe less tartan on the bottom

--Chelsea McMurdo--