10 January, 2011

Posters

The poster below were made by Dylan. He's a graphic designer who's "trying to get an illustration career going." We really like them and think they fit right in with the VO style. Remember those great posters from French and Italian bike companies? Might be time to bring them back. Which one is your favorite and should I have some printed?

UPDATE: Almost everyone like them so we'll print some, probably the top three.

85 comments:

thomas said...

As a screenprinter... I love the mustachioed cyclist.

Anonymous said...

From top to bottom; my first choice = first pic, my second is the last pic. The orange in the third pic is interesting but reminds one of juice more than bikes. My least favorite is the guy on the bike.

KCJeff said...

Like the fellow with the mustache. So evocative of classic old posters.

Anonymous said...

the first and the last are my favorites. If you got them made they would look great in my garage

way wakka said...

Yes to printing all of these!

misterarthur said...

The French Guy is the most "you". They're all nice, but that one captures what make you different than other companies.

Anonymous said...

#1, but have the Japanese vetted by a native speaker.

Eric said...

My choice in order: 1, 4, 3, 2

Anonymous said...

The top two posters are great! The third (orange/wheel) not so much, and the fourth with the orange background is a bit much (hurts my eyes to stare at). I think a small trial run would be worth exploring. With the right price I'd buy one and frame it for my apartment.

Unknown said...

I'd love to get my hands on a print of the Orange/wheel.

Andy said...

I'd buy the mustachioed fellow in an instant, and the orange/wheel is pretty great as well.

Unknown said...

Why choose just one - they all look great. Love the mustacioed guy!

Jack

Anonymous said...

I think I'm the only one who isn't crazy about them, but I'm a Graphic Designer so I'm probably more critical.

The typeface chosen for the text doesn't work with that used for the Velo Orange logotype. And the illustration of the man on the bike is cute, but...just not quite "right."

Anonymous said...

I like 2 & 3 the very best. The first and last don't quite capture the spirit of your business.

Unknown said...

1,3,4 with a strong preference for 1 & 4.

Fonk said...

I agree with what the first Anonymous (4:36 PM) poster said.

Evan said...

#2 no doubt.

reverend dick said...

Enjoy Life is a good one!

Anonymous said...

#4/1:
the negative picture "pops", and is something you don't see every day.

#2the mustache guy is too tryhard or cutesy..too vaguely mascot-y or some sort of andy capp branding gone wrong.

#3, the orange with spokes doesn't stand out as a visual device.. i had to look twice before i even noticed the orange had spokes

Anonymous said...

number four would look the best on a wall alone...

Anonymous said...

I would buy a print in a heartbeat!

Anonymous said...

I would buy a print in a heartbeat!

Ty said...

#2 - man on bike

Steve Fuller said...

#2 is a great start.

Tucker said...

It looks like you are getting just about every possible combination of preferences. I really like the idea of the mustachioed guy. I would love to see something even more abstract, like just a handlebar mustache silhouette. In general my preference is to go toward the whimsical. In the long run it is probably the whimsical that will be most remembered and collected. Just a thought. Overall great posters though.

maximus said...

the mustached rider and the all orange rando.

Make sure you screen print them and have the artist sign them!

Jeff said...

1,4,3,2

Anonymous said...

I'd buy and frame the orange bicycle with white background!

Boon Hui said...

My fave is the fellow with the mustache! So retro and cheeky

Ross said...

#1, #4

Unknown said...

I love the poster featuring the man with the mustache.

Anonymous said...

My favorites are #1 and #4. It would be really cool of one was reversed so the posters became mirror images of one another

Anonymous said...

"Vélos fines et accessoires" makes absolutely no sense in French though. You might want to correct that before printing any of them.

City Church of San Francisco said...

Enjoy Life!

Sami said...

I would pay for the citrus one!

Raiyn said...

Mustache

La Tête dans le Guidon said...

I love them, but the french sentence isn't really correct. like my english...

Anonymous said...

Number 4, definitely. I want it for my office!

Anonymous said...

A shout out to Kyle, a key colleague here. We've have ads and flyers of white-on-orange for about a year now, Kyle-designed, very classy, so it's not a stretch for us to go with #4...though with a little work the orange would be my fave.
Annette

Iwo said...

I miss the german version:
Feine Fahrräder & Accessoires

Like it ... anyway ;o)

Cheers
Iwo

agrabois said...

To me first and last are the best.
As a french person, may I suggest to state (in french) either :
"Vélos et accessoires" or
"Beaux vélos et accessoires" or
"Vélos et accessoires de luxe" or
"Vélos de prestige et accessoires"
Antoine

R Francis said...

first and fourth
make some rack cards and mail them with your orders - then see if you could stand to make posters.

Anonymous said...

first and third!

tomp said...

The orange gets my vote. It has the Velo Orange logo and best shows the combination of modern and classic that defines Velo Orange for me. Any yes, please print some!

Scott Allison said...

The first one is super.

If you print it I would suggest printing it huge, not some small crappy poster, go big, really big, 1 PMS orange on a huge uncoated cream sheet, limited edition.

The guy on the bike is cute, but I would get tried of looking at him sooner than later.

David said...

I like #3 and #4.

Anonymous said...

Creative direction is what I do for a living, so... the last one I dig. There's something here waiting to be born, and I think it's a revision of the guy, on a bike that looks correct in all ways, and the wheels are oranges, with the hubs the stem w/ leaves. And kill the "Enjoy life." Print those two!

Sam "Brass Knuckles" Klontz said...

Mustache cyclist!

Sam "Brass Knuckles" Klontz said...

Would you possibly be selling copies of the posters you decide on?

JET said...

I like the first 2 posters my self. The 3rd one really does not really do it for me and the last one is to orange.

Scott Allison said...

On second thought, with some revision, the guy on the bike could be really nice, I agree with removing the "Enjoy Life" tagline. Love the orange tires and black frame.

Still, it would be really cool to print a oversized poster.

jacobk said...

#2 definitely! I would buy a t-shirt or a screen printed poster.

Nova_C said...

tie between the 1st & 3rd.

ha1ku said...

They are all kinda wonderful. They seem to work well as a series. Perhaps you can rotate them?

Anonymous said...

Number one, since it says most simply what you do. But putting Dutch first is curious, especially since almost no one outside the Netherlands actually speaks it. English remains the lingua franca of the world, the EC especially. Put it first.

The fellow on the bike seems like something from the 60s. The big orange requires one look too hard.

Anonymous said...

last and first, hands down

Allan Pollock

RoadieRyan said...

Like the first one and YES make some prints up

Francoise Hardy said...

#2 and 3, but #2 needs to be redone. The bicycle should have fenders and a better looking smaller radius fork bend. A bicycle without fenders? This is not Rivendell.

Anonymous said...

Enjoy life.
Jack

Justin said...

I like them all, but prefer #4 to #1. Another comment said it and I agree. The bike absolutely needs fenders and a Pass Hunter rack.

WillyJake said...

2&3....1&4 not so much.

Francois said...

I'm voting for the 1st one, and the second with some redesign of the bike... ;-)

Jason said...

They're all great, but I vote for 1 and 2. If you print them, I will buy.

johnson said...

does no one see the relationship between the guy on the bike and the national bohemian logo and or the utz chips/pretzel girl?

Anonymous said...

love mustache guy.

Evan said...

man, the dude just asked which one is your favorite, not what you would do if you had taken the time to make one. which you didn't! so let's stop critiquing fork bend and start appreciating the work. a real human's head isn't that big, either, and we don't exist in just 3 colors. it's about artistic license and the flare of unreality.

Enjoy Life!

life on wheels said...

I'd go for "enjoy life" or the bicycle with orange background. Print some!

Ted said...

No doubt the guy with the mustache and the beret is only missing a bougette and a symbolic cigarette!

Anonymous said...

Would absolutely buy one.

Guidon said...

"Collect them all"

ian said...

screen print #1 and it will sell out really quick.

BikeBike said...

Lovely! We'd love to put these up in our shop if posters are made.

Anonymous said...

#4 is good. #3 would be cool if the black circles were gone and the orange wheel were connected to a (muted) bicycle.

Anonymous said...

My favorite by far is the orange wheel with the leaves. The Orange background with the white writing and bike is my second choice.
The Japanese writing might not be the most accurate way to say what you intend to say, but I'm not exactly fluent in the language, so I can't readily recommend a better translation.

Unknown said...

I prefer 2 and 4.

Fine bicycle and accessories is not exactly "Vélos fine et accessoires" in french. I would say "Bicyclettes de qualité et accessoire". As a french speaking guy, sometime finding the right word to translate english-french is not that easy.

Unknown said...

first and last, with slight pref for the first

Velostatt said...

I like the one with the orange the most. It's more special than just showing a bike and it's convincing in it's clearness.
The frenchman is kind of funny but just for a second.
My second choice is number 1.

Jacob Nauss said...

I would totally buy one! Please print ASAP!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I'd love the orange wheel in my home. Print and I'll order.

Anonymous said...

My choices in order of favorite first are: 1, 4, 2, 3 with 1 and 4 being well ahead of 2 and 3.

Anonymous said...

Well, you could use Print on Demand and offer them all! They all have something going for them, and they're all getting good response here.

I would definitely order the orange-on-white if it were offered.

Midwest Bicycle Company said...

I like them all. Definitely get some printed and I'll put them up at my shop, in the VO section!

Aeneas said...

I'm liking (in order of preference) #1,2,4. I can live without the orange bicycle wheel.

Anonymous said...

Double-check the foreign-language copy with native speakers familiar with their countries' copywriting and style conventions.

As others have pointed out, the French version is incorrect. (My vote would be for "Vélos et accessoires de qualité".)

Ampersands (&s) are not used as a general substitute for "and" in French. Check to see if the same is true for Dutch and any other European languages you are thinking of adding. (It looks like you got this right for the Spanish version.)

French doesn't use the same capitalization rules as English for headlines, labels, and other telegraphic phrases. Generally, only the words up to and including the first noun, and proper nouns, are capitalized. HOWEVER, these rules can be set aside for commercial or stylistic reasons. For example, while "Vélos et accessoires de qualité" would be correct, "Vélos et Accessoires de Qualité" would be commercially acceptable. You might want to double-check whether different capitalization conventions apply to the other languages, as well.

I would place the French version first, to acknowledge the French inspiration underlying Vélo Orange.

Anonymous said...

You got to fix the french translation. It doesn't make any sense. There is excellent suggestions in the comment trail. My vote to "Bicyclettes et accessoires de qualité".

Pierre.