Kit research continued.

I have confirmed with my tutors that designing the full kit will be a good idea as it will look good in my portfolio and the kit will look complete.
I have decided what I am going to design:

• Helmet
• Jersey
• Gloves
• Shorts
• Socks

Everything else is either underneath the jersey/shorts/socks etc that it doesn't need to be customised and professional teams only have the above list customised/colour coded.

I have already covered some of the full kit research in my previous post but I just wanted to prove how little and basic the designs are for the short/helmet/socks etc.
I'll take my favourite team for this instance, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Picture found via Google: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/sports/Hartnell+Flyers+Pens+streak/6321943/story.html

Picture found via: http://penshead.com/2010/01/19/pittsburgh-penguins-team-and-uniform-through-time/

Found via Google: http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/04/11/for-sidney-crosby-playoffs-will-be-telling/

As you can see from the above pictures that everything is very basic, maybe a few shapes on the shorts, gloves and socks. The most creative part of this kit is the jersey which isn't so much 'creative' but a template telling you what the team is and who the player is which is possibly the most important thing a kit needs to do, which I need to project.

The shorts are very basic. They include a stripe running down either side featuring a gold and white strip which simply tries to keep the design consistent throughout. Also the logo and sponsor is sported on the front of the attire making them part of the uniform.

The same with the gloves but this time the only thing that the design shows is the brand of the gloves and a few gold stripes telling you it's part of the uniform again. Something that I missed earlier when I first saw the 3rd picture is that there is a small printed '87 - Penguins' printed on the top of Crosby's gloves. This tells him they are his in case it gets mixed up with anyone else's gear/lost in general. I thought this was quite tactical because quite often they are misplaced both on the ice and off. I say this because sometimes when a fight starts, the players throw off their gloves and fight but sometimes more than a few players get involved and when it comes to trying to collect their gloves they can tell whose is their's from the number - in this case, 87.

The helmet shows the logo on either side of the helmet scaled down quite a bit and the number of the player both on the front of the helmet and back. Also again the brand is printed on the crown of the helmet. I found this to be a good design method because, like the gloves they can be easily misplaced on the ice when a player gets into a fight/knocked down and again it will tell the player whose is whose from the print in the locker room but it still looks presentable and well designed in order to give that professional and uniform look.

The socks don't need a number or name because they are just socks, they are cheap and doesn't matter too much if they are misplaced. Also I think too many numbers and logos scattered over the kit will make it look too complicated and cramped. The only design method I can see here is a colour consistency which makes it part of the uniform.

Found via Google: http://espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2010/matchup/_/teams/capitals-canadiens

I have covered most of the design practises of the ice hockey kit but I just wanted to involve another team - Washington Capitols.
The same techniques apply to this kit's design also where everything matches the jersey colour wise.

The socks are slightly different here as the stripes are a slightly different proportion. I think because red is such an intimidating and classic 'danger' colour that they tried to implement it as much as possible but not too much to overwhelm the design.

The shorts appear all blue I think to try and make the jersey really stand out. If there was any more red on the shorts then I think the jersey wouldn't pop out a much and the same as the socks.

I've learned quite a few things about these few kit designs. For example how important it is to be consistent with the colour co-ordination, strategic placement of specific information (names, numbers etc). Most of all though just how important the uniform is to the team. The consistent colours, placement of information and shapes are what make the uniform and it looks really intimidating to see your opponent with a classy uniform where everyone looks the same and 'as one' which makes them really look professional.