Quote:
Originally Posted by d_douglas
The orange accents and weird non-serotta branding is what irks me. If its a Serotta, make it known - it doesnt have to look like the old logo (maybe it cannot?) but the wispy signature annoys me as a neophyte graphic designer  |
Yeah, you are missing some of the story behind these bikes that explain the "weird non-serotta branding" you mention.
There are some posts in this thread that explain:
1) Why he couldn't put Serotta in big letters on these bikes when they were produced, and
2) Why he was able to add the big "Serotta" branding back to these frames later, but with decals (which I removed).
The story as I understand it: Ben left (was removed?) as an executive at the Serotta company. He only owned a portion of the company at this point, so it was not under his control. The brand did poorly without him and he was able to buy it back a few years later. These bikes were made in the interim. They represented his return to the bike industry under the "Serotta Design Studios" brand. I'm guessing that he was already pushing his luck with using his own name, even in a subtle fashion. There was no way he was going to be able to use the original and iconic SEROTTA lettering on the downtubes without attracting a lawsuit. So, instead of "Serotta" in big letters, the names of the bikes were used (Duetti and AmodoMio).
After he bought the Serotta brand (and owned it again), he still had a bunch of these frames in his inventory. He wanted them to be recognized as Serottas, so added decals after-the-fact. I thought the added downtube decals ("SEROTTA" in big letters) were okay. By contrast, the big orange "S" slapped over the headbadge was not a good look -- especially since you could see the "D" through the sticker.
- See here for an image of the frame with the added decals:
https://forums.thepaceline.net/showp...&postcount=128
- This one has slightly different decals (silver/gold on the headtube):
https://serotta.com/clearance-frames
Certainly, there is some history that goes with the traditional SEROTTA logo on the downtube, made in a font that would be easy to read as bikes zipped by at racer speeds.
Did the after-the-fact decals mimic that look sufficiently well? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the decals - and if you would have kept them or not.