 Poster: A snowHead
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Hey there,
On my last trip I realised that almost all skis look the same. The topsheet design usually only shows brand, type and size of the skis in big letters, surrounded by a few lines or squares or similar pattern, using only three colours of variable brightness.
To me they looked very technical and boring.  I only saw one woman who had skis with a floral pattern for a change. I often read here that skis are mixed up with stranger’s skis, I can imagine why.
In contrast to this, snowboards all look very different. There are all sorts of designs, colourful and less colourful, big patterns and small patterns, topsheet design, base design etc. I’ve never seen my snowboard anywhere else, just once there was a girl with the same board but a size smaller, so the colours were inverse and it still looked different.
I even know someone who bought their snowboard just because of the looks. I personally wouldn’t do that, but only get it if I liked the technical features (camber etc.) and the way it rides too.
Then again, I wouldn’t buy a snowboard if I really hated its designs. For example as a beginner I once had a hire board with a skull on it. I liked the riding, but I’d never ever buy it. Even with stickers all over it I’d knew there is a (in my opinion) ugly skull underneath. I like to enjoy looking at my snowboard.
So I wonder why ski design is so different from board design? There is less space on the ski sheets than on a board but still enough room to be creative. Is there no demand for fancy skis? Or would skiers buy a more creative ski design if there was more on the market?
How important is the design/graphics for you when you buy? Do you think it is more important to snowboarders than skiers?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Simony, Perhaps it is that skiers care more about function and less about styling than boarders. I have never met a skier who gave a thought to how their skis looked. They were entirely concerned with how they performed.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Maybe because skiers are looking where they are going? 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I'll put up with ok, boring graphics, but I wouldn't touch some of the overly floral or predictably pink women's models. I tested a pair from DPS a few weeks ago – great skis, mostly yellow, but pink down the tips to mark them out for the girls. No thanks.
There are some fantastic ski graphics out there – my friend has a pair covered in intricate illustrations, though I can't remember what model they are, but I agree, a lot are inoffensively dull. I don't think the mixed up ski problem is helped by rental shops largely handing out skinnyish piste skis which tend to be at the generic end of the graphics spectrum, and in such large numbers. A group of four of us once hired from the same shop, and just got given the same ski in slightly different lengths, so it's no wonder they get mixed up.
Here are some of my favourites:
Nordica Santa Ana https://www.nordicausa.com/womens/skis/all-mountain/santa-ana/
Black Crows Captis Birdie
Volkl Bash https://www.voelkl.com/de/produkte/skis/freestyle/bash-116/
The trend of the moment seems to be "colour block", which doesn't always lend itself to interesting designs.
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And just what is wrong with some nice colours?
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I'd agree about the hire skis being dull, I guess it's also to do with them having to look in reasonably good condition for the season or two they're being rented out. The glossy topsheets on mine do show the bumps and scratches up more than the textured topsheets on others I've had.
Of the five pairs of skis I've owned only the Down Countdown 2s I had could be described as dull to look at, of the others I've seen one other pair of my Scott Scrappers in the four years I've had them and only a few pairs of Dynastar Chams 87 and 97 as hire jobs in 6 seasons.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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There are plenty of great ski designs - I especially like those where you have to put both boards together to see the whole image. Otherwise, a more constricted aspect ratio is obviously limiting.
Most skiers I meet are about as concerned how their skis look as most snowboarders. Skiers are at least as fashion conscious as anyone else.
Skiing has the "racing is cool" thing still, where as snowboarding never had that, so there is a relative lack of race-oriented snowboard gear. That said, race boards are generally just black or white, with sintered (black) bases.
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You're probably somewhere with lots of boring skiers. I've met people with ski graphics like the ON3P Pillow Fight and Grizlycorn, the Killer clown K2 Hellbent and back in the day there were more Uzis, skeletons and helis than you could shake a stick at.
To be fair though rental ski graphics are pretty mundane and the the graphic design effort puts the um in tedium.
Problem is skiers are actually quite a conservative population and apparently there were people put off Head's range of Motorhead skis etc by graphic alone
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The "Race Replica" designs are okay, but they make it really difficult to work out what ski to buy. Atomic seem to do at least half a dozen Redsters that look similar but are all meant to be different skis. Head WC Rebels are the same. If the manufacturers want to sell skis it'd really help if they explained their ranges more clearly.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
Skiers are at least as fashion conscious as anyone else.
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But no where near as fashion conscious as boarders.
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You know it makes sense.
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I've got Hieronymus Bosch artwork on my skis 
But you're right, the whole wannabe racer look-a-like thing everyone slaps on their piste skis should have been abandoned a decade ago. That's probably the single biggest thing manufacturers could do to make piste skiing/skis 'cool' again.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I don't blame her, that state is creepy as hell. Everything I've read about Icelantic has been good but theres something about the topsheets that I just don't like.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Dave of the Marmottes wrote: |
Problem is skiers are actually quite a conservative population |
This. I know loads of professional people who ski (doctors/dentists/lawyers/architects etc). Most are pretty conservative and wouldn't be seen dead on an outlandish pair of skis. Or on a board for that matter.......
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Mon 26-03-18 19:36; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I don't really care about graphics but maybe it's something to do with snowboards providing a larger canvas for interesting stuff.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@johnE, But a nice design and good performing skis are not mutually exclusive? A good ski should perform the same whether it has a topsheet with pink hearts (not sure though if I’d call this a nice design ) or with a traditional style. Apart maybe from the psychological factor that people wouldn’t trust skis with pink hearts on it and thus ski worse.
@chocksaway, hehe. I‘ll tell you the secret reason why snowboarders always sit down at the side of the piste, we like to show off the fancy design of our board base.
@Hells Bells, @Scarlet, @under a new name, So there are some skis out there with a fancy design!
@davidof, Unfortunately the link in the old thread doesn‘t work anymore, I‘m curious now what the graphics looked like! If they stopped producing it, maybe they are rare and of value now.
@springbok45, True, there were plenty of hire skis. But the other ones didn‘t look any better. I agree with you on the glossy topsheet, my board has one too.
@philwig, Something like this? https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0371/0373/products/Medora_105_Ski_Picture_1200x.jpg?v=1496774329 Two skis combined for the image is a cool design idea!
You are right, I‘d associate a ski/board with a technical pattern more with racing and performing, but a colourful pattern more with fun (even do racing could be fun too I guess)
@Dave of the Marmottes, It was in the Dolomites, I‘ll watch out if this is any different in any other resorts. I‘d be put off by skulls and skeletons too by the way  So as others are put off by pink
@Valkyrie, That‘s what I meant, they all look the same.
@T Bar, Hehe, at least they are not boring!
@johnE, There are many fashion-conscious skiers out there too, maybe they show it more with their clothes than with their skis?
@clarky999, I‘d love to see a picture of that
@springbok45, I just looked at the Icelantic women skis and don‘t find them too bad, they are different at least.
@JoyZipper, Hmm, I‘m trying to think of the people I know to see if there is a pattern. Not for all
@Kelskii, That‘s what I thought too at first, but there is still enough space for a nice pattern or at least some cooler colours.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I'll miss my current pair when I replace them:
Nordica Soul Rider
Does mean I have to think about which ski goes on which foot, for maximum effect. The flip side is when you damage an edge, it's easier to know which ski is which and keep it on the outside.
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@mgrolf, one of my pairs has L/R graphics. When I skied with the guy who designed them, it seemed to really wind him up when I put them on the wrong feet
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@clarky999, your gf was on some quite funky ones too the other day, what are they?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Scarlet, they were Moment Bellas. Actually my old Moment Bibby Pros have pretty rad graphics too.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@clarky999, nice, though I think some of the old stuff is better than their current offering, which I find a bit dark and not entirely dissimilar to the old Icelantic models.
@Dave of the Marmottes, dragons, there should definitely be more dragons.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@HoneyBunny, those are cool! Yeah, a few years ago there was more use of illustration I think. I seem to remember some Kenjas had quite a nice look too.
When I was looking for those examples, many of the alternatives were very boring compared to previous years. For example, I have a pair of Atomic Storms which have very bright, geometric graphics, although no fancy illustration. They have now been replaced in the range by the Vantage series, which is hardly any more interesting than the race-like models.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@clarky999, Superb!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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As snowboarder, I dont actually like the topsheets showing off my board.
I get quite paranoid about it & as its easy to learn what is an expensive board from a cheap board - so easy for a Thief to know what is board is more valuable than another.
Show me some ski's that look the same, then I would not have a clue which are the expensive pair.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I do have quite a nice snowboard and rhe topsheet is about as exciting (and brown as) a wholemeal loaf. Rides nice though.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Mine aren't too bad
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Actually the piste skis are okay too.
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@clarky999, I bought the Throwdown 89 this winter (but 2016 model)with similar artwork and they are just fab! With pink bases as a bonus! Plus they are a great ski.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Dave of the Marmottes wrote: |
| what's not to like? |
Quite a lot according to Mrs T Bar
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Ski Logik, now sadly gone under (although in some way makes me smile knowing mine are now no longer in production!)
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FAQ
mind you I had cherry red Look ZRs in them...
