Motivational Posters

Spring is here. The perfect time to present some (ironic) motivational cycling posters. Enjoy!













Happy Cycling!

Catwalk to Copenhagen: Milan Fashion Week

Emilio Pucci.


Salvatore Ferragamo.

Prada.

Marios Schwab and a Danish yogurt advert.

On the runway at Versace and Rebecca Minkoff's Tour de Fashion bicycle, photo provided by EcoSalon.

Bottega Veneta.

Tall Unicycle

Just got an email from Jenny at Barrel NY. They've created this lovely limited edition poster called Tall Unicycle. There are 35 of them, signed and numbered. Check out the website to see the whole poster. It's too tall for this blog... :-)

Mads Berg's Iconic Cycling Girl Illustrations

Copenhagen 10, 2010

It's official. Mads Berg now ranks as Cycle Chic's favourite Danish illustrator. We love pretty much everything he does, but we go just a little bit weaker at the knees when we regard his timeless illustrations of that iconic cultural figure - The Cycling Girl. She's as old as the bicycle itself and yet Mads Berg succeeds in reinventing her and adding new layers to the long history of Cycling Girl graphic design. And that's saying something, considering the wealth of material over the past century.

The illustration above is classic Copenhagen and features another icon - the Christiania cargo bike.

Bornholm 10, 2010. Poster/cover illustration for the island of Bornholm.
Here's an illustration for tourism on the Danish island of Bornholm - the Sunshine Island.

A38 Dairies/Arla, campaign illustrations, 2007
We've blogged about this illustration before here on Cycle Chic. A campaign for a yoghurt.

Illustration for packaging on KIMs crisps, 2003.
This is an illustration for some crisps from 2003.


Our new affection for Mads Berg doesn't mean we're giving up on one of the masters of Danish graphic design, Hans Bendix. His post-war posters are still iconic and relevant today. These two examples are tourism posters from the late 1940's.

Check out Mads Berg's website. It's a treasure trove of graphic design. And here's a link to his online shop.

Thanks to Eneko for the link.

Auto-Mat

Our friends the urban mobility NGO Auto-mat in Prague have produced this classy poster for an upcoming event. It's called A Different Experience and it's all about allowing the citizens the opportunity to see their city in a new light on five chosen streets. To gain insight into what a city can be.

Thanks to Todd for the link.

Cycle Chic Third Anniversary Poster

It's been a busy summer in Cycle Chic land and this blog's 3rd Anniversary passed us by back in June. I hadn't forgotten it, I suppose I was just waiting to do something a bit special.

A few months back a journalist called the very first photo I took, back on 14 November 2006, something quite humbling and extraordinary. Back then the humble bicycle was not celebrated by the fashion industry and wasn't a hot lifestyle accessory. Now, as we are all witness to, the bicycle is back. Bike is the new Black. And I think it's safe to say that the bicycle has returned to stay, what with the optimistic number of cities all around the world working towards building infrastructure and making their urban landscapes more bicycle-friendly.

The journalist, who had been researching the Cycle Chic phenomenon back to it's origins, called the photo simply The Photo That Launched a Million Bicycles:


I decided to make a third anniversary poster celebrating that fact, featuring the photo in question, taken on a chilly November morning on my way to work at Danish Broadcasting. The light had just turned green. A woman is pushing off on the right, a man is in motion on the left. In the middle: a pillar of calm and grace.

Back then I didn't notice the bicycle. I saw the street scene, the light, the contrast of motion.


What other people saw was the bicycle and the Copenhagener in a skirt looking elegant. The fact that others thought this to be odd was odd to me. It didn't take me long to realise that the bicycle as normal transport had all but disappeared from many cities around the world. It had become only a piece of equipment for sports or recreation, despite the fact the bicycle was transport in cities and towns all around the world for many decades in the last century. People were apparently hungry and ready for a re-branding of cycling as urban transport. The fashion industry subsequently embraced the two-wheeled machine and now we're rolling towards a redefined future. Cycle Chic is nothing new. It's the way people rode bicycles from the beginning of Bicycle Culture 1.0. But the phrase seems to be useful in describing this rebirth of urban cycling. Which is pleasing.

The bicycle is back and it's booming. Thanks so much to everyone for visiting this blog and especially those of you who have been visiting since the beginning.

And thank you to all of you who have embraced Cycle Chic and started blogs around the world. Creating a movement of fashion and bicycle advocacy. Cycle Chic is nothing without all of you.

I created the poster mostly for myself, to hang on the wall in the hallway here at home. But it's also available online if the idea of owning one tickles anyone's fancy.

Cycle Chic Third Anniversary Poster. Available online at CafePress. Also as a smaller poster here.

Read also: Two Years With Cycle Chic

Bicycle Posters

Here at Cycle Chic we just got wind of a cool series of bicycle posters over at Poster Cabaret, out of Austin, Texas. A wonderful selection of bicycle themes to grace the walls of where you live.


Here's our personal favourite. Birdcycle. Nice.

Bike Race Poster Selection

Help me out here, readers. Our other blog, Copenhagenize.com, is proud to be one of the sponsors of this year's Svajerløb - Danish Cargo Bike Championships 2010 on June 26, 2010 here in Copenhagen.

I've been whipping together some rough prototypes for posters and here they are. You're all a fantastic, creative bunch so tell me, which one do you like the best? There's a poll at the end of this post.

'Svajerløb' is the name of the century old cargo bike races in Copenhagen, raced by the original bike messengers (seven decades before that Kevin Bacon guy in Quicksilver), the Svajere or The Swayers. Called such because of the way they swaying way they rode their cargo bikes. They were damn sharp dressers, too.

The races are for two-wheeled cargo bikes, three -wheeled and a team relay. You race around a track and then put a pile of car tires on the bike and tie them down before continuing.


Anyway, just look at the designs and give me your gut feeling.



Thanks for taking the time to help us out. Here's some photos from last year's race:

We Love Sacramento Cycle Chic!

There are loads of cycle chic blogs out there these days and some are closer to our hearts (you all know who you are!). Meet Sacramento Cycle Chic.

If you're in Sacramento, California this Saturday, May 8th 2010, then be sure to check out their fashion show. The two ladies in the photo are the ones putting on the gig, so you KNOW it can't go wrong! They understand Cycle Chic and combining it with vintage is brilliant.

Have a great party, Lorena, Ed and friends!

Sacramento Cycle Chic

Dual Glide, Boots and Cycling Legends

Strangely, the scuba-clad mannequin outside the dive shop doesn't attract the attention of these two Copenhageners. Go figure.


Boots. While we patiently await the emergence of this year's high heel shoes on Copenhagen's cycling heroines.

And remember kids:

Our cycling legends dress differently than yours. :-) Available as a framed print in our online shop.

Prague Cycle Chic

After visiting Pardubice, Prague was quite a different story. The city didn't feature any decent concentration of Cycle Chic. The poster, above, for a new Czech film - Protektor - was the best the Czech capital could come up with.

And this girl advertising Praha Bikes - bike rental. In fact, I think I only saw 30-40 cyclists the entire time I was there.

But we're working on it. :-) I'm in Budapest as I write this and it's quite a different story. Many cyclists on the streets. More on that later.

Vintage Cycle Chic For Your Wall

For the better part of a century we knew how to market cycling and bicycles. We focused on marketing freedom of movement, enjoyment, practical transport and effortlessness.

It all went wrong for the past three or four decades in many countries, where cycling strangely was relegated to merely a sport, a recreational activity or a child's toy.

The graphic design of vintage bicycle posters is brilliant and the message it is selling can't be beat. We have a lot to re-learn about marketing bicycle culture and these old posters are inspirational.


Now you can look at them every day on a wall near you. This poster features 56 of our favourite bicycle posters.

As always, it's available at our online boutique.

Or have a look at all the Cycle Chic et al goods.

Cycling in a Skirt?

The Guardian has a piece about cycling in a skirt. I guess the writer missed the epic, soon mythical, Cycle Chic Guide to Cycling in Skirts and Dresses... :-)

Gender Gap?
The New York Times has a piece today about how the Gender Gap persists in America. Women are a minority. Mikael was interviewed for it but only a single sentence made it past the scissors. :-)

Timeless Copenhagen Cycle Chic

Classic Copenhagen Cycle Chic. This is a Danish politician Aksel Larsen [1897-1972] on his bicycle in 1938. A classy Copenhagen woman is behind him. If you don't focus on the car in the background, this photo could have been taken yesterday.
Photo copyright - The Danish Workers' Museum in Copenhagen.

And thanks to John for this classic tourism poster from, coincedentally, 1938. Hans Bendix did a number of these tourism poster featuring the bicycle both pre and post-war.

Here are some other classics we've posted about before. Hans Bendix did the one on the right.

Sustainable and Sociable

As ever, cycling in Copenhagen is a sociable affair. You go on dates on your bikes, to the cinema, a café, to work and home again. It's physical. You ride close to each other and can talk freely. You're both in motion, moving forward. Talking. Listening. Being together.

Bike. Bus. Both start with B. Coincedence?

Here's another poster available on our online boutique. This one features images of Copenhagen's bike culture. Capturing a mood, a style, a way of life.

This poster and the first one will be featured in an upcoming exhibition that will travel around the world. More on that as we get the detailed information.

Casual Copenhagen

A cyclist completely at ease with herself and her role in the life of this city.

I've noticed a few funny groups on Facebook regarding bike culture:
From Sweden - My Bike Was Stolen In Uppsala / I Stole A Bike In Uppsala.
"Let's all just work this mess out." Thieves and the thieved. Together at last.
From Denmark: [translates as:]Hey! Is there a sign on my bike reading 'Trash Can'?
For people who get tired of their baskets getting filled with trash.


Just your average Copenhagener.
Here's a great historical quote on cycling in the Take Back the Bike Culture category:
The whole nervous system is highly benefited by bicycling. The rider must constantly use the senses of hearing, seeing, and feeling in order to avoid collisions, direct his machine, and keep his equilibrium. This exercise, therefore, is in a high degree apt to draw the mind away from its usual pursuits and cares of daily life. It is highly exhilirating and promotes sociability, since it is both pleasanter and safer to ride in company than alone. In women it is apt to overcome the impulsivenness and whimsicality which render so many of them unhappy. ...Bicycling is no longer a mere fashion that may fall into disuse and give way to a new one. It is a wholesome and inspiring exercise, and has provided of practical value as a means of rapid locomotion.
--Dr. Henry J. Garrigus, in the January Forum, from Public Opinion, 30 January 1896

I whipped up another poster. For those who love bike frames. Available at our Online Boutique, as always.

Copenhagen Life Cycles

What I love about this shot - and many aspects of bike culture in Copenhagen - is that it is quite timeless. This could be my mum in 1948 or my wife in 2008. It's neither, but you know what I mean... a Copenhagen life cycle.

I'd been toying with this idea for a while and finally found time for it:

It's available as a poster on our little online boutique. In all it's full-size glory it measures 87.5 cm x 62.5 cm [that's 35 x 25 inches, apparently]. It's available in a small poster size, too.

I call it Copenhagen Life Cycles. Loads of moments of clarity from the bike lanes of Copenhagen. Here's a little slice of detail: