With a fortnight to go until Sir Bradley Wiggins attempts the UCI Hour record at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London, Team Wiggins has released an infographic charting the history of one of the hardest feats in cycling. But Team Sky, which Wiggins rode for until last month, aren’t happy about it, pointing out how similar it is to their own infographics.
With Team Wiggins sharing many of the same sponsors as the WorldTour outfit – Pinarello, Rapha, Jaguar, and Sky itself – some might assume that they were the work of the same designer, and that the Hour record infographic was meant to be similar in style to earlier Team Sky ones.
Not so, says Nick Howes, digital manager at Team Sky, who described it as a “blatant rip-off” when he tweeted the two infographics side by side earlier today.
I've never seen a more blatant rip off of Team Sky Infographics than this from @OfficialWIGGINS! #SpotTheDifference pic.twitter.com/ezve3vQh7V
— Nick Howes (@TeamSkyNick) May 26, 2015
Here they are so you can judge for yourself.


Granted, there are only so many ways you can present this type of information, but Howes does seem to have a point. Both have a dark background, with text in colours mainly based on the respective teams’ kit, plus a splash of pink and the Italian tricolore flag for Sky.
Both use a similar font and style of graphics, and the positioning of the title at bottom right and team logo, bottom right, is identical.
Scott O’Raw of Velocast was among those who were surprised at Howes’ tweet, with the Team Sky staff member explaining his opinion to him.
@velocast @OfficialWIGGINS nope, absolutely not. We worked hard on those as well. Poor, poor form
— Nick Howes (@TeamSkyNick) May 26, 2015
Not everyone had a problem with it, however.
@TeamSkyNick @OfficialWIGGINS Hardly a unique idea, putting info into a collage! Given what Wiggo gave to @TeamSky you shd be happy to share
— Linda Billett (@Thehenlady) May 26, 2015
The Hour record is currently 52.937km and is held by Alex Dowsett of Movistar, who set it at the start of this month in Manchester.
Wiggins’ attempt on it takes place on Sunday 7 June and will be broadcast live by Sky Sports from 6pm-8pm – including free on its YouTube channel – with the ride itself starting at 6.30pm.




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41 thoughts on “Team Wiggins release Hour infographic – but Sky not impressed at “blatant rip-off””
Storm in a teacup. Doubt
Storm in a teacup. Doubt anyone has the right to solo use of small circles for borders and the graphics themselves are all pretty much different.
It’s definately a rip off
It’s definately a rip off though.
I’m just pleased that having
I’m just pleased that having announced the current hour record as being 52.9km they then followed this up with an ‘Average speed over the hour’ of 52.9km/h. Phew- saved me working it out.
Will Team Sky be riding
Will Team Sky be riding Specialized bikes next year? Their corporate cultures seem well aligned if this is anything to go by.
Indeed, except that the graphic states the average speed was “52.9km”. ~X(
i thught they were just like
i thught they were just like red bull and toro rosso a convenient way of british cycling to split its pro track riders into pro squads appropriate for Bcs need
It’s an infographic. That’s
It’s an infographic. That’s where the similarities end.
Most branded infographics use their recognised colours. The only similar feature is the dotted lines acting as borders – that’s hardly unique to Sky though.
Using Sky’s logic, I can only assume they blatantly copied Intel’s infographic, and made it landscape instead of portrait:
http://www.intel.co.uk/content/dam/www/public/us/en/images/illustrations/i-heart-my-phone-infographic.jpg
danthomascyclist wrote:It’s
I can only guess that the Sky bod that whinged is so wrapped up in his own little world ( many sports bods are) that he doesn’t realise the limitations of the infographic form when it comes to variations.
Undergarments need unbunching
Undergarments need unbunching I think. I quick google of “cycling infographics” brings up loads of them, all very similar:
http://bijoor.me/files/2013/05/CyclingGraphic-01.jpg
http://www.bikehub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/LoveHateTravel.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dt43B7dgO8E/UoZPTuKwY7I/AAAAAAAABf8/fTEMJyYitas/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-11-15+at+16.39.56.png
http://the-way-to-the-centre.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/infographic-2-940-main.jpg
team sky nick is a di%K. Like
team sky nick is a di%K. Like Rapha never copied anything!
The Wiggo one’s a bit clumsy
The Wiggo one’s a bit clumsy in places so I’d say Team Sky have a better designer. Bit of a non-story though.
Skys look rather like this 3
Skys look rather like this 3 year old infographic….
http://bijoor.me/files/2013/05/CyclingGraphic-01.jpg
Quite a different layout- on
Quite a different layout- on the sky one, a lot of the horizontal and vertical lines line up, on the WIGGINS one they, well, don’t.
So much infographic out
So much infographic out there, so little time to waste arguing.
Moot point.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=infographic&espv=2&biw=1183&bih=771&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=a4lkVZGxMbPmsASoxoH4DQ&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#imgrc=_
Speaking as a content
Speaking as a content marketer, all infographics follow the same formula, otherwise you’re doing it wrong. If you’re not using your corporate branding/colours etc, it looks unprofessional. There are only so many ways to present this kind of information!
Wiggins’ looks better.
Wiggins’ looks better.
The guy needs to get a life..
The guy needs to get a life.. as if he invented the infographic!
The Team Sky one looks
The Team Sky one looks similar to this McDonnalds infographic:
http://www.developmentcrossing.com/profiles/blogs/mcdonald-s-global-sustainability-scorecard-infographic
Question is did Team Sky copy McDonalds?
And this Octopus Day infographic is a dead-ringer
http://www.dailyinfographic.com/world-octopus-day-infographic
But neither of them come close to I Love My Phone infographic
http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/smartphones/i-heart-my-phone-infographic.html
Someone call the legal eagles!!!
earth wrote:The Team Sky one
No, it really doesn’t.
No, its really not.
They are quite similar
They are quite similar actually.
The brief given to the wiggo
The brief given to the wiggo designer would have been something like “here, we like this sky one – let’s do something similar but you know, use our branding, colours etc. instead”
It was obviously a rush job, because quite frankly, the wiggo design is kak – unbalanced, unresolved, poorly spaced, direct rip-off of the original, and not thought through enough. Looks like the work of a student designer, whereas the sky one is well-conceived and looks professional.
Kadinkski wrote:earth
No, it really doesn’t.
No, its really not.— earth
Hi Nick! :H
farrell wrote:Kadinkski
No, it really doesn’t.
No, its really not.— Kadinkski
Hi Nick! :H— earth
Hahaha!
It’s not the first time
It’s not the first time Wiggins has has done something like this. Sky had a cycling team long before he did and they used to wear lycra and he’s doing that now too.
Sky, get over it.
I prefer the Wiggins one.
I prefer the Wiggins one.
Is the fact that the average
Is the fact that the average speed for the current record was 52.9km/hr actually a separate piece of information to the statement that the record is 52.9km, ridden in one hour?
Umm, I don’t really care…
Umm, I don’t really care…
Uh, this style of infographic
Uh, this style of infographic has been going round for ages. Team Sky are riffing on what has gone before as much as Wiggins.
Sky doth protest too much, methinks.
The Guide in the Saturday
The Guide in the Saturday edition of the Guardian has been using these types of infographics for years. Who’s ripping off who?
If this is all that team sky
If this is all that team sky have to worry about in the grand scheme of things, they need to grow up. So childish. ” Bradley’s copied my drawing!!” FFS!!!
It is an infographic.
They
It is an infographic.
They all look the same.
I know they don’t – What I really mean by that is that no-one gives a toss except the people who produce them.
Family filter on Nick’s Sky broadband in future I think.
And in other news – Team
And in other news – Team Wiggins bikes spotted with two wheels and one of them chain things, too.
Who cares. How does this
Who cares. How does this ‘hurt’ Sky? Man up =))
infographics are
infographics are infographics. they are all over the place. what’s the problem.
there are time that not
there are time that not giving a penny to Sky seems to have been the right choice. Does Sky have their name on Team Wiggins kit?
This is the same Sky that won
This is the same Sky that won a court case against Microsoft because it has/had a product called Skype and Sky Drive.
The presumption is that anything to do with the word Sky is now for sole use by Rupert Murdoch
…so is it any wonder they’d get in a flap over an infograph about cycling.
See you in court Wiggins!
Diddums
Diddums
It’s different only slightly
It’s different only slightly similar layout, by team Sky complaining it got more attention
I would have sent them both
I would have sent them both back…
postscript: He’s deleted the
postscript: He’s deleted the tweet.
Whats allllll this about
Whats allllll this about #o
A simple case of someone
A simple case of someone feeling more important than they are, and feeling what they do is more important than it is.
I imagine the balance may have been restored now!