Speak for yourself regarding conditioning too, as for me you could paint them both black and remove all logos/branding and I’d still prefer the lines on the Intense over the Ellsworth.
Sorry – I was just trying to add something into the mix. I thought that was what the OP wanted.
If it was the logos that made the difference, that would be because of things like peer acceptance, previous company failures, company culture, sponsored riders that you like, have met, shops that stock them, etc, etc, etc. I accept that it isn’t just this aspect involved above.
But conditioning can be far wider – An easy to understand example is cultural conditioning. One quick example – Japanese cars are required to have a pleasant ‘face’ or lose sales.
Of course, cultures are becoming less separated aesthetically.
To try and understand Ellsworth’s appeal, I’d have to look at the american metal and rock sub cultures. It’s not something I know a lot about, but the gothic font, harleys, choppers, the women that Ellsworth emply as ‘booth babes’, etc.
I’ve always found everything about the brand ‘ugly’ so it’s no surprise that comes through in the industrial design.
Of course, that’s only in addition to all the other stuff like uninterrupted lines, focal points, squatting dogs, etc.
Although there are some easy fixes on the Ellsworth – drop the saddle, put a 1x on there, use a longer lens on the camera (to slacken the front) or change the angle to front 3/4 so that the rear linkage looks smaller as it’s in the distance.