World License Plate redesign *Caithness and Manitoula*

[1clkgtramg]

I've never seen those silver plates but they are quite interesting. I'll see if I can get a chrome look on the plate to make a special Alternate.


Here is the final version of the DC plates with the correct incorrect name. Who cares, I like the full name better.

[1clkgtramg]

I believe Maryland is the only White plate with black dyes in the Contiguous US - well I guess Maine counts too - but I really wanted to embrace it even if it is a white plate. Most don't like the current Maryland plate but I surprisingly don't mind it. I figured I'd make it look somewhat unique by offsetting it with the MD flag vertically placed to the left. Everything else is the same.
I also chose "America in Miniature" as the slogan because I preferred it over the others. It sounds much more welcoming than the other war-related ones.





And in case anyone was wondering what a gold based plate looked like, here you go. This is NOT AN ALTERNATE.

[TheGiantsFan]

I really like the Maryland plates, especially gold plate. Concepts involving the Maryland flag sure are interesting to see. Well done!

[1clkgtramg]

I really like the Maryland plates, especially gold plate. Concepts involving the Maryland flag sure are interesting to see. Well done!

Thanks, I too enjoy Maryland designs. I tried to make one with the Black/Gold Diagonal Checkers as the background.... legibility was an issue haha. So I ended up with this simple creation.

Also a side note. I edited the First Post to make the States in Alphabetical order - I guess it also hints as to what is in the future as well.

If any links are broken or there are any spelling errors, let me know!

[1clkgtramg]

Thanks to Bucfan56, I finally received a good suggestion for a Nevada alternate plate.

Just so everyone is clear, the background is Silver Chrome and is obviously shiny on different angles.
This is based off of the 1937-1965 plates Nevada used that featured a stainless steel background and painted letters. If you ask me, I'd say it was pretty clever and ahead of it's time even though it was easy to do. This one is generally the same with painted wordmarks and embossed characters in the shade of Blue featured on the main plates.

Hopefully this is the last of Nevada.

[TheGiantsFan]

I like Nevada's. Very simple for the Silver State without favoring a single part of the state.

[Veras]

I know I'm a bit late, but for some reason I was never told that new posts had been made here.

As a Hoosier, I have to say that the Indiana plate is great, much better than the two crappy ones that we have now.

The Mississippi one is the coolest that you've done so far. Actually, it reminds me of my favorite real Indiana plate, the sunset over a farm from the 1990s that reminds me so much of my childhood.

spoilered so that I don't clutter up your thread with outside images.

[raysox]

Loving the Indiana, and original California looks. Such a good thread.

[1clkgtramg]

Thanks guys. I have managed to get the first page on General Design for Views (that means it's Top 26th) which is pretty damn good for just over a month. It is also 5th in number of replies, but that is probably because I post too much haha. I do think that the Concepts get a lot more attention - obviously - and that some who may be interested in this haven't even noticed. But oh well, its here forever.

Moving on!


Now to just ruin the positivity, I will post Georgia. I like this plate, but I'm afraid general reception would be negative.

I tried to make the colour Peach instead of using that ugly Peach/State Outline divider they have been. The black on white (wow I said Maryland was the only one... idiot) doesn't seem to go well with a state that is has vast colours in sport and nature.

From 1992-1998 They had a Peach gradient - similar to this in colour - but the peach in the Georgia wordmark I thought was overkill.
1998-2005 they had the slogan "Georgia on my mind" obviously taking the name from the song H.Carmichael and S. Gorrell wrote that was eventually covered/made famous by Ray Charles, which I thought was clever so I elected to use that...
....and yes, another State divider...

I guess this plate would be considered a travel advertisement (much like my Ski Utah) as its colours jump out at you and the font is very friendly - compared to that Copperplate wannabe font they use, and the travel website is listed at the bottom.

Hopefully a few can appreciate this one as most of us can agree their current and past ones have left a lot to be desired.





Also, I initially used black dyes but it didn't look as nice as the white. Remember the characters are embossed, causing a slight shadow, also making it easier to read, so if clarity is an issue here, it may not be as bad in person. I can post the black dye version if you guys are interested.

[TheGiantsFan]

Orange! I love it! I've always liked that Georgia wordmark. Oh, did I mention that I love the orange?

(Okay, I guess it's technically peach, but it's still orange to me.)

[1clkgtramg]

Well I'm not sure what happened here but the 320 Mediums don't fit 3 wide anymore. Not sure if Chris changed something or I screwed something up but all the images and in 2 and 1 underneath.... So I guess I will post the large images then, that way you guys can see more detail.

For Alaska, we have a retro inspired Blue plate. Its flipped colours from the current ones, the big dipper in in the middle but there is no flag since you could say the plate is the flag. Sublimated in the background there is the Totem Bird from the 1960's plates that are very iconic.

Now I know these plates conflict with the Oregon and possibly Indiana, but it's very unlikely that you will see this plate in the contiguous US so it's not that big of a deal.

[Veras]

This is one of my favorites that you've done so far. I love the art of the Pacific Northwest First Nations peoples, and you've used it beautifully here.

The only thing that I don't like is the placement of the constellation from the flag behind the lettering on the last one. It breaks it up so that you can't see it very well anyway, and the similarity of color between the stars and the font makes it a bit visually confusing. What if you moved the stars down into the corner, like you did with Washington's head on the WA plate?

[illwauk]

I believe Maryland is the only White plate with black dyes in the Contiguous US

"Nope!"

BTW, everything you've posted on this page is perfect. Don't change a thing!

[1clkgtramg]

This is one of my favorites that you've done so far. I love the art of the Pacific Northwest First Nations peoples, and you've used it beautifully here.

The only thing that I don't like is the placement of the constellation from the flag behind the lettering on the last one. It breaks it up so that you can't see it very well anyway, and the similarity of color between the stars and the font makes it a bit visually confusing. What if you moved the stars down into the corner, like you did with Washington's head on the WA plate?

Thanks.

I was tempted to move the stars but seeing that I did that with almost every plate before it, I wanted to change it up since the stars were so small that it didnt break visibility from the Characters.

But I guess I will move it anyway.

I believe Maryland is the only White plate with black dyes in the Contiguous US

"Nope!"

BTW, everything you've posted on this page is perfect. Don't change a thing!

Aww damn, thats another!! Georgia, Wisconsin, Maryland and debatable Maine. LOL I guess I'm just too used to my designs that I think they are real

[webdav]

I think this one is my favourite so far. My favourite Montana plate is the 1990-2000 plate so I wanted to pay tribute to it with this. Gradient is gone, the mountains are on the bottom and its cleaned up. I tried to get a font that would match the same font as the 90's one - this font is from the "Keep Calm" meme things. I brought back the Steer's head as a divider, they have used it on and off since the 70's. I think the Maroon and Sky Blue go nice together, almost has a West Ham/Aston Villa vibe to it - I hope that doesn't ruin it haha.

I thought Montana could use an alternate plate because the current one is fairly recognizable - closest one I can think of is Indiana. They based it off the 1975 version and maybe even the 1965 version as well. Anyway, I made it more modernized, I connected the state outline with the name, gone is the Treasure State slogan. I kept the Steer's head in the bottom right as it always has been with this style; nothing really different, just a clean up.

This is the last batch today, currently working on Utah. I want to have a few finished before posting, so tomorrow should be Wyoming, Colorado and possibly New Mexico.

As a native Montanan, I'm dismayed by our current selection of over 100 specialty plates, with a default blue plate that has so many flaws it's not even funny. For instance, the plate says "MONTANA - 10" - the 10 is completely out of place. It's not a county number, it's not a significant number in Montana history, it's simply the year the plate design was released. Who cares?

The use of "Treasure State" instead of the more recognizable "Big Sky Country" or simply "Big Sky" vexes me as well. And the way it's kerned is a crime. Not to mention that the font is squished vertically, for which someone should be publicly shamed. The three areas of type - TREASURE STATE, the number and MONTANA - 10 are seemingly randomly spaced and too close to the border of the state. And the blue color they used is just ugly and wrong.

The printing process they currently use means being forced to use a less readable type for the license plate number, but it also takes the retro charm out of what was once a pressed plate design.

Yours is a big improvement to that design, although I'd ditch the URL, we've never had it on a plate, and it's useless. I like how you've broken up the north border with the state name, it's interesting.

On your main design, you definitely harken back to the old "rainbow" plates that most residents liked. Oddly, the one plate design most Montanans remember was the red, white and blue 1976 bicentennial plates that were on almost all vehicles from the 70s until the early 90s. It's also the only design not currently available from the state, where the 1989 Centennial, 1991 Rainbow, 2000 and 2006 plates are available as "standards."

As for your blue sky design, I do like it. (I always wondered why the plates tended to have the mountains at the top of the plate.) I am not a huge fan of the colors though. I would use the unique shade of blue that the Great Northern Railroad used called "Big Sky Blue" (PMS-307c or #0078AB in hex.) As a Montana State fan, the maroon hurts my eyes.

I'd change "The Big Sky Country" to just "Big Sky", ditch the URL and possibly make the bison skull more prominent, as it's become the defacto symbol of the state, ala Wyoming's bucking cowboy.

Seems like we should be getting a new design again this year, as we've done so every four years lately. I hope it doesn't suck.

Overall, though, I really like your effort. Now, if we could get the state flag redesigned, too...

[1clkgtramg]

I'm glad you like it. Hopefully your new plates look like this haha.

A few have mentioned to go to simply "Big Sky" so I may just do that on my final post when I show all the states in alphabetical order.

I don't know how to make the steer's head more prominent. It's on both plates and as a divider, it can't be too large. Wyoming's was only large because it was already like that so I worked around it. The Steer isn't as detailed so I figured it would look bad if magnified.





Let's go to Florida.
I like these simplified plates, I took the travel Florida look and edited it slightly. I wanted to keep the oranges in the middle since it's been around since 1997 as well as the orange Florida state as a divider since 1979 - with a slight colour change in between. I don't want to break tradition too much so I only removed the state from behind the oranges and made the oranges a little smaller. I know a few Floridians have mentioned they don't like the oranges so I am really skeptical about this one... When am I not?
I later added "visit" ".com" onto the Florida wordmark because it is a popular tourist destination and it only makes sense to keep that up. The good thing about it is it is in Orange so it's not as visible when in motion (I don't expect people to be jotting down a website while on the highway).

Hopefully I don't cause any trouble with this.

[TheGiantsFan]

Alaska's is just clean and very simple. I also really like the font used for the state name and nickname.

Florida's ain't that bad either. However, I suggest extending the underline under Florida to the whole plate. Regardless, it still looks great!

[1clkgtramg]

edited the underline. It originally was this long then I shortened it... then added the website.. I also made the Oranges smaller.
I like this one much better.

[webdav]

Alaska's is just clean and very simple. I also really like the font used for the state name and nickname.

Florida's ain't that bad either. However, I suggest extending the underline under Florida to the whole plate. Regardless, it still looks great!

Alaska has a very good brand with Ursa Major and the blue and gold. Their flag is my favorite state flag, no offense to New Mexico, who also has a great one.

[webdav]

I'm glad you like it. Hopefully your new plates look like this haha.

A few have mentioned to go to simply "Big Sky" so I may just do that on my final post when I show all the states in alphabetical order.

I don't know how to make the steer's head more prominent. It's on both plates and as a divider, it can't be too large. Wyoming's was only large because it was already like that so I worked around it. The Steer isn't as detailed so I figured it would look bad if magnified.

Magnifying the one used on the current plate won't be much help. It's a horrible vectorization. I'm hoping to make a much cleaner one sometime. I have a small obsession with working on a comprehensive rebranding of the state - license plates, flag, etc.

The current flag is a mess. If you have to put the state's name on the flag in order to differentiate it from Kansas and numerous other states, you are doing it wrong.

My inspiration is Alaska, who have done a great job with a very simple, yet meaningful job with their flag. The colors are taken from that of the Great Alaska Railroad, and in turn, I've become fairly obsessive about using the colors from the "Big Sky blue" passenger train design from the Great Northern Railroad. It's just a beautiful train: