5.19.2009

Exhibit 18.25

Now, I don't care in the sense that I don't have Nebraska license plates and will likely never have Nebraska license plates. I also don't care in the sense that I can't say I ever really notice license plates.

I just think the state's reaction to the license plate voting has been fairly hilarious. For weeks people have been complaining about it and writing letters to the editor, all of whom seem to hold the same opinion: the choices, such as they were, were horrible and whatever misguided process excluded using actual design professionals should be scrapped.

Almost every aspect of the process has been attacked, from the use of the governor (who, despite a fairly well documented history of being a tool and no documented history of being a graphic designer, picked the finalists) to the required inclusion of Nebraska.gov (at the expense of, say, "The Good Life," Nebraska's awesome state motto).

And now, naturally, the worst design won and I'm as outraged as everyone else for some reason (probably boredom). The winner:


Black? Really? This for a state with two distinguishing features (wide, blue skies and flat, amber prairie)? There's not even any indication of what the intent was here. It's too designed to be distinctly plain (like Delaware's plates) and is so contrary to the state itself as to actually be fairly transgressive, as if the football team played five seasons as The Nebraska.gov Corpsemongers.

More importantly, the gradients. Good lord, the gradients. It's like someone took a two-week Creative Suite class and couldn't help themselves. We're just lucky we didn't get any clip art or artificial lens flares.

And by we I mean you. I'm out of here, suckers.

[runs away laughing maniacally, returns for Christmas, feels bad]

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