Saturday 01 January 2022<\/p>\n
Will Morgan, Architectural Critic<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n For Rhode Islanders, choosing a new license plate design is just as important as naming a child. The current Wave board has been in use for twenty-five years, so it is important to choose a new state ID. It is, in the words of Director of the Department of Motor Vehicles “Bodd” Craddock, “a generational opportunity,” as the license plate is “a symbol that carries a piece of Rhode Island to the rest of the county.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n “Wave” by famous art director Tyler Smith: Photo: Will Morgan<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Get the latest breaking news here – SUBSCRIBE to GOLOCAL DAILY DAILY EBLAST<\/p>\n With this heavy responsibility, DMW opened up the new board design to everyone. But the wave set the standard too high. When Tyler Smith’s signature gray and white design was released in 1996, professional graphic designers hailed it as the best modern license plate. RISD intern Smith approached the board entirely, intentionally keeping it simple. This simplicity helped extend its life. Imagine how a tacky sketch and logo, like former Governor Gina Raimondo’s favorite Cooler and Warmer motto, would have held up for this time period.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n A Vermont flag board may look cute, but all the little illustration devices contribute to the feeling of clutter. Photo: Will Morgan\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This column is a supporter of design competitions, believing that they can open up unknown sources of talent. In 1926, for example, the Territory of Alaska held an open competition for its flag; The winner Elliot was a thirteen-year-old from a missionary school. A century later, the flag of Alaska is still one of the strongest and most recognizable state flags, and the formation of its Big Dipper and North Star is both simple and symbolic. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Alaska license plate displaying the Benny Benson flag design. Photo: Will Morgan\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There are some risks in the wide open selection process. How many planets, lighthouses, beaches, seagulls, bridges, and sailboats can accommodate a six-by-twelve-inch rectangle. And the judges are not famous graphic designers or RISD professors \u2014 the four finalists who can all be voted on will be chosen by the DMV crew. There will no doubt be ridiculous and embarrassing suggested designs like the Rhode Island Save Wildlife sign.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Designed by a veterinarian, this cartoon sign indicates that squirrels, deer, and raccoons are endangered.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n One also needs to beware of logos, which can be just as embarrassing as tattoos obtained when one was eighteen and was intoxicated. The DMV must drop the requirement that submissions include the Ocean State logo. Rising Seas might make this nickname more than a mockery in places like Newport and Narragansett in twenty years, while it seems to exclude non-nautical images like Slater Mill or Johnston Landfill. The Ocean State, along with slogans like Treasure State, Natural State, Silver State, not to mention the famous potato and Chile’s world capital, is just tourist hyperbole that spoils the plate and lowers the state’s image. Cooler and warmer, really.<\/p>\n At first, the subject of pride (and perhaps a political statement), an important pre-black life painting, filmed in Washington, may be a burden in certain neighborhoods.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Initially the subject of pride (and perhaps a political statement), an important pre-Black Lives Matter painting, filmed in Washington, might be a drag in certain neighborhoods. Photo: William Richards \/ Third Team\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Another limitation imposed by the DMV (or rather the manufacturer, 3M) is that the new license plate will be digitally printed. The embossed numbers and letters will be replaced by a flat surface that allows all kinds of images. Easier to scan, but not necessarily the safest, digital paintings have spawned a whole range of graphic image boards. The America’s Cup sailboat on the proposed variant of the Chaffee administration was somewhat restrictive compared to the smaller Disney-like screens coming from places like Ohio. It doesn’t matter that the primary function of a license plate is supposed clarity.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n The new Ohio board features a wheat field, river, sunrise, trees, hills, city skyline, man and dog. In the sky, the Wright brothers’ plane – which flew over North Carolina – flew backwards (hence the red circle).\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Digital screening makes all kinds of details available. We can look forward to plenty of ideas for the new Rhode Island brand: regattas, farm scenes, various sports teams, and the faces of local legends – Roger Williams, and Raymond Patriarca, a Bristol slave trader. What these cool boards don’t do is offer simple yet powerful designs.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n The West Virginia painting is a hybrid, as this example still has the embossed lettering. But the details of the autumnal hillside, the rolling mountain stream, and the soon-to-be-killed buck are all startling, if not relevant, in car identification. Photo: Will Morgan\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Grinch might be playing down the fun of a free-for-all design competition for the new Rhode Island brand. But we’d be better off if we secured a schematic-free board and no logo: no anchors, no waves, no raccoon.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n This old Massachusetts plaque, seen on a car in North Attleboro, says all that needs to be said: No spirit of America (vodka?), no Pilgrims landing on Plymouth Rock, no Fenway Park. Photo: Will Morgan\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Then there are Rhode Island classics.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Rhode Island’s most elegant and stylish license plate (made of aluminum during WWII). Photo: Will Morgan\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.golocalprov.com\/cache\/images\/cached\/cache\/images\/remote\/https_s3.amazonaws.com\/media.golocalprov.com\/RI-OX_Morgan_2_License_May_2021_728_363_90.jpg\")
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