New "Welcome to Nevada" signs on the way

[gonealookin]

The Nevada Department of Tourism is running a contest for the design of new signs to be placed at the state line on all major highway entrances into the state.  The contest is only open to design submissions from Nevada high school students; however, there will be a public online voting period from April 18-22, 2016, in which anyone can choose from among the finalists.

http://travelnevada.com/pages/2016-sign-contest

It's a pretty fast time frame:  sign designs submitted in March, final designs chosen in April, signs produced by NDOT in late April into May, and the first ones posted by Memorial Day weekend.

I like the Prospector/Sunset multi-color design shown at the top of the TravelNevada page, but he isn't all that common; many of the existing signs are text-only.  We're going for branding now; the new signs must include the "Nevada.  A World Within.  A State Apart." slogan (including the little symbol over the first "a" in "Nevada" to indicate the proper pronounciation; too many people make the second syllable sound like "odd" when it correctly is "add") and reference to the TravelNevada.com website.

Four different regional designs will be chosen.  One thing I don't agree with at all:  on the regional map, it looks like they've put Lake Tahoe into the Southwest region along with Las Vegas.  There is a lot of "Reno-Tahoe" branding, starting with RNO Airport, and Tahoe just doesn't have much in common at all with Vegas.  I doubt that a sign design that works well on I-15 at Primm or US 93 at Hoover Dam would make much sense on US 50 in Stateline.

[Sub-Urbanite]

Yeah, I've always liked the current signs and that new slogan is weak. I do support the breve over the ă in Nevăda, if only because it's such a great "take that" to people who pronounce it wrong (looking at you, East Coast).

The Tahoe/Vegas region can't possibly be right, can it?!?!?

One thing I don't like is the whole "All *major* highway entrances into the state." Look. There are fewer than 35 paved roads that enter the state of Nevada. Is it too much to ask to spring for something better than the basic blue-on-white "Welcome to Nevada" signs that mark most of those border crossings? I mean, I get that they're all target practice anyway, but still...

[roadfro]

I've always liked the prospector welcome signs. I always thought these were the standard, but these seem to be the exception rather than the rule–I was rather surprised to see the Hoover Dam bypass bridge open with the nondescript blue on white sign. Looking back, I think the prospector versions may have been installed around the state's 125 anniversary (the same prospector was used on the commemorative plates issued in 1989-90).

But anyway, I like the concept behind the contest. Anything to get rid of all the plain blue on white signs.


I do find issue with the division of the state into four regions for sign purposes. I think it would have been better to use three divisions, since that's what most people divide the state into anyway: South, Northwest, Northeast. That That would also align with the NDOT districts, so each district could maintain one style of sign.

[vdeane]

Yeah, I've always liked the current signs and that new slogan is weak. I do support the breve over the ă in Nevăda, if only because it's such a great "take that" to people who pronounce it wrong (looking at you, East Coast).

But how many people would actually know what that means?  I know I don't, and I can't imagine anyone who isn't a linguist actually knows the pronunciation symbols.

[SP Cook]

We're going for branding now; the new signs must include the "Nevada.  A World Within.  A State Apart." slogan

IMHO,

There are a minority of states that have a slogan or knickname that are unique, well known, and applicable to that state and that state alone.  Such as Nevada: The Silver State.  Why states persist in dumb slogans like the above which the ad agency could have just as well sold to ANY state is difficult to understand.

[gonealookin]

One thing I don't like is the whole "All *major* highway entrances into the state." Look. There are fewer than 35 paved roads that enter the state of Nevada.

I think I read the contest details too fast on that point.  The contest description says "Up to 50 entry points exist on Nevada's major interstate freeways, state highways and small roadways into the state..." which suggests that the entry point doesn't have to be "major" to be worthy of a sign.

The Tahoe/Vegas region can't possibly be right, can it?!?!?

Well, here's the map they supplied.  They must have put, oh, at least two seconds thought into locating the dividing lines between the sections.  Again quoting the contest description, "Because of the tremendous diversity of Nevada's regions, the signs should depict the specific appeals of the entry region. The state is divided into four regions (please see the associated map) and a winner will be selected for each region. We will select four different, but cohesive, sign designs."



I would redraw the map to attach Tahoe and Carson City, probably down to Walker Lake along US 95, to the NW section, leave the NE section about as is, and instead of that weird NW to SE line bisecting the southern half of the state, draw an east-west line a little north of Las Vegas to create South and Central sections.  The sign themes could then logically be:

South:  Dice, bright lights, Hoover Dam
Northwest:  Recreation.  I would say Burning Man but that's not necessarily a permanent institution.
Northeast:  Mining
Central:  Hmmm, there's not much there.  Area 51?

[vdeane]

I'd draw a line south of US 50 in present zone 4 and north of US 6 in present zone 3 and call that zone 3; the remainder of zones 3 and 4 would become parts of zones 1 and 2.  I can't think of any rational reason for the current zones; the only thing I can think of is that some politician hates Tahoe for some reason (possibly to tilt the zone 1 sign to Reno when it would have likely otherwise gone to Tahoe?) and wanted to subsume them under Vegas.

I also find the restriction to high school students odd.  Why not allow everyone to submit something?

[Sub-Urbanite]

I have to wonder how many Nevada high schoolers will think of gambling at all. I know I did not think too much about gambling when I was a Nevada high schooler.

Correction to my earlier post: There are fewer than *45* paved roads that enter Nevada. But that counts local roads in Sandy Valley, Verdi, Lake Tahoe, etc. That's still remarkably low, I'm guessing possibly the lowest of the lower 48. (That's for another thread, though)

[Henry]

Would this be the first time that high schoolers are asked to design new welcome signs for a state? If so, then kudos to NV for that!

[The Ghostbuster]

Will there be Welcome To California signs in the opposite direction?

[roadfro]

Well, here's the map they supplied.  They must have put, oh, at least two seconds thought into locating the dividing lines between the sections.  Again quoting the contest description, "Because of the tremendous diversity of Nevada's regions, the signs should depict the specific appeals of the entry region. The state is divided into four regions (please see the associated map) and a winner will be selected for each region. We will select four different, but cohesive, sign designs."



I would redraw the map to attach Tahoe and Carson City, probably down to Walker Lake along US 95, to the NW section, leave the NE section about as is, and instead of that weird NW to SE line bisecting the southern half of the state, draw an east-west line a little north of Las Vegas to create South and Central sections.  The sign themes could then logically be:

South:  Dice, bright lights, Hoover Dam
Northwest:  Recreation.  I would say Burning Man but that's not necessarily a permanent institution.
Northeast:  Mining
Central:  Hmmm, there's not much there.  Area 51?

Nobody in their right mind would divide the state into four regions in this manner. Zone 3 encompassing the I-15 entry to Las Vegas and the US 50 entry to Lake Tahoe makes no sense...these are distinctly different regions of the state. I think somebody just drew lines on a map without thought or input and called it good.


Here's a link to the map of NDOT's maintenance districts (PDF).

NDOT only has 3 districts, but this division would make much more sense if you are looking at capturing the regional diversity of cultural and physical landscape.

District 1: South - Las Vegas, but also smaller towns mining towns. Hotter, more arid, desert climate.
District 2: Northwest - Reno/Carson/Lake Tahoe, with some smaller towns like Hawthorne/Fallon/Fernley/Lovelock. Outdoor recreation (most major lakes are in this region, and most ski resorts) as well as farming.
District 3: Northeast - Elko, Ely, Rural Nevada small towns. The Great Basin, Mining (most of the state's active mines), ranching.

[Duke87]

Yeah, I've always liked the current signs and that new slogan is weak. I do support the breve over the ă in Nevăda, if only because it's such a great "take that" to people who pronounce it wrong (looking at you, East Coast).

But how many people would actually know what that means?  I know I don't, and I can't imagine anyone who isn't a linguist actually knows the pronunciation symbols.

I've taken to pronouncing the names of Nevada and Oregon like the locals over there do and enjoying the funny looks I sometimes get.

Of course when it comes to Nevada, an argument could be made that both the locals and the East Coast are wrong, since neither pronounces the word like it would be pronounced in its original Spanish. 

[SP Cook]

Of course when it comes to Nevada, an argument could be made that both the locals and the East Coast are wrong, since neither pronounces the word like it would be pronounced in its original Spanish. 

Of all the pretentious afectations, dropping into pronouncing Spanish place names, be they in the USA or in Latin America (or Spain for that matter) with faux Spanish inflection is just my least favorate.  It is LOS AN-jell-us, not LOOOS an-HEL-eze.  Yes, the Spansh would pronounce it differently.  And the Carthegenians had a different word for Carthage, which mattered unti they lost the Punic War.

[gonealookin]

Here are your finalists in the sign contest.  Vote by Friday, April 22.

http://travelnevada.com/pages/sign-contest

My general reaction is "can't we just keep the prospector"?  I guess #9 is close enough to that.  And #10 for sheer goofiness.

[vdeane]

Honestly, the signs make the regions look similar enough that my thought is "why bother".  At least we won't have gambling signs in Reno, but couldn't they just pick one design?  I'm partial to #2.

[jakeroot]

I think entry #9 looks nice. I immediately eliminated any of the signs with the word "Nevada" on the sign twice (too redundant). Doing so left me with entries left me with 1, 2, 3, and 9. 1 and 2 are both okay, but the Travel Nevada bit on the bottom was clearly an afterthought, and the colors are all wrong. Sign 1 also has a very 90s-ish color scheme, which I don't like. Design 2 uses an image, and I think would prove too costly to regularly produce. Entry number 3 was a really close call, but I think the cowboy better symbolizes the state than the hot air balloon.

So, these are my top two. First image is my preference, second image is, well, a close second:

[gonealookin]

The winners have been posted.  Dang, the Area 51 sign didn't make the cut.  These should go up in the next few months.

Northwest region   ---   Northeast region:

 

Southwest region   ---   Southeast region:

 

[jander]

So how are you supposed to say it?

N-vaaaaaa-da

Or
N-vahhhhh-da. 

[TXtoNJ]

So how are you supposed to say it?

N-vaaaaaa-da

Or
N-vahhhhh-da. 

Short A. "Vad" rhymes with "dad".

Same with Colo-RAD-o

The short A marker is my favorite part about these signs.

[roadfro]

So how are you supposed to say it?

N-vaaaaaa-da

Or
N-vahhhhh-da. 

Short A. "Vad" rhymes with "dad".

Saying it the other way is a sure-fire sign you are not from Nevada, and will draw ire from any native Nevadan.

The short A marker is my favorite part about these signs.

The short A marker has been part of the Nevada tourism commission's branding for several years now, I believe it was introduced with the "A world within, a state apart" phrase also seen on these signs.

[kurumi]

Yeah, I've always liked the current signs and that new slogan is weak. I do support the breve over the ă in Nevăda, if only because it's such a great "take that" to people who pronounce it wrong (looking at you, East Coast).

But how many people would actually know what that means?  I know I don't, and I can't imagine anyone who isn't a linguist actually knows the pronunciation symbols.

It's a falling then rising tone, like the 好 in 好吃. (Nevadian is a tonal language)

[vdeane]

And how is the average person supposed to know that the funky curved thing above the first A denotes the short A sound?  I'm not a linguist, and I doubt most anyone else is, either.

[gonealookin]

This is the definitive pronounciation guide, with bonus Welcome to Nevada Prospector Sign at the end:

[qguy]

And how is the average person supposed to know that the funky curved thing above the first A denotes the short A sound?

I was taught that the smile-shaped thing denoted a short vowel sound in grade school. Don't they teach that anymore? Just another indication of a civilization in decline!

[andy3175]

KNPR has picked up this story and shows the existing miner welcome sign and four winning welcome signs: http://knpr.org/knpr/2016-05/new-welcome-signs-coming-nevadas-highways

Of note is that the existing miner welcome signs, once removed from the field, will be raffled off by the Nevada Department of Transportation presumably for private use. Details on this are still pending based on the article.

The four winning welcome sign designers are:

Matthew Henson, Fernley High School, Fernley, NV, Region 1: Northwest
Emma Harris, Academy of Arts Careers and Technology, Reno, NV, Region 2: Northeast
Luke Tedesco, West Career ​and Technical Academy, Las Vegas, NV, Region 3: Southwest
Brynne McMurray, Moapa Valley High School, Overton, NV, Region 4: Southeast