New Oklahoma License Plate Design

[Plutonic Panda]

According to the governor these will be issued beginning January.

http://kfor.com/2016/08/22/state-officials-unveil-oklahomas-new-license-plate/

[Bobby5280]

I don't mind the background graphics, although the Twitter-esque blue color scheme could have been different and not so cold looking.

My gripe is with the typography. It just seems way too clunky. The tag numbers & letters are already mechanical looking enough (and ugly at that). Throwing Eurostile Bold Extended (also known as Microgramma) into the design scheme just adds to the clunky feel. The dynamic of it lands with a thud. I understand why they chose that typeface (it's on the latest Oklahoma state flag design). It just doesn't work well in this layout. It looks like they stretched the URL lettering, which is a major gripe of mine in graphic design standards of practice. I really hate signs and other pieces of graphic design where the designer squeezed or stretched the lettering out of its native proportions. The practice will give any piece of graphic design the stench of having been designed by a rank amateur.

I liked the previous plates that used variants of Trajan or a similar serif typeface. That provided a tasteful contrast to the clunky tag letters & numerals.

I don't like the "Explore" and web URL parts of the design. I would prefer it just to say "Oklahoma" and not have any other spam.  This is a license plate, not a tourism ad. I can see people making jokes about the "Explore Oklahoma" thing, as if it is a plea out of desperation or even one with a sexual connotation with what "explore" could suggest.

[Plutonic Panda]

I'm not a huge fan of it, but I don't hate it.

[jakeroot]

I saw this variation on another news site. I like the colors here more. I would like to see this design, but with dark blue lettering. Maybe I'll make a mockup.

[SP Cook]

Not as bad as the old Kentucky sun-smiley face ones, but pretty bad.  To me the UN blue and white bird says "peacenik" at first glance.  How many people from out of state are even going to know what kind of bird it is, or why they used it. 

To me Oklahoma has pretty close to exclusive claim to using "Indian" imagry, due to the unique history of the place, and should stick to that.

[kphoger]

Re:  Oklahoma

I don't judge any plate anymore until I see it in person on an actual vehicle.

[Plutonic Panda]

I really like that.

[Scott5114]

The real reason for this is a cash grab. They're banking on that $5 plate reissue fee to help plug a hole in the budget. That, and I'm pretty sure 3M sent a lobbyist to Oklahoma City, since there was a previous version of this bill that would have changed Oklahoma to a two-plate state (one of 3M's pet projects).

My gripe is with the typography. It just seems way too clunky. The tag numbers & letters are already mechanical looking enough (and ugly at that). Throwing Eurostile Bold Extended (also known as Microgramma) into the design scheme just adds to the clunky feel. The dynamic of it lands with a thud. I understand why they chose that typeface (it's on the latest Oklahoma state flag design). It just doesn't work well in this layout. It looks like they stretched the URL lettering, which is a major gripe of mine in graphic design standards of practice.

Agreed. If they had re-used the "Oklahoma" text on the previous issue as-is, and used the font "Native America" was in, it would have been fine.

I've also seen some people pointing out that the flycatcher outline is strikingly similar to one of the images on the first page of the Google Image Search results for "scissortailed flycatcher":

Which raises questions of copyright infringement.

Just for shits, I created a mockup of an Oklahoma licence plate with a simpler design. Most of my designs are similar to Colorado's Rocky Mountain plates. I chose a buffalo for the center because of its strong ties to both historic and modern Oklahoma.

Technically and artistically, you did just fine. As a design, though, I don't really care for it. Other than the buffalo, the only design is what seems to be a representation of a prairie horizon, which isn't that visually interesting and only really represents the third of the state west of US-81, which is also the least populated third of the state.

I don't mind the background of the new plate, just the typography. But I've always been kind of fond of scissortails, since there were a fair number of them where I grew up. Another interesting symbol they could have used is the feather logo they use on https://ok.gov/. I could see that as a background element, perhaps similar to the current Kansas plate, working nicely.

Another gripe: I wish they would have taken the opportunity to move the county code to its own sticker, similar to Kansas. Currently it's crammed in with the expiration month (instead of FEB, a plate issued out of Cleveland County would have a 'CL 02' sticker).

[TXtoNJ]

Terrible, and a blatant cash grab/Fallin vanity project. Guessing she personally approved this, given the bad taste involved.