I took this photo recently on K-14 just south of Ellsworth. The state highway shield here has a yellow border around its edge. Is this the new design for Kansas state highway shields?
(https://i.imgur.com/fpUWqRM.jpg)
I can't find the thread right now, but this has been discussed before. It might not have been K-14 specifically, but the yellow border for sure. Anyway, it was determined to be a one-off type of error.
I've seen signs like that for K-5. Past discussions have theorized that since the black ink doesn't go all the way to the edge, it's somewhat easier to manufacture them that way (thus why yellow caution diamonds have their black borders inset from the edge of the sign).
The gold piping looks sharp to me, so I don't mind it. MoDOT puts a similar white border on their shields.
In general. at least for my state, I've noticed that on signs with white lettering and borders, the border extends all the way to the edge of the sign. On signs with black lettering (warning signs, etc.) the border is inlaid from the edge. I've always wondered about that discrepancy.
If the entire sign panel was painted yellow prior to graphics being applied to the face then it would probably make sense for the edges to be yellow.
It's pretty common for graphics to be brought in a bit from the edge of the sign panel, whether the graphics are printed, screened or made with cut vinyl. Registration is an issue. Sign blanks aren't always made perfectly to spec. Standard 12" X 18" parking sign blanks are especially bad in that regard. The corner radius sizes are often out of kilter. All these highway sign blanks have curved corner radii.
This is sporadic for KDOT. I had a pic (maybe it's on here someplace) from several years ago of yellow-outlined K-96 and K-156 signs in Great Bend. It's not a consistent thing.