Arizona border signs to be replaced

[Kniwt]

The Associated Press reports that six new varieties of signs will be erected at state borders:
https://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/grand-canyon-among-designs-for-new-arizona-welcome-signs/article_c62a080e-8e5c-5787-9102-412ad0cbdb3e.html

Gov. Doug Ducey, the Arizona Office of Tourism and the state Department of Transportation Wednesday unveiled designs for new "Welcome to Arizona" signs that will replace nearly 3-decades-old signs along highways near borders with other states.

According to Ducey's office, other landscapes that will appear on the the new signs include Saguaro National Park in the Tucson area, Sedona's Red Rocks, Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River, the San Francisco Peaks overlooking Flagstaff and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument along the U.S.-Mexico border.

[Rothman]

Now I'll really expect to see Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner out there.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'd take a weekend trip out there to get one of the Centennial Signs for one collection.  I'm kind of surprised that Organ Pipe Cactus got picked over Petrified Forest or Canyon de Chelley.  What about a US 66 design?  That would go great on I-40 eastbound. 

[Kniwt]

I'd take a weekend trip out there to get one of the Centennial Signs for one collection. 

I think the centennial signs are different, since they are also in the process of being replaced ... this time with Grand Canyon NP centennial signs (although they still haven't been erected on I-15, and hey, it's almost not 2019 anymore):
https://www.arizonahighways.com/blog/highway-signs-honor-grand-canyons-centennial

[kendancy66]

Don't the current AZ welcome signs still show centennial celebration of statehood? (1912-2012). Or are those separate signs at the border?

[oscar]

Now I'll really expect to see Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner out there.

US 285 in New Mexico north of Española most strongly reminds me of the Road Runner cartoons.

[Max Rockatansky]

Don't the current AZ welcome signs still show centennial celebration of statehood? (1912-2012). Or are those separate signs at the border?

Different signs:

https://flic.kr/p/23C5qfv

Centennial Sign

https://flic.kr/p/23C5q86

[CtrlAltDel]

I can't help but think that there's something a bit incongruous about displaying the state nickname so prominently on a background that isn't the Grand Canyon, as some of the signs do.

[michravera]

Now I'll really expect to see Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner out there.

It's a shame that they didn't make a deal with Warner Bros!

[Max Rockatansky]

I can't help but think that there's something a bit incongruous about displaying the state nickname so prominently on a background that isn't the Grand Canyon, as some of the signs do.

As opposed to the State License plate which displays the Four Peaks?

[CtrlAltDel]

I can't help but think that there's something a bit incongruous about displaying the state nickname so prominently on a background that isn't the Grand Canyon, as some of the signs do.

As opposed to the State License plate which displays the Four Peaks?

Well, no. That's incongruous too.

[kwellada]

I'd take a weekend trip out there to get one of the Centennial Signs for one collection.  I'm kind of surprised that Organ Pipe Cactus got picked over Petrified Forest or Canyon de Chelley.  What about a US 66 design?  That would go great on I-40 eastbound.

I might be a bit biased since I just visited Organ Pipe Monument earlier this week but I really love that design. And it's not out of a lack of love for Canyon de Chelly or Petrified Forest, which are two other places I utterly love to visit.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'd take a weekend trip out there to get one of the Centennial Signs for one collection.  I'm kind of surprised that Organ Pipe Cactus got picked over Petrified Forest or Canyon de Chelley.  What about a US 66 design?  That would go great on I-40 eastbound.

I might be a bit biased since I just visited Organ Pipe Monument earlier this week but I really love that design. And it's not out of a lack of love for Canyon de Chelly or Petrified Forest, which are two other places I utterly love to visit.

Having drive El Camino Del Diablo westwards Yuma with an off-road group I like it too.  That said it's hard to say that the Saguaro Cactus isn't the State signature.  I kind of felt the Colorado Plateau or more specifically the Navajo Nation region would have been a nice addition. 

[Stephane Dumas]

Now I'll really expect to see Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner out there.

Them or how about western movies legends like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood? 

[Max Rockatansky]

Now I'll really expect to see Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner out there.

Them or how about western movies legends like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood?

Anyone else ever notice in the Dollars Trilogy now obvious the terrain the movies are in Italy?

[KeithE4Phx]

Anyone else ever notice in the Dollars Trilogy now obvious the terrain the movies are in Italy?

Well, there is a reason why they're called "Spaghetti Westerns." 

[Max Rockatansky]

Anyone else ever notice in the Dollars Trilogy now obvious the terrain the movies are in Italy?

Well, there is a reason why they're called "Spaghetti Westerns." 

Yes, I'd say Italy is a decent stand in for Northern Mexico.  That said if I recall correctly there were a couple scenes in A Few More Dollars that were supposed to be set in Texas.  West Texas is more arid appearing than it came across in the Dollars movies.  At least there weren't any Saguaro Cacti in the background, that's a somewhat common trope of the Western era to put them in places other than Arizona, Sonora, or California. 

[kphoger]

Anyone else ever notice in the Dollars Trilogy now obvious the terrain the movies are in Italy?

I believe you're mistaken.  For all three movies, weren't the outdoor scenes filmed in Spain?

[Max Rockatansky]

Anyone else ever notice in the Dollars Trilogy now obvious the terrain the movies are in Italy?

I believe you're mistaken.  For all three movies, weren't the outdoor scenes filmed in Spain?

I believe you're right, nonetheless the Mediterranean vibe would be similar between the locales.  That backdrop works well far parts of California and Mexico but not so much with desert states or much of Texas.  I want to say the Bank of El Paso was a backdrop in one of the three movies, El Paso.  I seem to recall El Paso appearing infinitely less arid in movie form than it is in reality. 

[kphoger]

Man, I remember flying into El Paso and looking down.  Naught but red dirt right up until the neighborhoods started.  And, even then, the outskirts had plenty of houses with red dirt yards.

[Max Rockatansky]

Man, I remember flying into El Paso and looking down.  Naught but red dirt right up until the neighborhoods started.  And, even then, the outskirts had plenty of houses with red dirt yards.

Suffice to say El Paso and much of the Chihuahuan Desert has a distinct look that's hard to mistake.  I really dug how the outskirts were portrayed in Logan along with authentic highway signage.

[sparker]

Anyone else ever notice in the Dollars Trilogy now obvious the terrain the movies are in Italy?

I believe you're mistaken.  For all three movies, weren't the outdoor scenes filmed in Spain?

True -- Sergio Leone shot all of his Western-motif films (including the wonderful Once Upon a Time in the West) in the desert north of Gibraltar in the south of Spain.   Mostly Italian cast & crew, however. 

But speaking of the Road Runner -- is Acme doing the new signs? 

[Bobby5280]

For the most part I like the designs. I prefer the one with the organ pipe cactus the most:



They should have posted these images in PNG format rather than JPEG. The flat colors would have rendered better.

The type design is really good. The typefaces chosen aren't run of the mill fonts bundled in with Microsoft Office. The overall design will be pretty legible, provided the sign panel sizes are appropriate to the highways where they're installed.

The only criticism I have about the designs is the scenery in some of the designs looks like is was auto-traced or maybe painted with the "blob brush" in Adobe Illustrator. Some of the objects look kind of blob-u-lar and ill-defined. If the vector-based objects had been digitized by hand over the top of photographic imagery or a sketch the various objects would have looked more precise. But doing that would take more time (but not all that much really). Overall it's a judgment call in how far one wants to go in refining a sign design. Maybe ADOT's thought process was vehicles would be speeding by these things at 55mph-70mph. The scenery doesn't need to be so sharp and precise. My own feeling, as a very experienced sign designer, is people do more than just whiz by these kinds of signs. More than a few people on long road trips stop, get out and take pictures of these border landmarks. They'll take a selfie in front of a sign like that and post it to Instagram. In those respects the sign needs to look better for close up uses. The background scenery doesn't need to look like it was churned out of Adobe Illustrator's Live Trace filter.

[kwellada]

Slightly off topic, but there's an amazing instagram account where an artist creates similar looking posters for various national parks, with a twist.  She finds 1 star reviews for parks online for the caption:

https://www.instagram.com/subparparks/?hl=en

Arizona might have blown their chance to go viral.

[roadman]

Now I'll really expect to see Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner out there.

US 285 in New Mexico north of Española most strongly reminds me of the Road Runner cartoons.

Not surprising.  Chuck Jones, creator of the Coyote/Road Runner series, once stated in an interview that the backgrounds for the cartoons were inspired by memories of family trips as a kid through the deserts of New Mexico.