Dept. of Bad Taste: TxDot’s New License Plates
Until the new plates arrived in the mail for the lovely and talented Christine Allison’s new car, I didn’t know that Texas had decided to redesign them. Oh, I had noticed them on other cars here and there, but I thought that those were just car owners with bad taste. Unfortunately, the bad taste is meant to spread over the entire state. In changing the 
license plates from old-style printing to digital production, someone at TxDot decided to redesign the plates from scratch. Now, there’s nothing wrong with a good redesign. But my rule is, if you’re going to design something, it’s usually a good idea to hire a designer. It’s an even better idea to have people with good taste and design experience serve on the selection committee for the final choice. TxDot did neither. In fact, it ordered up several new versions (from employees, I take it, since nobody is credited) and put the options up for a vote on the internet. The result is one more argument against democracy.
The old license plates had the benefit of not being obtrusive. They also had a nice suggestion of irony, playing with the Texas myth while playing on it. But irony is a subtle instrument. In the linoleum halls of the world’s largest buyer of concrete, subtlety is probably not top of mind.
As for me, I’m going to blame it all on Rick Perry.
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I couldn’t agree more. The new plates are atrocious. I long for the days of the plain white plates that just said “Texas.”
Why does it look like blood is pouring down out of the sky? My grandmother was right, end times.
You can blame Rick Perry, but I think if he truly had a hand in it, the gawdawful cloud thing in the upper right would actually depict his profile, complete with the bangs shelf he coifs up daily.
Maybe I am a little picky, but the letter “O” and the number zero “0″ look identical. When placed together, they should be different. Hence “O0″ with the letter first and then the number, the letter is somewhat plumper than the number. Graphics people can go into this in much greater detail…
I don’t think the new ones are any worse than the present night terror of space and desert.
I second steve’s comment. I’ll take anything from 1957-1990 (according to this pictorial history http://tinyurl.com/orv23w )
I am so glad that somebody else noticed this. The new plates look so…blah. Welcome to Texas. We’re famous for our flat land and threatening red watercolor sky cloud thingies.
Same here, the old plates I thought were one of the best in the US. They were attractive but understated and looked good on pretty much every car. The new plates are awful, they look garish and cheap. I haven’t talked to one person that doesn’t hate them.
Must be a great way to get an extra $30 for specialty plates, I know when it is time for me to get new plates I’m going for a set of “State of The Arts” plates just so I don’t have to put the ugly new ones on my car.
Please, bring back the old design, at very least as specialty plates. Oh, and if you could go back to stamping them too that would be great.
When one thinks of this state, one thinks of… absolutely nothing represented on this plate.
1. The state flag in the shape of the state is a common but questionable design at best, it always looks like a gerrymandered political map with the state capitol mislabeled as somewhere east of Midland.
2. A Lone Star. Way to be literal, kids.
3. Canyons. Because Arizona isn’t the only state that has a canyon.
4. Blue Sky. Because Montana isn’t the only state that has a sky. Plus ours has fluffy clouds.
Who drew this, a first grader?
5. A ’shmear’ of red, which actually appears to be ketchup spilled on the proof. Proving it was designed by a first-grader. Good thing the kid wasn’t eating peanut butter or it’d look like – never mind.
To be fair, I do like the rectangular shape, it works for me, because it’ll fit in the space stamped out for it on my bumper. So its got that goin’ for it.
It would have been better to have “The Eyes of Texas” are upon you…with giant eyeballs staring at the car behind and totally freaking the driver out.
It might be cool to blame Rick Perry but the fault lies with a) the poor taste of people that voted this plate as the most popular and b) the people who didn’t know the state was soliciting votes for the plate design.
I voted for the one with bluebonnets. I am partial to plates that have some rendition of nature, some flora or fauna important to the state. This thing could be for any state in the country. So lame.
I daresay a few in the FB nation could design a better license plate. Why not open it up to a contest?
I’m not a fan of the plate this is replacing, either. Like others have said, there was nothing wrong with the white plate that had the Texas flag at the top and The Lone Star State on the bottom.
I think they are trying to motivate people to pay extra for speciality plates.
i agree…this is a cross between inexperienced designers and a nascar hat. i’ll be going specialty plates until this embarrassment disappears from the streets.
I voted in the TXDOT survey and even complained about the poor choices . I received no response. It is obviously a ploy to boost revenue for vanity plates. It is embarrassing. It now makes the Florida plate actually kind of pretty.
At least it gives motivation to buy a specialty plate benefiting your particular cause/interest. I’m partial to the Big Bend & Keep Texas Wild plates.
The new design was up for public vote. Therefore it’s no surprise that the most garish design won.
Borrowing an old phrase from HL Mencken, no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of Texans.
See the original nominees here: http://apps.dot.state.tx.us/services/vehicle_titles_and_registration/vote_plate.htm
The best options (and some real stinkers) are among the specialty plates: http://rts.texasonline.state.tx.us/NASApp/txdotrts/SpecialPlateOrderServlet
My personal favorite is State of the Arts–clean, crisp, and lone star proud;
http://rts.texasonline.state.tx.us/NASApp/txdotrts/SpecialPlateOrderServlet?grpid=60&pltid=102
Come on, kids, things could be worse:
1. This plate celebrates the hazy middle ground that exists on so many smoggy days, which is the inevitable consequence of industrial progress!
2. The number section appears to be not-quite-centered on the plate, celebrating the sorta off-kilter wackiness that we celebrate as a state that will once again see Kinky Friedman as a statewide political candidate. This also has roots in the Keep Austin Weird movement.
3. If there’s one thing that non-Texans have first in their minds, it’s that Texas is not a mountainous state. This will surely change opinions nationwide and will help to grow the not-quite-thriving West Texas ski industry. And yodeling.
4. The plate only features 3 distinct fonts. With desktop computers that routinely carry hundreds (if not thousands) of fonts at the ready availability of anyone with the graphics design capacity of an eight year old, we should just be thankful that they’re not mixing more serif and sans-serif fonts!
5. Along those same lines: no Comic Sans.
Based on that last point alone, this isn’t anywhere near the failure that this plate could have been.
That said, I’m not giving up my old truck plate. Ever.
I feel so validated that I am not the only one who thinks these new plates are ugly, ugly, ugly! Suddenly I am less embarrassed to be sporting vanity plates.
Oh my Lord. This is terrible. The only plus is, you know it was made on PowerPoint so the state didn’t spend 200K for some hip art house to design it.
I don’t care for it either, but why do yall hate the Hill Country?
I heart Wes Mantooth. So funny. This all makes me so glad I can’t afford to but a new car any time soon.
@Wes Genius.
@Wick Oh, that’s right, because the “cows-jumping-over-the-moon” look of the old plates — space shuttles hovering over horses and oil derricks — did Texas right so much better than the current plates?
At least we’re not puttin’ “The Friendship State” or anything like that on the plate (for those of you around during the 80s, that plate fight will take you back).
Save the space cowboy!
This and naming a street after Cesar Chavez–two reasons NOT to turn big decisions into a popularity contest.
I agree we should go back to the simple plates of the 60s (even years black, odd years white). All it needs is “TEXAS” across the top – ’nuff said.
There is nothing wrong with the plate, people. Find something else to worry about.
Also, the example above you have 2 A’s. 4 ZEROS and the Number 1. There is no letter O in the plate example above.
@FortWorthGuy: There is no letter “O” on Texas license plates, nor are there any “I”s, for the exact reason that you stumbled upon: too easy to confuse.
Test Post: Wick is a genius.
I’m exchanging mine for ‘State of the Arts’ plates. I don’t need any of this ugly on my car!
I knew it.
@Don – We’re not worried. We’re bored.
JB, are you saying there’s no I in Texas?
As I recall, when they ran the poll and announced the results, TXDOT claimed that the new plate would be offered alongside the old plate, rather than take the place of the old plate.
Oh well, it’s school plates or State of the Arts plates for me whenever they try to make me put one of these on my car. Guess their trick worked – I’ll be spending the extra $30 with them.
My biggest problem with the new plate is that it has moved away from its original purpose – ease of vehicle identification for law enforcement. Remember when the State Legislature forced many of us to remove our license bracket to make it more visible. Try reading the new plate at night from fifteen feet away. The top color swatch washes out the top of the letters/numbers, making it a guessing game. Simple is good. Just Saying.
Don, I’m vain and shallow, and this post is very important. I don’t want this ugly thing anywhere near me.
I am also sure that a graphic designer would have done designs for free (pro-bono), just to make sure that this very thing wouldn’t happen.
best plate ever- just sharp and good looking
http://rts.texasonline.state.tx.us/NASApp/txdotrts/SpecialPlateOrderServlet?grpid=60&pltid=115
Oh, and the $ goes to a decent cause.
It irritates me how expensive a vanity plate is in Texas. We were in Virginia a few months ago, and every freaking car had one. We asked a local how that was possible, and he said it was cheap – like $10 extra or something.
@cbs Best plate ever? You’re kidding, right?
@Bethany Did you see this plate? http://www.tressugar.com/988519
Can I just firebrand the back of my car? That about as Texan as it gets.
Quit complaining. You can see “Texas” now. As for irony being a subtle instrument, please. This is not the Northeast.
I actually sat at a stop light in Arlington and looked around, realizing I was surrounded by these atrocious plates. I didn’t vote in the contest they had because they were all hideous. Can’t they find a designer that will use something other than BRUSH SCRIPT??
I’m still a big fan of the State of the Arts plates. Wish they would have kept the serif font they previously used on it though.
Once I saw the options available, I desperately tried to get my friends and family to vote on the new design, but alas, none were interested. Now they’re all complaining about how ugly it is (and they’ll get no arguments from me). I’m just saying, there was a much less ugly option available if people would have taken two minutes to visit the site in between Facebooking and Twittering all day.
Agree wholeheartedly with all the above. God forbid we should live in a place like, oh, I don’t know, EUROPE, where the government doesn’t require you to carry cheesy state advertising on your vehicle. So here’s the solution: we form a non-profit called “Texans for Good Design” and propose our own specialty plate which is black (since it seems everyone drives a black or gray car these days) with white text, the word TEXAS in white, no slogans, no flags, no stars, nothing else. The process is described here:
http://www.txdot.gov/drivers_vehicles/license_plates/specialty_faqs.htm
How about it Wick? Will you head this up? There are about thirty people here willing to jump in and help.
I am so upset about these new plates, and got my car registration in the mail saying I need to replace mine. This ugly thing is not going on my car and is making me seriously consider a specialty plate…
Maybe they should have had a contest among elementary students state-wide that would have produced some much better results.
The only thing the new design lacks is a myspace.com/TxDOT URL.
I just got these plates (http://rts.texasonline.state.tx.us/NASApp/txdotrts/SpecialPlateOrderServlet?grpid=60&pltid=115) for my Jetta.
They say “And Justice For All”. Organized by the State Bar of Texas (Texas Young Lawyers) and the $22 goes to assist Texas who couldn’t otherwise afford legal services.
I really like this design and the “State of the Arts” design. Both are clean, crisp, and simple. Especially like the TEXAS in all caps. Very distinctive and commanding, y’know?
The new plates will make it easier to copy. Just take a photo of someone’s license plate, print and place on your stolen vehicle.
Seriously the new plates are extremely hard to read compared to the old plates. The font (kerning) is too close making it almost illegible to read especially from a distance.
Perhaps this was the whole idea!