This is Signal vs. Noise, a weblog by 37signals about entrepreneurship, design, experience, simplicity, constraints, pop culture, our products, products we like, and more. Established 1999 in Chicago.

Seth Werkheiser 27 Jun 05

Huh? Wha? This post was about license plates? I was, umm… distracted, I think… hehe

Dan Boland 27 Jun 05

I’m not the biggest fan of the Illinois license plate (how can you not love the tackiness of the old design?), but mainly because the license plate number is just that — all numbers. Somehow, it’s harder for me to remember all numbers than the traditional three letter, three number combo. I hope I never witness a crime and a getaway. =/

David 27 Jun 05

How about printing them on clear plastic so you don’t even need different plates. Then they could have a black or white print version, or just do white w/black outlines.

Dunno if plastic would be too easy to fake if that’s even an issue.

pb 27 Jun 05

I miss the old California black and yellow plates.

harlo 27 Jun 05

even better, Tennesse’s old state-shaped plates.

omit 27 Jun 05

Bring back vintage plates.

Darren James Harkness 27 Jun 05

Wasn’t the whole idea of the different license plates to allow people to quickly identify the state the plate is from? Though the ordinary driver may not care, it would be a real headache for photo-radar operators / red light cameras to identify which state an offending vehicle is from in order to charge the right driver with an offense without the unique design.

And honestly, I’ve never looked at a car and thought the license plate broke its design.

Jim Walls 27 Jun 05

Got to agree with you, Darren. This is what happens when a designer works without a creative brief.

The client mandatory on this one is that license plates make it easy for law enforcement to identify the owner of the vehicle. Therefore, each state’s design must be uniform and visually distinctive. Take that away, and you eliminate the usefulness of a license plate. Why not paint the windshield the same color as the car, or make the brake lamps white?

Perhaps he solves this issue in the article (admittedly, I haven’t read it).

Harlo 27 Jun 05

Distinctiveness of plate has gone away before this designer’s suggestion.. Where I live, in Michigan, we can choose one of 24 different plate designs.. each of them uglier than the last (except for the OG white-on-blue)

Benjy 27 Jun 05

even better, Tennesse’s old state-shaped plates.

I just today saw a current plate for Canada’s Northern Territory that was polar bear shaped!

I liked the clean design of the previous Illinois plates. The current ones are too much, with the frilly “Illinois” and the gradient.

But nothing’s as bad as the current Nebraska plate. There isn’t any car out there that it doesn’t look horrible on.

Jim Walls 27 Jun 05

But Harlo, Michigan’s plates are distinctive in that they’re different from other states’.

Design taste notwithstanding, all of Michigan’s plates can be identified by law enforcement by its white field with blue bar at the top, or the plain blue field with white lettering.

Now, if you want to talk about the clip-art loon, lighthouse, or sailboat, that’s a different story. Does the state of Michigan not have a single graphic designer who could take this job on pro bono, or is the current “designer” hoarding this project for themselves?

Steve Stedman 27 Jun 05

Virginia’s 180 license plate variants must lead the pack. Good luck in correctly identifying the Bowler, Parrotheads, or Home School plates as being from VA in a moment of crisis.

Credit/curse 3M Traffic Safety Systems for selling the concept of specialty plates to increase state revenues.

Dan Boland 27 Jun 05

Way to call out my home state, Steve. ;) I can’t believe there’s a license plate for friggin’ Parrotheads…

Lau Taarnskov 27 Jun 05

Danish license plates are relatively big, simple and easy to read. Very functional. But they can also take too much attention.

A Danish plate on an Alfa Romeo 156: http://bilgalleri.dk/uploads_large/25485.jpg

Because of the grille design, the license plates are on the side of the front. Some don’t like that, but I think it’s cool. The license stuff have to be set aside for the design of the car.

Italian plates are smaller, and doesnt distract from the design as much. This is an Alfa Romeo 156 GTA with an italian plate: http://www.fantasycars.com/sedans/misc/alfa_1561.jpg

The worst thing about danish license plates, though, is that they cost 200% of the cars value :(

Anonymous Coward 28 Jun 05

I hate Illinois nazis.

ffub 03 Jul 05

What about legibility? I have to say the UK plates are pretty simplistic and effective. The background is white for the front, yellow for the back, and reflective. Thus, when your headlights catch it not only is it easy to read, but you know which way round a stationary (but perhaps not for long) vehicle is.

Our brief is quite different, the user of the plate here is mainly the Police when it comes to reading the actualy registration number. They need to be able to read it quickly on a moving vehicle. But at that job, it works very well. The DVLA guidelines (well, legislation) is pretty clear what the intentions are:

The British Standard sets out the physical characteristics on the number plate. This includes:

• Visibility
• Strength
• Reflectivity

As with all good signage the UK plates have a clear and consistent font, indeed they are required to use the standard font by law. The letters used are restricted so as to avoid confusion with numbers, such as O/0 and 1/I. You’re also not allowed letter combinations such as, ‘god’ , ‘sht’ and ‘fck’ ;).

An example UK plate

But we don’t have states, or (properly) region coded number plates, so they are just the vehicle’s registration number.

Richard Rutter 06 Jul 05

Just to add to ffub’s comment on UK license plates, the main user of the plates is indeed the police, but in particular automatic character recognition of the plates - hence the need for license plates to be clear and standardised. Most patrol cars are fitted with such devices and will automatically check the plate of any vehicle the patrol car is following and alert the officers if the car is stolen, unlicensed, or otherwise dodgy.

I believe the prevalence of speed cameras also read license plates to automate the handing out of fines to registered owners (there may be some human intervention in that process, but if so it’s just for legal reasons).

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Bill Hanley 25 Nov 05

I think the optional five dollar bridge graphic plate is one of the nicer U.S. state designs and for a mere $5 is a great deal. You should see what we have to pay in Ontario for any option to avoid having our crappy standard plate here!