It’s not exactly the best of times for The Great State of New York right now. The financial crisis has hit the state hard and one of the “solutions” for coming up with some extra cash is to make all New Yorkers get rid of their perfectly acceptable license plates and re-register for a higher plate fee and get new plates.
Today the DMV released the new plate design. Some people have noted that it’s “retro” and seem to like it. I’m among the many voices, however, who think they’re hideous.
I also view this as a missed opportunity. How cool would it have been for New York State (the stodgy DMV, no less) to crowdsource the design of its new plate and have people vote on a new design? They could have accepted submissions for a few weeks, eliminated designs that were too complicated, whittled it down to five or 10 choices and had residents vote for the new plate, or used a voting/ranking system for all the submissions (like myStarbucks idea). They could have had a handful of out-of-work graphic artists each submit a design and profiled each person.
The result would probably be the same (some people would like the new design and some would hate it), but it would have been a way to get people engaged in the process and make the whole idea of having to buck up for new plates a little more palatable (only a little).
Organizations often have to make changes that are difficult or unpopular. Making sure stakeholders feel invested and involved in the process is one way to make the rebellion ever-so-slightly less hostile when those changes come about.
Update Nov. 16:
The Buffalo News is reporting that the state has thrown in the towel on this new license plate plan. Though likely, not because of this post. ;-)
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
So… the current design with Lady Liberty in the middle of the plate is now history?
I like your crowdsourcing idea, but my guess is the RMV is under-funded and under-staffed, not to mention likely lacking the tech-savviness. You should have volunteered your services, Amy!
No dount that the idea of getting residents involved in the design somehow probably never even occurred to the DMV – be it due to staffing, funding, or just plain lack of creativity.
The Lady Liberty plate was retired in 2000 and we’ve had a blue and white plate with Niagara Falls and the Manhattan skyline since then.
Is the designer a Michigan graduate? Those plates are basically maize and blue.
I love your blog and agree that though this does indeed go back to old NYS license plate roots, it’s definitely ugly. I hope to upgrade soon from my hideous “mommy mobile”, but this plate clashes will definitely clash with attractive and unattractive cars alike…
However, I respectfully disagree with your suggestion of crowdsourcing the design (though no doubt it would have resulted in a better looking product in the end).
I won’t get on my soapbox here, but for those who are curious, here’s a great link. If I remember correctly as @patrickboegel tweeted, it explains why design and logos–and good copywriting–does not come dirt cheap:
http://justcreativedesign.com/2008/05/22/why-logo-design-does-not-cost-5-dollars/
I realize you are probably not suggest crowdsourcing something like a logo, but for me it’s a slippery slope.
Cheers! mk
Thanks Millie. I think I caught that link when Patrick passed it around. Spec work is a slipperly slope, not just for creative but really for any type of idea- or information-based work. However, I still think there are ways that NYS could have involved more people in the design process, even if it wasn’t set up to be spec. They could have hand-picked some unemployed designers and paid them for initial designs, for example, and still had people vote. Or they even could have done a survey of New Yorkers for what image they’d most like to see on the plate (Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, Apples, etc.).
Unfortunately the new plate isn’t going to look any better on a Ferrari than it will on a mommy mobile!