Which U.S. States have the best and worst license plates? Part II - 45-40

The license plate reviews march on with part number two!  I'm counting down the 51 best license plates, starting from my least favorite to my most favorite.



You can check out the first post here, with pictures.  So far we've done:
51. Rhode Island
50. Vermont
49. Alaska
48. New Hampshire
47. Indiana
46. New York

Today we pick up with 45 - 40

45. Georgia
44. Michigan
43. Pennsylvania
42. Massachusetts
41. West Virginia
40. North Carolina


Hope you enjoy!  As a reminder, any criticism and commentary should be taken light-heartedly.  I have nothing against these states or the people who designed the license plates, and I have never actually designed an actual license plate before.  I just enjoy things like this.

If it feels depressing after reading this, trust me, it gets better!  I actually think #40 and #41 have a number of redeeming qualities.  We're headed in the right direction!


45. Georgia

Georgia.  I like the state, but the license plate leaves something to be desired.

Originally I had written a long list of complaints about this one, but I'll spare you.  My primary dislike here is that there is no focal point.  My eyes just kind of swim around in circles.  And it gives the illusion of being off-center.

Perhaps a tip of the cap to Coca-cola would help.

44. Michigan

Doesn't it kind of feel like a DMV or apartment newsletter, sans clip art?  Too many fonts, too many font sizes.

Of the few design choices they made, what do you think they put some thought into? Maybe the color scheme?

(1) Detroit is...blue collar...so the license plate is very...blue?
(2) Michigan has a lot of lakes that are...blue...like this license plate?

Ok, you got me, the color scheme probably has nothing to do with Michigan.  Scrap that idea.

What other design choices did they make?  And what do I think of them?

(1) Bold serif fonts mixed with block fonts  :(
(2) A curious juxtaposition of font sizes for the web address :(

43. Pennsylvania

Why are the numbers taller than the letters?

Would it kill them to use white space?

visitPA.com?  I better head there right now, on my Blackberry, while driving!

42. Massachusetts

Clean, primary colors?  Good.  Invoking a color scheme that matches your slogan?  Good.  So we're headed in the right direction.

But the rest is pretty uninspired.  I am really not a fan of three, possibly four different fonts, especially when all you have is text.  It feels disorganized.  Also, I wonder if anyone familiar with these plates can comment on the squiggly line in the middle.  I'm not sure if that's intentional or just an artifact on the image..

41. West Virginia

It's like Pennsylvania but better, cleaner and more balanced.

It's not without faults.  Like the New Hampshire plate, this one loses major points for the lack of cohesion between slogan and design.  You can say you're "wild, wonderful," but your license plate is about as "wild, wonderful" as a PG movie.  You've gotta up the ante a little if you're going to use that slogan (see below)

 

40. North Carolina

The effort is here -- in fact I like the idea -- but the execution is all wrong.  

Overlapping colors, overlapping lines, different color palettes.   Muddy, hard to read fonts.  The airplane graphic is buried in the background.  The level of detail on the plane is not appropriate for a license plate either.  

Also, the holes at the bottom (where you attach the plate to your car) look very accidental. It looks like you've been shot at a couple of times, particularly the  "O" of North Carolina.

Probably not the desired effect.

I go back and forth about whether this should be related lower, here it stands at 40.  I guess I think the concept of the license plate is good enough to warrant a higher rating.  They just need to hand this off to a contract designer who can go to town with it.

Well, that's it for today.  Hope you continue to enjoy these.  Looking forward to posting more!

So as a quick recap we have, starting from #51:

   

   

   

   

   

  

...to be continued!