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DEL.ICIO.USGov. avoids pressing issue: Which tag design?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Savannah - Gov. Sonny Perdue had just finished telling the Georgia Economic Development Association what a fine job he’d done bring jobs and business to Georgia.
Four reporters waited in a side room for a few questions. Only one of us had a TV camera, so she got to ask the only question. Never mind what it was.
Of course, this meant no one could ask Perdue the most pressing question today in Georgia politics. Of the dozens of license plate designs on ajc.com, which one does he like?
Years ago, Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes hauled down the ’56 state flag with its Confederate battle emblem. A blue one, which many though looked like a Denny’s place mat, was hauled up.
In the aftermath, Bobby Kahn, chief of staff for Barnes, who became a one-term governor, was asked how the issue reached such a furor.
The Confederate issue aside, Kahn replied, flag design is easily grasped. People understand what looks good and what doesn’t.
And because people can have an opinion, they do. Many, many different ones. The same thing goes for license tags.
Take a look at the submissions. We like the one that features both Ray Charles and the Confederate generals on the side of Stone Mountain. It didn’t make the final 10 selected by a group of ajc.com editors for you to vote on.
Perhaps history will repeat itself and they will find their tenure short too.
What do you think of the final 10? And what caused you to vote for the one you picked? [
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Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Noel
September 21, 2006 6:29 PM | Link to this
I don’t like any of the final 10. The first two in gallery 1 is my choice…simple, colorful and easy to read. Therefor I didn’t vote for any of them. Who picked the top 10?
By El Guapo
September 21, 2006 7:22 PM | Link to this
I also liked the first two, however they are a little childish and wouldn’t really work as a license plate.
Overall, #2 and #4 are very good but I think #2 gets the nod because #4 won’t look as good from a distance.
By Peaches
September 21, 2006 7:24 PM | Link to this
I think there are much better designs that weren’t picked for the top ten.
I think the editors could have done a better job picking the top ten plates. THere were many with nice back ground designs and most of the ones they picked are very ordinary and plain….
By Sena
September 21, 2006 7:27 PM | Link to this
El Guapo did you notice the bottom of #2 has “dumber than Alabama” on it??? Peaches hit the nose on the head, there are much better ones to choose from than the top 10.
By Sandra
September 21, 2006 8:30 PM | Link to this
I like the “Georgia on my Mind” and the dogwood blossom. Both are symbolic of really good things in Georgia. Also, as an added bonus: the black color being universal, goes with any color of vehicle.
By Charlie
September 21, 2006 9:32 PM | Link to this
I came up with a novel idea.. Someone shoot holes in it and tell me why it would not work. The state issues a white tag with black letters, along with blank spaces for the stickers with Georgia across the top. As long as you do not deface the designated spaces or tag number, you can put anything on the tag you want, peaches, dogwoods, bulldogs, yellow jackets, etc. It would be fun to see how creative we all could be. The “meat” of the license plate would be preprinted and illegal to cover or change.
By Josh Childress
September 21, 2006 9:50 PM | Link to this
My design Plate #2 was not the right image. It can be found in Gallery #1 and look it real good.. The one on the bottom stated “Dumber than Alabama” was not my idea. That person stole the image and simply added the word on the bottom. About 4 pm this afternoon, I saw the image that I design was placed on Plate #2 without any word on the BUT later in 2 hours… looks like someone at AJC misplaced the wrong image. Just must be error from AJC’s side for misplacing the wrong image.
By Josh Childress
September 21, 2006 9:58 PM | Link to this
My design Plate #2 was not the right image. It can be found in Gallery #1 and look it real good.. The one on the bottom stated “Dumber than Alabama” was not my idea. That person stole the image and simply added the word on the bottom. About 4 pm this afternoon, I saw the image that I design was placed on Plate #2 without any word on the BUT later in 2 hours… looks like someone at AJC misplaced the wrong image. Just must be error from AJC’s side for misplacing the wrong image.
By Amy Adams
September 21, 2006 11:04 PM | Link to this
May i be the first to say “GO DAWGS!!!”I love the UGA tag but think there should be a choice between UGA, GAtech,The Braves,Or the falcons
By Amy Adams
September 21, 2006 11:05 PM | Link to this
May i be the first to say “GO DAWGS!!!”I love the UGA tag but think there should be a choice between UGA, GAtech,The Braves,Or the falcons
By ginger
September 22, 2006 8:41 AM | Link to this
if I had to pick right now it would be #10 for it’s unique appeal and it has a bit of Southern charm about it. I would love to pick #2, even though the photo maybe be a replacement error I can’t vote for anything that downgrades the state in which I was born, raised and chose to come back to. I must agree as a hardcore Dawgs fan, I think it’s a little much to think the whole state would want to share my passion for UGA. As for #7 great design, but hate that MICHAGAN color.
ginger
By Josh
September 22, 2006 8:43 AM | Link to this
I thought plate 4 best captured the diverse terrain and culture of the state without looking to cheesy and childish. The plates with contrasting center graphics (1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10) wouldn’t work well at all for vanity or trailer plates where the tag number goes across the entire plate without a space. This includes Mr. Graham’s suggestion (which totally looks like it was made by a bunch of accountants) and the current Georgia.gov plate. Plate 19 looks like a Mississippi plate with the Magnolia in the center. I think they already have claim to that icon. The designer of Plate 6 needs a spelling lesson on the county in which Athens is located.
Side notes: Since it sounds like Georgia is switching to digitally printed plates from embossed plates, I hope they at least retain the current font instead of using Arial or another stock MS Word font like Indiana did. Also, please consolidate the renewal stickers to one where the month and year are on the same sticker (like Florida and Indiana) so morons won’t cover up the month sticker with the year one. County stickers are basically unnecessary (many current specialty plates don’t have them any more), and eliminating them would make more room for larger numbers or larger background graphics.
By Josh
September 22, 2006 8:47 AM | Link to this
Correction…Plate “10” instead of “19”
By itsme
September 22, 2006 8:48 AM | Link to this
I like #10 (the black one), too, but that’s a Cherokee rose, not a dogwood blossom.
By itsme
September 22, 2006 8:52 AM | Link to this
I like #10 (the black one), too, but that’s a Cherokee rose, not a dogwood blossom.
By ginger
September 22, 2006 9:09 AM | Link to this
if I had to pick right now it would be #10 for it’s unique appeal and it has a bit of Southern charm about it. I would love to pick #2, even though the photo maybe be a replacement error I can’t vote for anything that downgrades the state in which I was born, raised and chose to come back to. I must agree as a hardcore Dawgs fan, I think it’s a little much to think the whole state would want to share my passion for UGA. As for #7 great design, but hate that MICHAGAN color.
ginger
By April
September 22, 2006 9:24 AM | Link to this
None of the above should be the first choice.
By ginger
September 22, 2006 9:30 AM | Link to this
if I had to pick right now it would be #10 for it’s unique appeal and it has a bit of Southern charm about it. I would love to pick #2, even though the photo maybe be a replacement error I can’t vote for anything that downgrades the state in which I was born, raised and chose to come back to. I must agree as a hardcore Dawgs fan, I think it’s a little much to think the whole state would want to share my passion for UGA. As for #7 great design, but hate that MICHAGAN color.
ginger
By Bob
September 22, 2006 9:37 AM | Link to this
The “UGA” tag should be a choice for us Dawgs fans, but number 2 is best for most folks.
The dark blue and black tags are just plain ugly…
By Doug
September 22, 2006 9:56 AM | Link to this
Come on, people. Some of these designs winning the polls are a complete mess. A tag must be readable at a decent distance to serve its purpose. Having screened images of peaches or a skyline at the top is gimmicky and would get old fast.
And there’s no way on earth I’d roll around with UGA on my tag. A big roll of duct tape would go right over that heinous bulldog.
At least plates #1 and #9 have some sense of what the state flag looks like…
By Jessie Krewson
September 22, 2006 10:09 AM | Link to this
I am not overly fond of most of the top 10, but #4 gets my vote because it’s creative and I like the pictures representing Georgia’s landscape. I also like #10, but the black may be a bit much. #2 is a bit too farm/country for me. There were others I felt should have been included, like #11 in gallery two, which I think is very classic looking.
I also like the Dawgs tag, but agree it shouldn’t have been included in the vote. But everyone did an admirable job.
By Andrew
September 22, 2006 10:37 AM | Link to this
THANKS Noel, you brightened my day. I was a little disapointed that neither of my designs were picked for the final 10, especially after seeing what was picked.
Of the designs chosen, I like #10 the best. It’s sort of nostalgic, going for a look of some of the older antique plates.
By Mary G.
September 22, 2006 11:13 AM | Link to this
I Love # 10 It is just SUPER!! It is so easy to read. In this day of Crime it will be easy to read if you need to get a tag number I bet the Police will like it too.. Is will go with any car.. It is Classy.. Thank You # 10
By eddie
September 22, 2006 11:44 AM | Link to this
I like #4 on gallery 2 the best. The lake with the sunset is really eye-catching, but I think it needs some tweaking to make it even better. #10 is OK, but replace the cherokee rose with a peach.
By S
September 22, 2006 12:18 PM | Link to this
The final 10 I thought were kind of lame. There were many other subissions that were better. It wouldn’t be a bad idea, however, to pick a few of them and offer them as specialty tags in addition to what we already have. Let’s show off the creativity of Georgia’s residents and at the same time the state makes a buck or two-perhaps enough to reduce some of these taxes…
By rob
September 22, 2006 12:41 PM | Link to this
its nice to know mine was in the top 10 and no one YET has picked it to pieces ….just remember, the plates are for YOU and the police to see at all hours of the day, and should be big print, not tiny letters. How would you like to see a crime committed and when they ask, did you get the plate number, you respond with, no, but it sure was colorful. (btw, mine was NO 3. so go to town on it!!).. ;-)
By rob
September 22, 2006 12:41 PM | Link to this
its nice to know mine was in the top 10 and no one YET has picked it to pieces ….just remember, the plates are for YOU and the police to see at all hours of the day, and should be big print, not tiny letters. How would you like to see a crime committed and when they ask, did you get the plate number, you respond with, no, but it sure was colorful. (btw, mine was NO 3. so go to town on it!!).. ;-)
By REFMan
September 22, 2006 12:54 PM | Link to this
Final 10 selection were horrible. There were much better designs especially in gallery 3.
By Josh
September 22, 2006 12:57 PM | Link to this
Mary G, I’m glad I don’t live in constant fear like it sounds you do (“day of Crime”). ‘Sounds like the Republican scare tactics have worked their magic on you. Check out real crime statistics and observe that crime rates have been dropping over the last several years.
By Jill
September 22, 2006 1:50 PM | Link to this
I agree with REFman, gallery three had the best selection although there were others in 1 and 2 that were nice.
By Mary G
September 22, 2006 2:02 PM | Link to this
Sorry Josh,I do not live in fear I just have common sence.Crime is not Rep are Dem.It is best to be prepared than Sorry. This was a lot of Fun.. Congradulations to the WINNER!!