“Ninety-nine percent of them are eyesores,” Lawrence opined. “I’m ashamed to drive around with mine,” he added.
A 2008 graduate of Flagler College, Lawrence says he is inspired by old things. “I spend a lot of time researching this stuff, and I started noticing how drastically license plates have changed. Over the last 50 years, the design of our license plates has gotten progressively worse, and we’re really at a point now where plates are no longer functional and really, “anything goes” behind your tag number,” he explained.
Lawrence says he was inspired to start this project when his own Georgia license plate arrived in the mail.
“I didn’t even get to pick it out, and of course, it was awful,” Lawrence said. “Some crazy, four-color process print of a peach farm and sunset going on in the background. I thought, ‘Why aren’t these things actually considered? What if we really tried to design them? What if I got other designers involved?’ And here we are. My goal for this project was to change the way Americans think about license plates, because they could be better,” he said.
He asked Frame to help.
“I was familiar with Tim’s work prior to the project,” said Lawrence. “Tim’s design style is hardworking and in the details, it exemplifies Ohio culture, and for me, just seemed like a natural fit.”
He wrote to Frame and pitched his idea. Lawrence said he wanted a plate design that is “legible and useful, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be custom and interesting.”
Frame went to work, looking for inspiration in the Buckeye State’s vast significant historical events, notable figures including eight presidents, and even the first man to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong.
“My initial idea was to depict an astronaut doing the moonwalk (Michael Jackson style),” Frame wrote when asked about the project. “While I think that would have been clever,” Frame said, “I don’t think I would have married itself to the state motto and nickname very well.”
After discarding his second idea of centering the plate design on the cardinal (because many other designers were going that route), Frame chose the Ohio State Buckeyes theme.
Frame said the choice came from two basic ideas. “The first was probably just the result of living in Columbus for too long and continually seeing a block “O” plastered on everything in sight,” Frame teases.
Football is a big part of his life, having been a high school record-setting wide receiver and defensive back for Walter E. Stebbins High School in Riverside. He set school and league records for receiving in his senior year in the fall of 1978. “My senior year I was recognized with all league and city honors,” Frame adds as a side note, “but I don’t like to brag about that stuff, so I won’t.”
There was more football in Frame’s future. “I continued my football career in college playing for Morehead State, alma mater of former NY Giant quarterback and CBS/NFL commentator Phil Simms.” Frame jokes, “The NFL scouts said I just lacked one thing to make it in the pros, that one thing was ability.”
Frame graduated from Morehead State with a art degree with a concentration in graphic design. He said art was his favorite subject in school. “I’ve always loved to draw, design and make things,” Frame remembers. His style gets inspiration from “a love for the design of letter forms” and relished “the opportunity to create something unique, being influenced by a number of design periods and styles.”
“I was able to integrate the stars from the state flag as well as the red stripes, though making the number and proportions a little different,” Frame explained. “I also found a home for the cardinal, executing that in a style referencing the late, great Ohio illustrator Charlie Harper.”
Lawrence says all the designers have finally finished their designs and they’ve all been released. “We’ve received some good press from different states but no official change yet. That’s something we’re working on,” said Lawrence. “The project is far from over in our minds. We want to make these plates a reality,” he said.
Frame says these types of volunteer projects keep designers on their toes, keeping them challenged and focused on the kind of art they want to create.
“As a professional, the day-to-day work isn’t always the type of project you’re most passionate about or might not allow the creative freedom you’d like,” Frame said. “There are always types of clients and projects that designers would love to do given the opportunity, like design the logo for an NFL team, for example, but the likelihood of getting that opportunity is less than being struck by lightning, twice. So many designers will just initiate these types of projects for their own satisfaction, or for portfolio pieces that will help them land the type of work that they want to do, or do more of.”
“There have been a number of these curated projects, usually initiated by a notable creative in the design field,” Frame said. “The curator usually approaches other respected designers to submit designs for the project within the established guidelines and/or parameters. This is one of those types of projects.”
Frame was given about two weeks to come up with the design. “I found it both challenging and rewarding to be in the company of other designers that I admire and respect,” Frame said.
What would it mean to have his design on an Ohio license plate? “It’s always very rewarding to have your work get exposure, in this case it would literally be on millions of cars, and for at least a couple of years,” he replied. Now that the Buckeyes are the National Champions, it would be a natural choice.
But there can be a down side. “You also have to prepare yourself for the fact that when your design is in the public eye, there are going to be people who hate it, for whatever reason, or no reason at all,” he said.
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