Gov. John Kasich and CCAD senior Aaron Roberts

Surrounded by reporters on a rainy Monday morning, CCAD President Dennison W. Griffith and Ohio Governor John Kasich along with a CCAD senior design student, Aaron Roberts,  unveiled the new designs for Ohio’s license plate and driver’s license—the results of a four-month collaboration between the college and the state.

The project started with an invitation by Mark Kvamme, interim chief investment officer and president of JobsOhio, to redesign the state’s most visible moving moniker and the identification card carried by millions across the state.

Griffith said CCAD’s Design Group, led by Creative Director Lindsay Kronmiller, researched every plate in Ohio history and reviewed samples from across the country and around the world to identify the elements that meet the requirements of safety and law enforcement officials, while at the same time creating a vibrant and memorable image for the state.

From left, Aaron Roberts, Gov. John Kasich, Walker MacKenzie Crane, Mark Kvamme, Isuri Merrnchi Hewage, Katlyn Westbrook, and Taylor Hicks

The five members of the CCAD team on the license plate project included: Aaron Roberts; Walker MacKenzie Crane, Granville, Ohio; Isuri Merenchi Hewage, Colombo, Sri Lanka; Taylor Hicks, Columbus, Ohio; Katlyn Westbrook, Pataskala, Ohio. The student designers brainstormed more than 100 concepts and toured the production plant in an Ohio prison to see the parameters of the presses where their designs would be fabricated. The team selected five final concepts to present to their clients, Public Safety department and BMV administrators. And, finally, a choice was made:  Aaron Roberts’ aviation-inspired theme, which features an aviation wing shape embedded with an outline of the state, along with a series of phrases from Ohio’s history screened in gray on the white background area.

“This partnership has provided our students with opportunities to manage client relationships and design challenges,” said Griffith. “In today’s economic climate, where creativity is key to solving business problems, projects such as this one give our students the experience they need to transition from the classroom to the job market.”

During the press event, the Governor announced an interactive twist to the project. The public will get to vote on the phrases and words from Ohio’s history that will be used on the plates, which range from “The Buckeye State” to “Home of Astronauts.”  Voting will take place online until Jan. 8, 2012, at http://myplate.ohio.gov.

“To see something that you designed shared every day, with everyone in Ohio and that represents the pride of our state, is really sublime,” said Roberts, a senior majoring in Advertising & Graphic Design .

After the voting is completed the new designs will go into production, a process that can take six to nine months. The new plates and licenses are expected to be available in December 2012, after the current inventory has been used.

Check out video about the project here: Meet the Designer & See the Design Process, and read the related press release online.