Saturday, April 17, 2010

The New Ohio License Plate & Thoughts on the Church


I'm curious what folks think of the new Ohio license plate. When I registered in January, I opted to stay with the old plate as plain as it is.
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Yesterday, Penny and I were driving home from Columbus and we were behind a car with the new license plate plate and we both agreed that it was trying to get across too many ideas in one plate. Just for fun, I counted five ideas on the new plate.
  • Of course a plane flying symbolizing the Wright brothers and the phrase, "Beautiful birthplace of aviation."
  • The 1803 reminder to show that we've been a state for a long time.
  • A farm showing that we are a rural state.
  • A city skyline showing that we also have cities.
  • Trees showing that we have woods.

Is the bridge supposed to symbolize that our urban and rural life are somehow connected or is it trying to convey that we have more bridges than the average state? Or is there another reason for the bridge?

It appears to me that the designers of the new plate are promoting the diversity of our state rather than one particular symbol. For me, it's a little too busy, the phrase at the top is way too small to read, and it feels all to general for me. I would much rather go with one idea and make it look really nice, like the Wright brothers/invention theme. Or maybe go back to the theme of Ohio being "the heart of it all" since our state is located where the heart would be on the human body and which promotes our Midwestern values.

If license plates can try to do too much, so can the church. Many churches run the danger of trying to be all things for all people. I know this is a little tricky since God calls us to minister to the needs of our community and the people we are reaching, but on the other hand, I don't think that God wants us to stretch ourselves so thin, that we aren't offering quality ministry that will honor God and bring God's transforming love to the people we are serving.

If you would design a logo that captures the essence/uniqueness of your church, what image(s) would you include?

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