State your Plate: Design Guidelines

License Plate Design Guidelines

DOWNLOAD PDF VERSION HERE.

Graphics

Avoid thin lines. Minimum line thickness = 1/32” or 0.031”
Remember your medium. Think simple bold graphics or images. All license plates are printed on reflective sheeting that is covered with tiny glass reflective beads. This means that too many colors or too bright of colors will make it hard to see.
Size and proximity. License plates are a small canvas viewed from a distance. Consider what can be seen from 10 feet away. Intricate details may be lost.

Color

Process not Pantone. All designs should be set up in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) process colors. This will be a digital print on a reflective surface.
Be cautious of tints. The method used in printing license plates may cause tints over 75% to fill in and tints under 5% to not appear.
Be cautious of too much saturation. Due to excessive heat generated when printing designs with large color fill areas, the design should have a limited amount of color saturation.

Template

Adhere to the template restrictions. Keep artwork within the permitted areas as indicated in the template.
No graphic element is permitted in the alpha-numeric area. Elements should be a minimum of ¼ inch away from the alpha-numerics as indicated in the template.
Remember your numbers. Unless otherwise specified, they will be black. Red, Dark Purple and Green are also accepted and can enhance your design.

Files

FOR CONSIDERATION IN THE CONTEST, submit a CMYK, hi-res (300 dpi or greater at 100%) .pdf, .jpg or .tif of your artwork.

FOR FINAL FILES, IF CHOSEN —

Final files for production. Acceptable file formats are Adobe Illustrator (.ai), Adobe PhotoShop (.psd), Adobe PDF Editable Format (.pdf), and Corel Draw (.cdr). Keep in mind the manufacturer accepts only PC FORMAT.

All files must be CMYK and hi-res (300 dpi or greater at 100%).

Keep all original artwork in layered format. If your work is chosen, Tennessee Title and Registration will need the original file with all elements and fonts. All final artwork files should be converted to objects with embedded images and outlined fonts.

Download the complete Tennessee Title and Registration Digital License Plate Design Specifications here.

Contact

Questions can be directed to: info@stateyourplate.org