30 March 2011

[design] PDX Blue's New Design: Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You?

2591.This is not actually the first time we've seen a design change in the Portland Police Bureau livery. Back before 1990, they had a very smart look, a simple blue stripe with the words "PORTLAND POLICE" inline, a Portland Rose as the centerpiece, and the tagline "Sworn To Protect: Dedicated To Serve" in a subordinate position.

With the redesign to the sportier design in 90, we saw the tagline go away and the nice, balanced design. I was sad about this; I thought the layout was well done, and the tagline was very classic police branding.

Well, times change and they're going to be doing new cars - Ford's retiring the Crown Victoria nameplate and the PPB is likely going back to the revived Chevy Caprice - and this calls for a new design.

The Oregonian has a summation of some of the shortlisted designs at http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/03/new_wheels_for_portland_police.html, and they are … interesting. There's variations on the classic black-and-white and some very daring designs; one features huge, pumped up tires, and a machine gun with distressed type beside it, and the other has flame coming from the wheels and the announcement Here comes the HEAT on the rear quarter.. My money, though, is on the stripe-design that they abandoned back in '90 to come up with the current look, but I'm a lover of old-fashioned things when it comes to things like Police. When it comes to branding for an organization that people should trust in, you should go with something friendly and approachable.

But that ATV with the back-mounted machine gun … that shows verve, elan, joie de vivre, and any number of abstruse French words that mean "risk taking".

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