October 5, 2005
Colorful Colorado

Colorful Colorado?  You’d never know it by the “Welcome To” sign located on our state borders.  We’ve long been taught first impressions are of the utmost importance.  Well the first impression visitors to our state get is a brown structure featuring letters in a squint to read white that would be termed “bland” even by UPS standards and as the world knows UPS wrote the book when it comes to brown. 

Everyone seems to agree Colorado is one of the world’s great tourist destinations.  For many of our guests their first experience in the “Mile High State” is to have a group picture taken beside the “Colorful Colorado” welcome posted at the various entry points dotting the edges of our state from Rabbit Valley to Springfield, 4 Corners to Julesburg.  When those visitors return home and show off the pictures of their trip west what is the first slide in the bunch?  That’s right a sorrowful combination of brown paint and off white letters giving a “down in the mouth” vibe rather than conveying the feeling you’re entering the state so magnificent it inspired the lyrics to “America the Beautiful.” 

Not to suggest Centennial State visitors be welcomed by some glow in the dark neon job.  That type of signage seems best left to locations where it has already found a home like the Las Vegas strip, fast food franchises and performing arts centers. 

But there has to be some graphic designer within our borders who could figure out a more visually pleasing way of greeting visitors to our pretty part of the world than what’s been on display the past half century.  While Colorado is way ahead in the natural beauty race, we have to be dead last when it comes to “Welcome” signs.

The case can be made the best thing about Utah is the colorful greeting at the border.  (Cheap shot Utah joke)  Forgetting about the  “Land of Enchantment” to our south and “Wide Wonderful Wyoming” to the north, can’t somebody at CDOT at least do better than the Bugeaters, “Home Of Arbor Day” welcome to the East? 

I’ve long been partial to the Colorado, green and white, license plate.  Why not make that our welcome sign?  Or feature the “Maroon Bells”, skiers and hunters, or a sign saying, “Our roundabouts will have you going in circles.”  Hey, anything but what we have now, that being a combination of dirty brown and off-white that would have to be spruced up before being allowed into the “sorry” category.  C’mon folks, highway signage directing you to the Orchard Mesa landfill looks better than the “Welcome” sign on our border.   

Back when the local populace had it’s collective panties in a wad over the Grand Junction City Council’s logo expenditure, many members of the local citizenry, all of whom I’m sure were art devotee’s wanting our community to be a cut above the rest when it comes to design, called for a logo contest among third graders and awarding as much fifty bucks to the winner. Even that philosophy of “we don’t care how it looks, is it cheap?” could result in an improvement over the status quo.