Voice Your Choice
After more than 400 entries from over 100 Coloradans, Colorado voiced its choice in the Iconic Colorado contest to help redesign the front and back of the Centennial State's upcoming driver license refresh. Congratulations to Matt Nunez, front design winning artist, and Gabriel Dupon, back design winning artist.
Nunez and Dupon will receive a $500 grant each, thanks to Colorado Creative Industries, a division of Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), which partnered with the DMV to help promote the contest.
Colorado's new design is slated to debut in the fall of 2021.
Voting has ended. Thanks to all who voiced their choice!
News
- Iconic Colorado contest: Winning art and their creators revealed
- Iconic Colorado contest: Still time to #VoiceYourChoiceCO
- Iconic Colorado contest: As thousands of Coloradans voice their choice, time remains for others to help choose new license design
- Iconic Colorado contest: Coloradans empowered to choose design for new licenses, IDs
- Iconic Colorado contest extended after $1,000 in grants obtained for winners
- Iconic Colorado contest asks Coloradans to help make state licenses the most beautiful in the world
Background info
The Iconic Colorado contest launched Aug. 17 with the goal of transforming Colorado’s driver licenses into the most beautiful in the world and closed with 407 submissions (280 front-side entries, 127 back-side entries) from 119 entrants.
Three finalists were selected by a committee that included motor vehicle administrators, artists and Gov. Polis. with a final, public vote on the top three designs. In addition to the two grants, winners will get bragging rights, will be featured in all of the Governor’s Office’s and DMV’s relevant media releases as well as having their name featured on all Colorado identification credentials.
About the finalists
- Matt Nunez -- front design winning artist
Matt Nunez is a fifth-generation Coloradan from Colorado Springs, currently living and working in Glenwood Springs. He is proud to come from a long line of family members in military and government service, including his late grandfather, Joe Nunez, who came to Colorado as a child and served in the State legislature representing Douglas County. Matt was raised in a military family, spending his childhood abroad and across the U.S., before returning to Colorado after college. He has taken photos since high school and quickly took up landscape photography as his focus after spending summers here while in college. Matt works full time as an economic development professional for the city of Glenwood Springs, and is passionate about building more vibrant Colorado communities while showcasing them through photographs in his free time.
Matt's work can be found on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
- Jenn Cunningham
Jenn Cunningham, of Morrison, Colorado, is a fine artist who typically works in acrylics. She is inspired by the wonders of nature and wonderful animals. Jenn's submission is all the things she loves about the plains. "I wanted to give some love to the other half of Colorado! Rolling prairie, spectacular thunderstorms, and the bison are the spirit of it all," she said.
- Gabriel Dupon -- back design winning artist
Gabriel Dupon is a Colorado native who loves to be creative and make the unknown into extraordinary. One way he does this, is by taking pictures of the beauty that surrounds him and be able to inspire others with his work in ways that can’t be described! Currently, Gabriel runs his own photography business focusing on portrait and event photography. Many of the things that Gabriel enjoys other than photography, includes adventuring, alpine skiing, cycling, rock climbing and
being creative in any way possible!
- Fred Lord
Fred Lord is a long-time resident of Colorado. From the age of twelve, he developed an early love of photography, mostly of landscapes and nature, packing along a 35mm rangefinder camera during parts of his youth. Following the reception of an Associate of Commercial Art degree from Denver Community College, he worked in the advertising and promotion arenas for several years.
After working for several television stations in the Denver area, he struck out on his own as a commercial photographer specializing in the areas of television promotion and architectural photography. In 2003, he and his wife moved into their new townhouse in Summit County to pursue their dream of living high in the Colorado Rockies.
His long-time interest in nature and landscape photography reasserted itself and, with a new commitment to photography, he again struck out on his own with the intent of honing his photographic skills to an even finer edge. Fred shoots with high-end Canon digital-capture cameras. His main interests are in making archival fine art prints on the most current gicleé printers. He hopes to continually develop his
photography and printing skills, especially as they might be applied to displaying the extraordinary beauty of nature and her creatures.After 14 years of mountain living, Fred and his wife have retired to Fort Collins to enjoy the landscapes and wildlife of Northern Colorado.
Multimedia
- Finalist interviews B-roll
- Promo videos
- About the printing process
Artwork will be screened down to 35% (by the vendor) in order to eliminate failed lamination of the PC card layers. This means that common elements like mountains, trees or birds may not print as spectacularly as they look in your design.
Understanding the Printing Process:
Colorado’s card has the most durable, reliable substrate in Polycarbonate (PC). The card is built in layers, then is fused through heat and pressure, making a solid block where the layers cannot be separated. This is important with advanced security printing and features within the card body. The personalization (adding demographic information) is performed with lasers, and also provides a defense against alteration. The carbon layers are also within the card body and when excited by the laser, release carbon towards the top/bottom of the card.
Colorado’s Secure Polycarbonate card body is made of sheets of 100% polycarbonate, fused under heat and pressure into a solid card body.
The identification credential is a secure document that uses offset printing on the polycarbonate card to prohibit counterfeiters from reproducing the document.
All cards are printed edge-to-edge on both sides with UV and visible inks.
Unique Pantone colors selected for the card body.
Multiple visible and invisible (UV) colors printed in one pass..
Please note
Visual differences between the submitted artwork and the mockups are due to the robust security features the Colorado DMV uses to protect against fraud and identity theft.
Fronts
This photo is of Mount Sneffels, which is in the San Juan Mountain Range west of Ouray and north of Telluride. Mount Sneffels is also on Colorado’s current driver licenses and identification cards, and is definitely Iconic.
This photo is of the Maroon Bells. Located in the Elk Mountains on the Pitkin and Gunnison counties’ border, the Maroon Bells are definitely Iconic.
This photo is of Black Canyon in Gunnison National Park. According to the National Parks Service, only the rim of this majestic canyon has shown evidence of human occupation. The rugged and pristine landscape of Black Canyon is definitely Iconic.
Backs
American Bison are an icon of Colorado’s eastern plains, and this acrylic on canvas painting nobly displays the powerful animals on a Colorado-colorful field, making it definitely Iconic.
This photo is of the Shrine Ridge Trail in the White River National Forest. Striking colors and the state’s natural beauty shine here, making it definitely Iconic.
This photo is of scenic Sprague Lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park. Sprague Lake is renowned for its fishing, making it most definitely Iconic.
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