Mercosur [car plates]

The Mercosur, a regional bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, intends to adopt uniform vehicle registration plates, like European Union already did. Trucks and buses must adopt it from 2016, other vehicles from 2018. On recent news, it's possible to see prototypes for the model, that can be seen here. I think the model rather ugly, so I decided for my own attempt.

The plates on the linked image follow the color scheme of respective countries. I'll, at first, design an unified color scheme, totally inspired in Mercosur's flag. They contain the blocs's flag (in Portuguese for Brazil, otherwise in Spanish), the national flags, the countries names in native language and the local identification (already used in Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela).


I particularly like the layout, and I think it's more similar to the current plates on the countries. I don't think a QR code is needed.

As I early wrote, the basic layout can be adapted to current colors and customs. Below, for example, there are vehicle plates inspired in current Brazilian ones.


I'm particularly happy with the results, because I achieved a clever color scheme with contrasting colors (fundamental to every type of plates).

Comments are welcome.
You can see my post about Mercosur flag here.

Mercosur

The Mercosur (Mercado Común del Sur in Spanish, "Southern Common Market" in English) is a South American political and economical organization, originally comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay; Venezuela joined in 2012, and Bolivia is in admission process. A blog reader called Gonzalez proposed a post about a Mercosur flag that "does not need to be translated".

Gonzalez's worry is based with the fact that the flag that flies on Brazil is this, with "Mercosul" (the name of the organization in Portuguese) inscription. In Brazil, flag law states that this flag should be flown near national flag in many kinds of public bodies.


And, on the rest of the member countries, that speak Spanish, the inscription is "Mercosur":


The symbolism of the flag is interesting: the Southern Cross emerging from horizon is a clear reference to the south, and represents the motto "our north is the south" (a reference to compass' north, used as guide). The fours starts also stand for the four founding members.

An easy solution for the issue is just removing any inscription from the flag and, catching the opportunity, making the stars bigger.


As it would be too easy, I'll propose a more original design, too, presented below:


This flag doesn't have the logo aspect anymore. The white stars on blue seems more natural (it's similar to a Mercosur's unofficial flag variant), and the triangle points to the south, as stated on the motto.

Comments are welcome.
Once more, I'd like to thank the suggestions, and invite you to send me one.

Paraguay

Paraguay changed its flag recently, but it past on media without great sound. Actually, it wasn't a radical change: the country only changed its seal, that appears on the flag, to a more "retro" look, based on the design introduced in the 1840s.

As you may know, Paraguay is the only country with a double-sided national flag, each side depicting one side of the national seal, that's double-sided (like the US seal). Here you see the previous obverse (above) and the current (below):

The same for the reverse:

I didn't like the change. The previous seal was much more colorful and stylistically superior, the current one seems unfinished, and the star, the branch, the lion are all smaller. Many heraldic corrections were reverted, as the yellow star is in a white background (what doesn't give enough contrast) and the lion is facing the right for no apparent reason.

I propose a deeper change, firstly turning the flag one-sided like every other flag in the world. How? Keeping the design independent from the seal. If I had to choose one side to new flag, it would be the reverse, much more impacting than the obverse. I'll remove all writing as well.

Here's the result:

I prefer the phrygian cap facing the opposite side of the lion, but it's a very personal taste, that could be changed if this flag was really adopted.

To increase the impact of the lion and the phrygian cap, nice symbols to a republic, I'd change the stripes ratio to 1:2:1 (the so-called "Spanish fess").

I think that Paraguayans could be proud about it.

Your comments are welcome.
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