I am a dual citizen, and when I received a US passport in 2009, I noticed how bad quality it seemed to have. The bio page looks like it could be ripped off easily, the printing looks very sloppy and the colour picture quality is worse than the original that I send with the application. It looks like they covered an ordinary paper page with some kind of film and put all the holograms on it. On the other hand, my other non-US passport utilises the polycarbonate bio page that has the photo and the text all engraved with laser whilst the page itself is very sturdy and durable. The photo engraved with laser is black and white and is of a very high clarity compared to the coloured US photo that looks like it was printed with an inkjet home-quality printer.
As for the design, the US passport seems to be overly patriotic where all American symbols were thrown in and mixed up without the regard for aesthetic quality. The previous US passport had a very clean and elegant design. I personally don't mind American flag on the background of the data page when it has a low contrast and does not interfere with the printed text. In this case, the coloured background actually makes the reading of the text harder. I realise that the Dept of State during Bush administration wanted to accentuate how good the USA was compared to the rest of the world, but the US passport is used primarily as a travel document to be seen mostly by foreign border guards and government officials. This "look how patriotic we are" design attitude of the US passport is not done in a good taste, in my opinion. I think that the USA is powerful and influential enough not to highlight this fact in its passport, so the minimalistic clean design would be better.
My non-US passport is almost useless when it comes to convenient international travel (except Russia and Cuba
) but is very elegant and simplistic. On the other hand, the US passport is the single most important document that many people dream to obtain one day, yet its quality and design is inferior to most passports from other developed countries. I find this fact curious.
Politics aside, what do you think of the US e-passport quality and design? For the record, I value my US citizenship and my US passport very much, but it is the quality and design of this document that I find to be poor.
As for the design, the US passport seems to be overly patriotic where all American symbols were thrown in and mixed up without the regard for aesthetic quality. The previous US passport had a very clean and elegant design. I personally don't mind American flag on the background of the data page when it has a low contrast and does not interfere with the printed text. In this case, the coloured background actually makes the reading of the text harder. I realise that the Dept of State during Bush administration wanted to accentuate how good the USA was compared to the rest of the world, but the US passport is used primarily as a travel document to be seen mostly by foreign border guards and government officials. This "look how patriotic we are" design attitude of the US passport is not done in a good taste, in my opinion. I think that the USA is powerful and influential enough not to highlight this fact in its passport, so the minimalistic clean design would be better.
My non-US passport is almost useless when it comes to convenient international travel (except Russia and Cuba
) but is very elegant and simplistic. On the other hand, the US passport is the single most important document that many people dream to obtain one day, yet its quality and design is inferior to most passports from other developed countries. I find this fact curious. Politics aside, what do you think of the US e-passport quality and design? For the record, I value my US citizenship and my US passport very much, but it is the quality and design of this document that I find to be poor.