Right. The vexillological point is that the flag should be a symbol in itself by pattern/colors, not a mere plackard. Ideally, a flag or ensign should be usable as a sign by which you’d recognize where are your own troops/ships supposed to be lining up, at a reasonable distance.
This also applies to their objection to seals/emblems. If the seal/crest/emblem is clean and iconic it’s good (e.g. Swaziland), but if it’s too busy, or it does nothing to help you tell it apart from another (see: any dozen US state flags), or you can’t tell it from the letterhead of a local delivery company (thank you, JohnnyMac), it fails.
I agree for Fort Worth and (borderline) for Sacramento, but I think the Plano and Montpelier flags are not very good (actually horrible in the case of Montpelier) and wouldn’t be improved by removing the lettering. A lot of the examples at the bottom of this list of American city flags do not look like flags at all, but rather like logos that you’d see on letter paper or something. Just look at the Mesa, Arizona “flag” to see what I’m talking about. It’s actually a decent logo, even if the motto is uninspiring, but a dreadful flag.
And isn’t the Pocatello flag copyrighted by the Greater Pocatello Chamber of Commerce, and this is actually written on the flag?!
This page is some guy’s ranking of the flags of many independent or semi-independent countries. It’s pretty funny and I tend to agree with his classification criteria. It is a few years old, though, so some flags (and countries) have changed since then.
? Really? I think Michigan has about the dopiest state motto. The first time someone told it to me, I was sure they were making it up as a joke.
For those you don’t know, the latin translates to:
“If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.”
First of all, its damning with faint praise – “pleasant” is a mild compliment in my view – and its a bit insulting to the residents, like they don’t even know they already live on a pleasant peninsula. Yes!! Yes! I have been seeking a pleasant peninsula OMG I’VE BEEN HERE ALL ALONG.
Another person here to join the ranks of the artistically gifted and common sense folk who adore the Maryland flag. A persons high ability and overall good quality is easily displayed by their love of this flag.
I agree about the Texas flag, though I’m a Texan so maybe it doesn’t count. I’ve always been bothered by the USA flag in that the field of stars is in a corner. I think Texas did it right by having the blue field extend the length of the flag, and I wish the USA flag did the same.
I like a lot of the flags in this thread. I tend to like the simpler designs better. My favorite flags feature simple exhibitions of the fleur-de-lys, my favorite symbol. I love the old French Royal, and the Flag of Quebec.
I find it unfortunate that this thread has (d)evolved into chest-thumping braggadocio about one’s hometown/state banner.
Can’t you people take anything seriously?
Now then, there’s no question that Maryland’s flag reigns without peer.
If you look at the entire compilation of state flags, you can see most are unimaginative, drab blue backgrounds with an equally uninspired seal in the center commemorating some historic occurrence that nobody cares about.
With Maryland, you have not only a cool-looking color scheme but a meaty historical reference with the heraldic banner from Lord Calvert and the gang.
We may have slacked off on our state song –the tune lifted straight from O’ Tannenbaum- but I proudly beat my chest as I brazenly plant our flag upon the smoldering waste heap that represents everyone else’s.
It’s the sun symbol of the Zia Pueblo Indians. The New Mexico flag renders this symbol in the colors of Spain, thus neatly reflecting the territory’s history.
Of national flags, I’d say Canada is my favorite. It’s distinctive, a child could draw it, and it has a low enough reliance on fine detail that it can be recognized even when only barely visible. The central maple leaf is an icon, not an image, and clearly symbolizes something positive about the country. And they managed to do all that using only two colors, which is a bonus: You can do it with a single color of crayon.
Of state flags, my favorites are New Mexico and Alaska. I kind of like the nonconformity of my home state of Ohio, but the bigger criterion is that even if you didn’t know what the flag was before-hand, you should be able to guess it just from the imagery. The New Mexico sun-symbol is very distinctive of the Southwestern tribes, and the Big Dipper and Polaris is a pretty clear sign for the northernmost state.
For writing on flags, my objection is twofold. First, the imagery on the flag is supposed to convey the message, and the inclusion of writing is an admission that the imagery failed. Second, a flag should have symmetry between the sides, and including writing means that you have to either break the symmetry, or make the writing backwards on one side.
This is the easy winner for me. Such a great design. It’s a shame they had to go and act like jerks and ruin it.
For the worst flag I agree with Kyla about the Maryland flag being hideous. It looks like it would give people seizures when they see it waving in the wind.
Backward writing is never correct, and the only reason it is ever seen is that modern screenprinted nylon flags are made too cheaply. The correct way to render writing (and, IMO, non-symmetric pictographs) on flags is to actually make the flag with two sides, either by printing two layers of fabric and stitching them together, or by stitching the design separately on each side onto a common backing fabric. (I believe that the Muslims do this right, since it would of course be an affront to render Koranic inscriptions incorrectly.)
This reminds me–I believe we have some Australians here–how do your flags look when viewed from the “back,” with the hoist side to the viewer’s right? Is the Southern Cross mirror-imaged? I’m sure cheap flags are made mirror-imaged, but I wonder if official flags are done the other way. This wouldn’t be an issue if the stars were an abstract design, but they’re not–it’s supposed to represent an actual constellation.
Of the Canadian provincial flags, my favourite is the Quebec flag, though I readily admit that I’m biased. Still, it’s got good symbolism, good colours, and a good shape, although it’s frequently depicted with inferior 2:1 proportions instead of the correct 3:2. The flag of Newfoundland and Labrador is quite good as well, and so’s the flag of Nova Scotia which is very good at showing the province’s Scottish heritage. The shield in the middle may be overly complicated, though. These three are the only Canadian provincial flags that I would rate as good.
As for American state flags, I find Maryland’s to be a bit too complex for its own good. It is a good flag, certainly, but it’s a bit too much and the colours clash in some places. I like the simplicity of the Texas flag, and New Mexico’s is very good as well although I’m not really a fan of yellow. Tennessee’s flag looks like an oil company logo.
Any flag thread benefits from the credits sequence to the American Civil War movie “Gods and Generals.” (Alas, the credits were the high point of the film).
