I like Rhode Island’s flag the best out of the state flags. Washington’s is pretty cool though due to its Warhol-esque qualities. But other renditions show it with more detailed shading. It still looks all cool and Pop Art-ish though.
As for Canada, at least Nunavut residents can take consolation in their bitchen state seal. I mean, the thing has a NARWHAL on it! Damn, that’s cool!
I’ve always liked the Australian Aboriginal Flag. Simple, with striking colours.
There is an explanation below the flag, noting what each colour means.
Gosh, I think the Georgia flag is just hideous.
Flags should be simple but distinct. Most European flags are too simple, just a collection of stripes, mut most state and provincial flags are ridiculously complex. Good national flags I like include:
Canada
China
Aruba
Barbados
Guyana
South Korea
Japan
Israel
Algeria
No one’s mentioned Texas, so I’ll go ahead and give my opinions on both the pros and cons of it:
Cons: Well… it’s kind of simplistic and not really eye catching.
Pros: It’s got the feel of a national flag more than a state flag (probably because Texas was a nation once) and also its very recognizable. I’m sure if there’s any two state flags that almost everyone in the US would recognize it would be their own and Texas’.
You bunch of flag hags.
Most state flags are either boring or too gaudy. Tennessee’s flag is interesting, it looks like an “American” flag without being the Stars and Stripes.
I wish the Massachusetts legislature hadn’t taken it upon themselves to remove the reverse side of our flag.
The second side made it unique (I think). Now, it’s just a boring state seal.
Oregon has a two sided flag.
friedo, I totally disagree with you, I think Nunavut’s flag is awesome.
Illinois has a totally lame flag. What is up with these flags with the state seal? Michigan’s is like that too. How unoriginal or uncreative can you get? Put a little thought into it, people.
I rather like the flag of my home state of California. Rawr, bear! And it has an interesting history, being the flag of a short-lived independent republic (hence the inscription “California Republic”).
I like the Sri Lankan flag. It’s busy and hard to draw, as I learned when I did a report on Sri Lanka in sixth grade, but pretty cool nonetheless.
Just as a matter of interest our national flag is only called The Union Jack when flown on ships, The rest of the time it is The Union Flag.
Also I think that the American flag is possibly the best designed in the world and has been copied to some extent by other countries, Greece being one that springs to mind.
I like Arizona and California’s flags, myself.
Iowa and Illinois’ flags are…completely lame. (And New York’s is pretty dull)
Indiana’s is pretty cool, tho’.
The European Union, Commonwealth of Independant States, and United Nations flags are all pretty classy. Ditto for the ASEAN flag.
I’d like to suggest Greenland’s flag, as well as the Romani/“Gypsy” flag.
Angola’s flag looks like it’d be good for a supervillain. OPEC’s looks like a bad, cheesy supervillain’s flag.
Then, of course, the Marine Corps Flag, the Chicago City Flag, and whatever the flag of Latveria is.
Here you go. It’s a corker!
No one has mentioned Virginia’s state flag, which is the only one to feature nudity. And violence. If it was a movie, it would definitely be rated R (or does one nipple just get a PG-13 these days?).
That’s because it is a national flag. Chile’s* to be exact.
Chile: http://www.ciw.edu/images/chile-flag.gif
Texas’: http://www.flash.net/~nmundo/texas.gif
*Yeah, I know they aren’t exactly the same but they’re so close that to someone not really familiar with one would easily confuse it with the other.
Aesiron - I did a google search to find out which came first, Chile’s or Texas’s flag, and I found this amusing website:
Here’s the North American Vexillological Association’s 2001 State/Provincial Flag Survey Results (In which yours truly was one of those surveyed). It includes a brief report on the criteria for the evaluation, pics of the top and bottom 10, and the full ranking at the end.
The survey includes states, provinces, territories, and “associate states” (Marshall Islands, Palau, Micronesia – since these are technically independent I suppose they could have been skipped? That would put Hawaii in the Top 10) I would have switched Hawaii’s and Alaska’s, myself.
The states with seal-on-blue-field flags really took it in the shorts in the survey. None in the top half if I’m not mistaken. Regardless of its honourable origin in the regimental standards of the Union infantry, the “blue bedsheet” has the disadvantage of being unrecognizable at any distance beyond where you can actually see what’s on the seal. Add to that how some of those seals are just too damn “busy” and/or prosaic to figure out to whom they refer unless you get even closer to actually read the inscription (Nice of Wisconsin, Kansas and Montana to write in big bold block letters on the flag itself their names. But doesn’t that sort of defeat the purpose?) .
The “new” Georgia flag (the “placemat” flag) took extra heat since the controversy was still fresh, as an example of design-by-political-committee. Specially annoying was the little gallery-o’flags along the bottom. I still say they should have just gone to the pre-1950s flag (red stripes instead of the CBF on the fly half)
Maryland is something of a special case since though it’s damn hard to describe verbally, it’s probably the most immediately recognizable and distinct state flag.
Aesiron: to top it off, one of two early alternates for the Cuban Flag (c.1868) was a reverse-colored (star on red) Chilean flag.
jrd
GMRyujin, the FOTW servers seem to be uncoordinated and either don’t show the “New-new” flag or in its stead show the “old-new” flag for 2001-03.
So for reference:
The 1920-56 flag: vertical band of blue at hoist, with Georgia seal in white; 3 stripes red/white/red on the fly
The 1956-2001 flag: same blue band with seal, Confederate battle Flag on the fly
The 2001-03 “new” flag: “Blue Bedsheet”, GA seal in gold surrounded by 13 stars resting on short gold ribbon on bottom with phrase “Georgia History” and thumbnails of 5 historic flags. Phrase “In God we Trust” at bottom of everything.
2003 “new-new” flag: blue square canton on upper hoist, with main part of seal (not whole) in gold and 13 stars; 3 stripes red/white/red with bottom stripe running all the length.
Of course, one of the issues with “New-new” flag is that this one evokes even more closely than the 1920-56 the stars-and-bars of the original official Confederate flag.
Pennsylvania’s flag is pretty boring, and pretty indistinguishable at first from the other “state seal on blue” flags, such as New York’s. Probably the only that stands out are the horses. Replacement idea–how about a cheesesteak flag? On the left would be the Primanti Bros. cheesesteak for western PA, and on the right would be a Pat’s Philly cheesesteak for the eastern part.
And I know it’s not a state flag, but my all-time favorite is the “Don’t Tread On Me” snake flag. That one should replace the stars and stripes.
I’m a Hoosier, and I say that Indiana could have had a great flag, but some morons decided to horribly mar a very good design by putting the word “Indiana” on it. That’s just stupid. There is no need to put entire words on a flag–that’s not what they’re for.
