Iād like to see something done the opposite way, with full out overdetailed late Medieval heraldry for each state.
- Use meaningful symbolism.
(How relevant is the Confederate Flag?)
Iām not sure if the naivetĆ© is touching or discouraging.
I think New Mexico would be very, very unhappy with this.
The Zia should be red - not white. Maybe this would work if each flag was still designed by a resident of each state - but this just looks like New England puked on ever other states flagsā¦
Also - doesnāt this kinda deny each states a long established facet of their unique identities?
I want that.
Meanwhile, Mr. Graphic Design Genius made his California flag uber-suXX0rz.
While I can sort of understand the unified concept he was going for, sucking away any color that isnāt red, white or blue makes the flags astoundingly boring, and making everything look like a stylized logo makes it appear more like a collection of gas station brands than state flags.
Perfect, thatās exactly what they are.
Gripes:
Those colors havenāt felt modern since the early nineties. old gloryās are so much nicer.
couldnāt he just use the āoffset pathā on connecticutās flag instead of a 12pt stroke?
ā¦making everything look like a stylized logo makes it appear more like a collection of gas station brands than state flags.
Gas station brands indeed. Or airline logos. Taken individually, most of them are just bad. Taken as a group, they pretty much eliminate any point of having a state flag at all, since they all look basically the same, and most donāt even have a single distinctive element that you could throw on a hat or a T-shirt or what have you. Looking at the four states Iāve lived in:
New York: OK, New Yorkās current flag is just the seal on a blue field, which is awful, but look at this new one. I understand the urge to put the Statue of Libertyās crown on there, but if weāre going for unity, we shouldnāt antagonize New Jersey, which has a long-standing feud with New York over what state the statue is in. And those red and white borders on two sides would look nice on a brochure for health insurance, but they donāt belong on this flag. And great, throw in a red star just because. What?
Pennsylvania: Also a terrible current flag, sure. But here, āA nib of a pen occupies the lefthand side, representing the signing of the Declaration of Independence.ā A pen? Seriously? Not the Liberty Bell, not Independence Hall, but a pen? And the red stars make it look too much like the flag of Chicago. And again with extraneous elements. Why the blue line? Is it a river?
California: I cannot even begin to explain how bad the new one is. If one were to change Californiaās flag, the thing to do would be to remove the text and maybe simplify the bear a bit, but itās a pretty recognizable flag that doesnāt need a complete overhaul into blandness and abstract symbolism.
South Carolina: This one is one of the greatest tragedies of the bunch. South Carolinaās current flag is iconic within the state. Itās everywhere. Itās on beach chairs, itās on beer coozies, everywhere. Because itās already pretty simple and symbolic, itās unique to the state, and it looks good. The new one has all of the problems of the others, but with the added crime of throwing out almost everything that makes the current flag great.
Also, Utah:
āThe blue represents the great Salt Lake and the smaller blue bars are the lesser lakes.ā
Because Utah is known for itās ālesser lakesā? and not a single mountain! cāmon utah is 'Best Snow on Earth!"
Ed Mitchell is more clever than we give him credit for. Heās united everyone against him.
Check out the Maryland flag.
As a bonus, it makes for some of the most awesomely busy uniforms in college football.
I agree. The old-school Revolutionary symbolism of the current flagās cool ( and almost shocking for the first state to secede from the Union). Iāll give the new one that it tries to keep the same themeā¦ and fails. Using Revolutionary War uniform components may have seemed like a good idea, but when I first saw it, I thought the crescent and star were the Islamic symbols. Reading the description reveled that I was wrong, but Iād be surprised if I were the only one. I can hear the battle cries of āYankee, Commie, and Islamicā now.
All this red, white, and blue with stars, stripes, and circles reminds me less of the Stars and Stripes and more of the flag of North Korea.
The Kansas flag looks particularly like a gas station logo. Dislike. āAd Astra Per Asperaā, bitches.
This isnāt exactly the most practical project. I find myself wondering if somebody paid him to do this, or if itās a side project.
Sure, the state flags suck, but thatās why the outline of each stateās borders are used instead. Except for Colorado, which has the most boring outline possible. So theyāve got a really good state flag.
I agree. I liked a couple of his ideas, though. Like the standardized size relative to the American flag. I also liked the idea of drawing on geography. I think his designs were just too bland; I think you could use the same sorts of shapes he proposed but make the actual design of them more appealing - like the mountain could be a triangle but it could be a more interesting triangle.
Grizzly bears kick ass, but I suppose one could argue that we Californians donāt really deserve to have one on our flag anymore since we (or at least our forebearers) shot them all.
