Fun With Flags!!!!

[2001mark 1,197]

Some idiot at The Ringer listed Canada's flag as the worst.  Most of his stupid criteria was power & authority, his #1 being Mexico's.  

[Dolphins Dynasty 1,265]

Tennessee's flag is actually kinda bad. The stars in the circle aren't placed symmetrically and the random white and blue stripes on the right edge of it look awkward (plus it doesn't even have any meaning to it; it was just a mere "design consideration").

[andycumbee19 429]

No particular order here.... but here's a few of my faves.

 

UK Union Jack

Canada

Sweden

Ireland

 

State Flags:

South Carolina (Homer pick)

Arizona

Colorado

Hawaii

 

My favorite 2 All time flags fly on my flagpole at home:

 

 

[Krounist 0]

Mine is Jamaica!

[ScotM 17]

On August 17, 2016 at 11:05 AM, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

 

The Oklahoma flag is disqualified for its prominent use of text.  If text is going to appear on a flag, then it should be small and tasteful, as on the flag of New York City's borough of Queens (seen in my sig):

 

 

 

 

...not big and gaudy, as seen in that Oklahoma flag and in the flag of New York City's worst borough:

 

 

 

 

Also, the U.S. flag is a mess from a design standpoint.  Placing it next to a superbly-designed flag such as Canada's only underscores how horrid it is.

The Union Jack is not much better.  It gets points for clever combining of multiple symbols: the St. George's cross for England, the St. Andrew's cross for Scotland, the St. Patrick's cross for Ireland (now representing Northern Ireland).  But the finished product is visually jarring when considered dispassionately.  We're just used to it (which is also why we tend not to notice the awkwardness of the U.S. flag).  

On top of this, the Union Jack is hard to draw correctly.  One often sees depictions with the St. Patrick's cross (the red X) centred in the St. Andrew's cross (the white X) rather than offset in a counterclockwise (or, as the Brits themselves would say, "anticlockwise") direction, sort of like this:

The British flag is only known as the Union Jack if it's flying on a ship. Otherwise, it's just known as the Union flag, or flag of the British Commonwealth.

[dont care 1,640]

And I thought this was suppose to be what your favorite flags were, not a design class about what a flag should look like. Letters on a flag, who cares as long as he likes it, 2 colors cant touch that is just silly really. Design can't have such strict rules, that is why design changes over time, other wise we would have a ton of identical flags for everything.

[dont care 1,640]

This is my favorite flag, I love the colors, and its reference to it use to being the sunshine state, I feel Florida should do something similar to their flag.

[Ferdinand Cesarano 2,401]

 

13 hours ago, ScotM said:

The British flag is only known as the Union Jack if it's flying on a ship. Otherwise, it's just known as the Union flag, or flag of the British Commonwealth.

 

That's true. I was using a colloquialism that, strictly speaking, is not correct.

 

10 hours ago, dont care said:

Letters on a flag, who cares as long as he likes it, 2 colors cant touch that is just silly really. Design can't have such strict rules, that is why design changes over time, other wise we would have a ton of identical flags for everything.

 

These rules for flags make intuitive sense to many people; that's why they emerged. It's analogous to the rules for chords in Western music, which codify patterns that many people instinctively find pleasant.  So when there's a violation of one of these rules, it's only natural that this should run afoul of someone's aesthetic sense.

 

Furthermore, it is silly to claim that adherence to these well-founded vexillological standards would lead to identical flags, as there is room under the rules for infinite variation. Likewise, the tonal conventions of Western music don't result in compositions sounding alike.

 

 

[BigRed618 317]

On August 18, 2016 at 6:41 AM, Dolphins Dynasty said:

Tennessee's flag is actually kinda bad. The stars in the circle aren't placed symmetrically and the random white and blue stripes on the right edge of it look awkward (plus it doesn't even have any meaning to it; it was just a mere "design consideration").

 

I actually learned that there is some modicum of reason as to why the stars are placed like that. Look at those stars again. Notice how the tips touch each other in the center.

[Morgo 2,965]

On August 15, 2016 at 4:36 PM, Dolphins Dynasty said:

Maryland's state flag is arguably the most iconic of it's kind. Plus, it's also my favorite.

 

 

Hands down the best the state flag.  Still doesn't belong on a sports uniform though *cough, Ravens*

[Jaffa 491]

14 hours ago, ScotM said:

The British flag is only known as the Union Jack if it's flying on a ship. Otherwise, it's just known as the Union flag, or flag of the British Commonwealth.

 

5 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

That's true. I was using a colloquialism that, strictly speaking, is not correct.

 

Kind of true, but it's a bit of a can of worms.

 

Really, a flag is only a 'Jack' if flown from a specific mast that was mounted on a ship's bowsprit - or from the jackstaff that was introduced to replace it. The British flag has been referred to by the Admiralty and Parliament as the 'Union Jack' for a long time no matter where it's flown - on a ship or otherwise - although 'Union Flag' and 'Union Jack' are often used interchangeably by official bodies. My personal preference is for 'Jack', though.

 

A game I enjoy playing is spotting when the Union Whatever is being inadvertently flown upside down - it's a mistake a lot of people make.

[BrandMooreArt 2,224]

7 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

 

That's true. I was using a colloquialism that, strictly speaking, is not correct.

 

 

These rules for flags make intuitive sense to many people; that's why they emerged. It's analogous to the rules for chords in Western music, which codify patterns that many people instinctively find pleasant.  So when there's a violation of one of these rules, it's only natural that this should run afoul of someone's aesthetic sense.

 

Furthermore, it is silly to claim that adherence to these well-founded vexillological standards would lead to identical flags, as there is room under the rules for infinite variation. Likewise, the tonal conventions of Western music don't result in compositions sounding alike.

 

 

im with you 99% (great music analogy by the way). im actually in favor of breaking the rules from time to time. Russia's flag or Haiti's being a great example of how a slight bit of color clash can still make for a great, memorable design

[dont care 1,640]

http://m.wimp.com/four-chords-are-all-you-need-for-every-pop-song-ever-made/

i rest my case 

[Seadragon76 421]

Where's the love for odd shaped flags like Nepal and Switzerland?

 

In fact, I suggest a name change for this thread... Fun with Flags, anyone?

[BrandMooreArt 2,224]

1 hour ago, dont care said:

http://m.wimp.com/four-chords-are-all-you-need-for-every-pop-song-ever-made/

i rest my case 

its a cool "trick" to highlight the chord progressions in the songs but it ignores tempo and timing – probably other things as im not so good with music theory. but if you think of chords as colors, then in context, you don't really pick up the similarities because the differences are greater (don't confuse with "more") and thats what makes those songs (or flags) instantly recognizable and memorable. similarly, you dont confuse Italy's flag with France, or Germany, Russia, etc.

[dont care 1,640]

6 hours ago, BrandMooreArt said:

its a cool "trick" to highlight the chord progressions in the songs but it ignores tempo and timing – probably other things as im not so good with music theory. but if you think of chords as colors, then in context, you don't really pick up the similarities because the differences are greater (don't confuse with "more") and thats what makes those songs (or flags) instantly recognizable and memorable. similarly, you dont confuse Italy's flag with France, or Germany, Russia, etc.

I was joking but ok

[Victormrey 1,397]

Nice to see a thread like this!

 

Some of my fav flags (in no particular order):

 

St. Lucia

 

Spanish Empire / Burgundy Cross

 

Ohio

 

New Mexico:

 

Phoenix, AZ

 

[JQK 815]

I'm a man who loves a saltire.

[dsaline97 603]

Libya (formerly):

 

 

[McCarthy 8,805]

Best State Flags:

 

Ohio

Maryland

New Mexico

South Carolina

Colorado

Arizona

Alaska

 

Overrated:

Texas

Tennessee

California

 

 

Worst State Flags:

The ones that just put a seal or photo with lettering on them such as Washington or Wisconsin or Kentucky.