Georgia State Flag Concept

[illwauk]

The thread about state flag designs and the discussion about Georgia's flag gave me my own idea that I whipped up in paint. Georgia is one of the many states whose flag is in violation of the North American Vexillological Association's guidelines, something I am attempting to correct here.

I kept the canton (blue part) from the current confederate-inspired design as something of a concession to the "heritage not hate" crowd, but mainly because the 13 stars actually make sense as Georgia was the last of the original colonies. The peach in the middle because that's arguably what Georgia is most famous for, but it can also symbolize things such as growth and natural fertility. Although I'm sure my flag wouldn't have a chance at hell of being adopted on account of its having been designed by a "yankee"

[Cola]

I like this although I think it's a little too similar in styling to South Carolina's (prominent state item on blue background). Oh, and South Carolina grows more peaches!

[Jawja]

I vote yes.

[GriffinM6]

How bout this: But with this: In place of the arch thingy.

[illwauk]

I like this although I think it's a little too similar in styling to South Carolina's (prominent state item on blue background). Oh, and South Carolina grows more peaches!

I see what you mean, but there's not too many colors that go good with peach and it's still dissimilar enough from South Carolina's (which, IMO is a pretty good baseline as far as state flags go) to work.

Oh, and South Carolina grows more peaches!

California produces more dairy products than Wisconsin and more movies have been filmed in Milwaukee than all but two cities in California. But guess which industry is associated with which state?

[BlueSky]

Stop right there, please...

No offense, Illwauk, but every damn thing down here has a peach on it. I'm begging...not the flag. Or anything else.

They just had a vote on eight finalists for the new license plate. Peaches, peach, peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches, peach, and peach. And three "In God We Trust"s for good measure. So much for originality or separation of church and state, hey? And I like how #1 has peaches at the top, the 'o' in Georgia is a peach, and then they put "The Peach State" in the lower left corner. Wow, ya think?

Somehow I missed that this contest was being held, otherwise I certainly would have posted it here so all our aspiring designers could've taken a shot. I'll post the winner when it's announced.

[pheer]

Being from GA, I am hoping for 3,4, or 7... 3 or 4 because they are SO different from the current boring plates, and 7 for the font. :-)

[illwauk]

Stop right there, please...

No offense, Illwauk, but every damn thing down here has a peach on it. I'm begging...not the flag. Or anything else.

As someone whose spent a lifetime explaining to people that despite being from the self-proclaimed "America's Dairlyand," I did not, in fact, grow up on a farm... I feel you. But I think the reason you see the peach so damned much is essentially because it's about the only state symbol that the majority of Georgians can relate to. My goal was to create a flag that would actually have a chance at being adopted, and unfortunately, that disqualifies anything that calls attention to Georgia's civil rights history that wasn't "balanced out" by some type of confederate imagery, and that's something I refuse to do. In fact, were the small bit of imagery I retained from the current flag not entirely coincidental, I wouldn't have included it at all.

Besides, as much as Georgia overexposes peaches, NO ONE is as bad as Wisconsin is with dairy paraphernalia

EDIT: Here's something I came up with while dicking around. Can't really say I care for it, but this is what happens when folks can't learn to share their toys.

(For those who don't know, red, black and green are the traditional Pan-African colors which is why they appear on the flags of so many African nations.)

[Gothamite]

I can't say I really care for it, either.

Besides, that's just wrong. What are you going to do next, recolor the 1933 German flag in Israeli blue and white?

[illwauk]

Truth be told, it's not actually my idea. But I must say it does a pretty good job of displaying the absurdity of the idea that Georgia should have to to "compromise" on a flag that celebrated the state's Civil Rights history.

[Gothamite]

Absurd is putting it mildly.

Shameful that any state would have such a profound ignorance of history. They ought to be ashamed of what that flag represented.

[IronChefShark]

Its good to see designers take a crack at rendering new flags for US states.

So many state flags are generic blue fields with arms/seals. The best flags are the ones that feature a straightforward, iconic symbol such as New Mexico's zia sign, Arizona's copper star with sunburst background, South Carolina's crescent moon and palmetto, even Oklahoma's dreamcatcher and Alaska's big dipper (I believe this one was designed by a kid in elementary school, seriously).

There are plenty of other states that have symbols that could tastefully and simply be rendered to a flag. Kansas with the sunflower, Mississippi with the magnolia, Montana with the bison skull to name just a few.

[Gothamite]

Couldn't agree more.

[BLUELANDbeliever]

Absurd is putting it mildly.

Shameful that any state would have such a profound ignorance of history. They ought to be ashamed of what that flag represented.

I can't wrap my mind around why people always assume that someone displaying the St. Andrew's Cross always is a racist. While yes, the CSA did use it as a battle flag and i can understand it being commonly associated with the morally and ethically wrong cultural practices by the people who carried it in that instance, over the years it has also become a symbol of southern pride and a symbol for a region. (ex: Oranges and Palm trees are commonly associated with states such as Florida). It comes under the same principle that many people (unfortunately) that wear hats will don a hat with a logo of a team that they don't even care about but wear it because it looks good. In short, just because you see that symbol, don't always assume that it is supporting its twisted and troubled past.

[Lights Out]

While yes, the CSA did use it as a battle flag and i can understand it being commonly associated with the morally and ethically wrong cultural practices by the people who carried it in that instance, over the years it has also become a symbol of southern pride and a symbol for a region.

Never really understood that argument. If you draw pride from a symbol of racial oppression and ignorance, you have serious issues.

[mjrbaseball]

Absurd is putting it mildly.

Shameful that any state would have such a profound ignorance of history. They ought to be ashamed of what that flag represented.

I can't wrap my mind around why people always assume that someone displaying the St. Andrew's Cross always is a racist. While yes, the CSA did use it as a battle flag and i can understand it being commonly associated with the morally and ethically wrong cultural practices by the people who carried it in that instance, over the years it has also become a symbol of southern pride and a symbol for a region. (ex: Oranges and Palm trees are commonly associated with states such as Florida). It comes under the same principle that many people (unfortunately) that wear hats will don a hat with a logo of a team that they don't even care about but wear it because it looks good. In short, just because you see that symbol, don't always assume that it is supporting its twisted and troubled past.

The people who disparage the St. Andrew's Cross as racist are the same type of people who will forever equate the swastika with Nazism and racism, without realizing that in cultures around the world, from China and Korea to Native Americans to Scandinavia, the swastika (regardless of which way the arms point) evolved independently as a symbol of peace and good fortune. It has been used in that context for probably more than a thousand years, and can be seen prominently on the facade of many Asian temples.

[Shmee]

Absurd is putting it mildly.

Shameful that any state would have such a profound ignorance of history. They ought to be ashamed of what that flag represented.

I can't wrap my mind around why people always assume that someone displaying the St. Andrew's Cross always is a racist. While yes, the CSA did use it as a battle flag and i can understand it being commonly associated with the morally and ethically wrong cultural practices by the people who carried it in that instance, over the years it has also become a symbol of southern pride and a symbol for a region. (ex: Oranges and Palm trees are commonly associated with states such as Florida). It comes under the same principle that many people (unfortunately) that wear hats will don a hat with a logo of a team that they don't even care about but wear it because it looks good. In short, just because you see that symbol, don't always assume that it is supporting its twisted and troubled past.

The people who disparage the St. Andrew's Cross as racist are the same type of people who will forever equate the swastika with Nazism and racism, without realizing that in cultures around the world, from China and Korea to Native Americans to Scandinavia, the swastika (regardless of which way the arms point) evolved independently as a symbol of peace and good fortune. It has been used in that context for probably more than a thousand years, and can be seen prominently on the facade of many Asian temples.

Not to nitpick, but it's a misnomer to call the Confederate battle flag a "St. Andrew's cross." In terms of heraldry, it's actually a saltire and not a St. Andrew's cross, as it wasn't meant to carry any religious symbolism. When discussing the St. Andrew's cross when it comes to flags, the discussion really centers around Scotland. Calling the Confederate battle flag a St. Andrew's cross is really a distraction and nothing more.

I'm also in total agreement with ICS on this issue. I've often lamented that New York is one of the many states with crappy, generic state flags. I envy states like New Mexico, South Carolina, and others that have iconic, unique, and beautiful flags that serve as points of pride to residents. I doubt the majority of New Yorkers could pick our state flag out of a group, but you see the state flag EVERYWHERE in places like SC and Texas. I think if New York had a similarly solid and unique design, you'd see it all over the place here as well.

I applaud illwauk's effort here. The nod to the current flag with the 13-star circle evokes both American and Georgian history, keeps a part of the present flag alive, and blends it with the new. Though the peach may be almost cliched in Georgia, it really is what just about anyone thinks of when thinking of Georgia. It's simple, iconic, visually appealing, and meaningful. I think it's a great idea, illwauk.

[CAB]

I've was always really fascinated with the flags of the world when I was younger. I love that site that you linked to, it really shows a lot of great examples of some nice looking flags. Ones that look like they should: simple. While there does appear to be an abundance of peach-symbolism in Georgia, I like how you used it in this flag. I'm just not a huge fan of the shape of the peach, looks too much like a leaf IMO. Maybe try to make it more rounded at the bottom? Idk. Keep working on this though, I wish more people (myself included) would try to design some flags. Perhaps I will in the future.

[Gothamite]

Absurd is putting it mildly.

Shameful that any state would have such a profound ignorance of history. They ought to be ashamed of what that flag represented.

I can't wrap my mind around why people always assume that someone displaying the St. Andrew's Cross always is a racist. While yes, the CSA did use it as a battle flag and i can understand it being commonly associated with the morally and ethically wrong cultural practices by the people who carried it in that instance, over the years it has also become a symbol of southern pride and a symbol for a region. (ex: Oranges and Palm trees are commonly associated with states such as Florida). It comes under the same principle that many people (unfortunately) that wear hats will don a hat with a logo of a team that they don't even care about but wear it because it looks good. In short, just because you see that symbol, don't always assume that it is supporting its twisted and troubled past.

The people who disparage the St. Andrew's Cross as racist are the same type of people who will forever equate the swastika with Nazism and racism, without realizing that in cultures around the world, from China and Korea to Native Americans to Scandinavia, the swastika (regardless of which way the arms point) evolved independently as a symbol of peace and good fortune. It has been used in that context for probably more than a thousand years, and can be seen prominently on the facade of many Asian temples.

Nobody's equating the St. Andrew's Cross itself and in general with racism. This isn't about swastikas in general, but a black swastika in a white disk on a red flag. You see that, and we all know they're not referencing a Buddhist symbol.

Just as with the Confederate flag specifically. You cannot separate that symbol from the racism it represented. It was designed to fly above a nation founded on the principle that black people were not equal to white people, and that their proper place in life was enslavement and subordination to white people.

Historical revisionism aside, that flag represents an abhorrent chapter in American history. Not everyone who flies it is a racist, but it's either that, ignorance of history, or kidding himself.

[rams80]

Stop right there, please...

No offense, Illwauk, but every damn thing down here has a peach on it. I'm begging...not the flag. Or anything else.

They just had a vote on eight finalists for the new license plate. Peaches, peach, peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches, peach, and peach. And three "In God We Trust"s for good measure. So much for originality or separation of church and state, hey? And I like how #1 has peaches at the top, the 'o' in Georgia is a peach, and then they put "The Peach State" in the lower left corner. Wow, ya think?

Well unfortunately peanuts kill a lot of people now and nobody likes Carter, so I believe Georgia is pretty much tapped out for alternative state symbols.