illwauk's State Flags

[sc49erfan15]

Looks great. I like the star in the canton and the sybolism, the swallow-tail is a very nice nod to the Scandinavian heritage without it being obvious. Great job!

[illwauk]

North Dakota

North Dakota has possibly the most unique set of official state colors in the union, so it was only natural that I'd base the flag on them. The design is centered around a Wild Prairie Rose, North Dakota's official state flower and the basis for pink being a state color. The background depicts the other state colors, green and white. They're split vertically half way up the flag to symbolize the state's creation from the Dakota Territory... when North Dakota and South Dakota were simultaneously admitted to the union on November 2, 1889, the border was drawn roughly at the 45th northern parallel or "half-way north."

[IceCap]

Love it. Fantastic use of the state colours, and I love the touch of the star in the centre of the rose.

[raysox]

I love it! Someone whip up a blank template for a flag flying. I want some action shots, dammit.

[AndrewPF]

Thanks for the props, guys!

ESTONE6, you have to count the points at each individual "layer."

I'm counting 28.

Love the flags, though.

[IceCap]

I got 32. Did you count the innermost blue star?

[winghaz]

Actually, pink isn't an official state color for North Dakota. There are no official state colors. Green and pink are the official colors of the University of North Dakota, although pink is dropped for the official athletic colors.

[AndrewPF]

I got 32. Did you count the innermost blue star?

I did. I'm still only getting 28.

[IceCap]

I got 32. Did you count the innermost blue star?

I did. I'm still only getting 28.

For your convenience.

Each point has been marked with a red marker. Save it and zoom in, you'll see 32.

[BlueSky]

I definitely like the star, but I'll agree with others that it does seem a little bear. Which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing. I think you could keep it as is and be just fine. However, if you do decide to add stripes, I think something like this that Mockba posted in that other flag thread would look really cool. You could put your North Star in the canton. I'm excited to see some more of these, I hope you don't mind if I post some flag ideas of mine as well? In a new thread of course.

After a few days of tweaking, here's my revision to Minnesota.

The biggest change I made is to the shape of the flag. Nearly all of the Scandinavian countries have "alternate" versions of their flag that follow this pattern, so I thought it would be appropriate for Minnesota to use it as well. I kept the 32-point north star, but moved it to the canton. I also added two streams at the bottom to symbolize the Mississippi River and the 10,000 lakes, respectively. The three sections the flag is now divided in now represent the state itself. The "twin" bottom sections represent the Twin Cities and the larger top section represents "outstate" Minnesota which roughly coincides with the shape of the state, particularly the "Arrowhead" region in the Northeast.

And winghaz, I think I am gonna do North Dakota next.

Fantastic work. Like the ND concept too. Great work finding meaningful and relevant elements and bringing them together graphically.

[illwauk]

Actually, pink isn't an official state color for North Dakota. There are no official state colors. Green and pink are the official colors of the University of North Dakota, although pink is dropped for the official athletic colors.

Hmm... I must've absorbed that story by osmosis and applied it to the entire state. But apparently the wild prairie rose is the reason why pink is an official UND color and I'd planned to use the flagship university's colors on a few flags anyway since it's not unheard of for such universities to get their colors from the state's flag (Maryland, for example).

[winghaz]

There really are two flagship universities in North Dakota -- UND and NDSU. NDSU's colors of green and yellow are probably more close to what people consider North Dakota's state colors to be.

Now, about the flag: I like the concepts, but would personally make a few tweaks. The half and half thing to symbolize the splitting of the Dakotas really doesn't make a big difference because North Dakotans and South Dakotans really haven't had a lot to do with each other since the split, or before. North Dakota has, historically, been closest to Minnesota because that's where we shipped our cattle and wheat via the railroad.

So I would go with three bands -- from the top, sky blue to represent the blue horizon of North Dakota, gold (or a wheat-colored gold) to represent the golden grain of the state, and black at the bottom to represent the fertile soil. Keep the prairie rose in the middle, although I'd use a different prairie rose.

If you think it's too busy, then go with the two bands, but make it sky blue and wheat gold or sky blue and green.

Just my opinion. Thanks.

[illwauk]

There really are two flagship universities in North Dakota -- UND and NDSU. NDSU's colors of green and yellow are probably more close to what people consider North Dakota's state colors to be.

I dunno... after doing some quick research, it seems that NDSU was intended to be an Agricultural school which puts it more on par with Texas A&M or Oklahoma State whereas UND pre-dates North Dakota's actual statehood. The only instance of a state having two flagship institutions that I'm aware of is California in the early 20th Century with Berkeley and what eventually became UCLA.

Now, about the flag: I like the concepts, but would personally make a few tweaks. The half and half thing to symbolize the splitting of the Dakotas really doesn't make a big difference because North Dakotans and South Dakotans really haven't had a lot to do with each other since the split, or before. North Dakota has, historically, been closest to Minnesota because that's where we shipped our cattle and wheat via the railroad.

The bottom half doesn't represent South Dakota per se (nor is the top half intended to represent North Dakota FWIW). The entire flag represents the Dakota Territory as a whole and the split represents North Dakota's creation from the territory.

So I would go with three bands -- from the top, sky blue to represent the blue horizon of North Dakota, gold (or a wheat-colored gold) to represent the golden grain of the state, and black at the bottom to represent the fertile soil. Keep the prairie rose in the middle, although I'd use a different prairie rose.

If you think it's too busy, then go with the two bands, but make it sky blue and wheat gold or sky blue and green.

Just my opinion. Thanks.

Sounds like you got a concept to work on

[winghaz]

Yeah, but I don't know how to work on concepts, or anything like that, on the computer. I'm a thinker, not a doer. Just ask my wife about me not being a doer.

[sc49erfan15]

Something just seems off on the North Dakota flag to me. It's not a bad design at all, I actually rather like it, but it just doesn't seem...finished.

I like winghaz' (tangent: I feel like nouns that end in Z should be treated like nouns that end in S. Apostrophe at the end of the word. Let's get the ball rolling to change the grammar laws on this, stat. Thanks!) ...anyway, I like winghaz' idea of the sky blue, wheat/gold, and black. The symbolism of the flag would have a lot in common with Ukraine, but I think it's different enough to work.

If that's too much of a drastic change from your ideas (I mean, this is your concept) I'd just work with the rose a little more. I'm no flower expert, but it just doesn't scream "rose" at me.

[winghaz]

By the way, sc, according to Associated Press style, a possessive that ends in a Z should and an apostrophe AND an s, not just an apostrophe. So it would be correct to say winghaz's as possessive, not winghaz'.

How do I know this? I was a newspaper copy editor for too many years of my life.

[BlueSky]

By the way, sc, according to Associated Press style, a possessive that ends in a Z should and an apostrophe AND an s, not just an apostrophe. So it would be correct to say winghaz's as possessive, not winghaz'.

How do I know this? I was a newspaper copy editor for too many years of my life.

But isn't an apostrophe and an 's' acceptable for possessives ending in 's', even if some style guides advise against it?

[GatorHunter]

I'd Like to see the idea you have for Florida.