New Flag for Fiji?

[Gazzzaf]

Keeping off topic, I don't mind this one...

...but the roo isn't clear enough. I've been thinking about something similar with wattle dividing the two fields.

[Craegus]

Red white and blue definantly doesn't say australia, but when someone in the government brought up changing the flag a few years back the was a massive outcry from the public and the IDE was scrapped. Despite our hate for England we love out flag, I also pretty much guaranty that if we did get a new flag it wouldn't be green and gold as the rest of the world would suspect, it would be black red and yellow, the colours of the indigenous Australians flag.

I cannot see our flag being anything other than red, white and blue. Even though it does not feature our national colours they have become the iconic colours of the flag, and if changed there would be a massive outcry. Plus not every country in the world uses their national colours in their flags.

I know there was a proposal to simply replace the Union Jack would the indigenous flag, but the designer of the indigenous flag shot it down.

That was also rejected as the canton area of a flag represents ownership over a nation (thus why the Union Jack is currently in that location), replacing it with the Aboriginal flag would then state that the Aboriginal nation held a level of control over the rest of the country.

I wouldn't like for the aboriginal flag to be our flag, nor would many people but if there was a flag re design I think it would be a derivative of that flag

I agree that the Aboriginal flag will not be the national flag, but a new flag would also not be a derivative of it. A new flag would have to represent the entire nation as a whole and chosing a design based on a specific peoples flag would completely override that. Any new design would be completely new and unique sothat it represents every single person.

Personally I do like this design:

It is simple and elegant and represents Australia perfectly, the blue ocean surrounding the white beaches and red soil that lies beneath the southern cross.

[Davidson]

Never understand why Aussie and NZ vote to keep the Union Jack.

What vote? We've never been given a vote or choice in the matter. There's never been a proposed flag that's got beyond the stage of some designer waving his concept around in the breeze and asking for attention.

And any Australian flag change should correctly feature the heraldic colours of blue and gold.

Sorry, I meant when polled.

[BrandMooreArt]

Red white and blue definantly doesn't say australia, but when someone in the government brought up changing the flag a few years back the was a massive outcry from the public and the IDE was scrapped. Despite our hate for England we love out flag, I also pretty much guaranty that if we did get a new flag it wouldn't be green and gold as the rest of the world would suspect, it would be black red and yellow, the colours of the indigenous Australians flag.

I cannot see our flag being anything other than red, white and blue. Even though it does not feature our national colours they have become the iconic colours of the flag, and if changed there would be a massive outcry. Plus not every country in the world uses their national colours in their flags.

I know there was a proposal to simply replace the Union Jack would the indigenous flag, but the designer of the indigenous flag shot it down.

That was also rejected as the canton area of a flag represents ownership over a nation (thus why the Union Jack is currently in that location), replacing it with the Aboriginal flag would then state that the Aboriginal nation held a level of control over the rest of the country.

I wouldn't like for the aboriginal flag to be our flag, nor would many people but if there was a flag re design I think it would be a derivative of that flag

I agree that the Aboriginal flag will not be the national flag, but a new flag would also not be a derivative of it. A new flag would have to represent the entire nation as a whole and chosing a design based on a specific peoples flag would completely override that. Any new design would be completely new and unique sothat it represents every single person.

Personally I do like this design:

It is simple and elegant and represents Australia perfectly, the blue ocean surrounding the white beaches and red soil that lies beneath the southern cross.

im with you, i think thats a fantastic design.

[BrandMooreArt]

I reckon this little animation is particularly apt for this conversation:

https://vimeo.com/55325086

And here is the link to the Ausflag website. Some interesting ideas for flags here: http://www.ausflag.com.au/

Never understand why Aussie and NZ vote to keep the Union Jack.

Good on Fiji for ditching it. Hope they go with something White and Black like their rugby team:

Meh. The problem I have with the current Canadian flag is that it's rather....empty. Not in terms of design, obviously, but in terms of what it represents. What does it symbolize? Why the red bands? Why only one red leaf when the official emblem of Canada is supposed to be three red leaves on one stem?

Whatever the flaws the previous red ensign had, it represented something. The origin of Canada's governmental system, it's continued connection to the Commonwealth, the flag Canadian soldiers fought under for two world wars. The ensign represented something. The current flag looks fantastic, and I do have a sentimental attachment to it, but it looks like it was designed by committee. Which it was. It doesn't tell the story of the nation, something a flag should do. Which, objectively speaking makes it a poor flag.

That's what I feel when I see the Aussie flag proposals.

Some fantastic designs, but designing a national flag isn't the same as designing a sports logo.

i think its exactly the same. a logo, like a flag, is the gateway to the brand. a small representation of who you are and what you stand for; your personality, history, culture. you make a good case for the "emptiness" of the Canadian flag but nothing is born with the emotional ties and equity of things that are 100 years old. they're earned over time

[IceCap]

but designing a national flag isn't the same as designing a sports logo.

i think its exactly the same. a logo, like a flag, is the gateway to the brand. a small representation of who you are and what you stand for; your personality, history, culture. you make a good case for the "emptiness" of the Canadian flag but nothing is born with the emotional ties and equity of things that are 100 years old. they're earned over time

Well going back to the Canadian case, leaf aside it lacks most what you claim a flag should have. Of the proposals from 1965 the one then Prime Minister Pearson liked was probably the best, because its design actually conveyed a sense of meaning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Canada_Pearson_Pennant_1964.svg

Three red leaves on one stem against a field of white the "official" emblem of the country, and the blue bands could reference the national motto "From Sea to Sea." Or they could tie in with the colours of the Union Jack from the old red ensign. Or they could represent the country's French Canadian population. It's a design with meaning, and better still it's a design most Canadians could find their own meaning in.

The flag they went with, the one we have now, is kind of what I meant when I said "designing a flag isn't like designing a sports logo." My apologies if I didn't convey my meaning properly. Every aspect about it just sort of exists because it's aesthetically pleasing, but any sense of meaning is either stunted or gone all together. One leaf instead of three? Simply because it looks good. Why red bands? What do they symbolize? Nothing. They just look good. Aesthetically pleasing? Absolutely. Well designed? Without a doubt. Meaningful? Only in the sense that it's the national flag so it should, I guess. Which is kind of circular logic when you get right down to it. Over time will it mean something? Possibly. I'd rather a design that actually meant something from the get-go though.

Or to address Gazzzaf's point about Canada slapping the leaf on everything. That's sort of my point, in a way. The leaf on its own is a great symbol if a business wants to identify as "Canadian." Molson's entire branding strategy revolves around the single red leaf, and it's worked very well for them. The flag of the nation, in my opinion, should strive to be something slightly beyond crass commercial design though.

Sorry to hijack the discussion with the Canadian flag talk, but I think it's relevant to the discussion about the Aussie flag. Not that I think the Union Jack based flags can't be replaced. While I do prefer the old Canadian red ensign to the current Canadian flag (when sentimentality is removed from the equation) the design Pearson pushed (linked above) would have been more then acceptable as a replacement. So if the Aussies do replace their current flag the new flag should be thoughtfully designed. A design that just incorporates national symbols in an aesthetically pleasing way with no regard to what they actually mean won't be a net improvement.

As for Fiji? Again, they dropped the Crown in '87 so a new flag for them is actually long over-due.

[Davidson]

That's a nice idea. Gave me a couple of quick ideas for Aussie and the motherland:

[marble21]

That's a nice idea. Gave me a couple of quick ideas for Aussie and the motherland:

The bottom flag for Australia is absolutely spot on.

[BBTV]

I see a ? In some of those large 5 star designs. I think the stars work better when smaller.

[mcrosby]

That's a nice idea. Gave me a couple of quick ideas for Aussie and the motherland:

I really like the concept for the Aussie flag, but one thing bothers me.

It is common that logos face to the right, for some reason this reads as 'forward-looking' to me. I don't know why, but I imagine it has something to do with reading left to right. I'm not sure if the left facing kangaroo is symbolic of something but I would like to see the design flipped.

Otherwise, I think the flag with aboriginal flag colors is beautiful.

[Craegus]

That's a nice idea. Gave me a couple of quick ideas for Aussie and the motherland:

Not bad, No.3 for New Zealand (maybe with no.1 and 2s southern cross), but I would like to see an Australian one in red white and blue (either no.4s yellow in white and black in blue, or no.2 with the kangaroo and southern cross white and the area behind the blue line with the kangaroo red.

I really like the concept for the Aussie flag, but one thing bothers me.

It is common that logos face to the right, for some reason this reads as 'forward-looking' to me. I don't know why, but I imagine it has something to do with reading left to right. I'm not sure if the left facing kangaroo is symbolic of something but I would like to see the design flipped.

Otherwise, I think the flag with aboriginal flag colors is beautiful.

Yeah, any logo that represents movement on a flag should never face the flag pole and should always face away. I remember reading something about this when the discussion of a new flag came up years ago, but I cant remember exactly what it was.

And even though the 4th design looks nice, I still don't see it being widely accepted by anyone as it recognises only one group within Australia, and even though I didn't mention it in earlier posts using those colours (if as a recognition of the original inhabitants of Australia) ignores the Torres Strait Islander community who do not use the Aboriginal flag or its colours. That is why sticking with the current colours kind of works as though it could be argued that it represents the oppression of the indigenous communitites (in reality that really is just the Union Jack), it maintains some link to the flag that the nation was founded and grown under.

[Gazzzaf]

That's a nice idea. Gave me a couple of quick ideas for Aussie and the motherland:

No 1 or 2 for the Aussie flag, I'd have white stars on both and a darker green on no 1 though. The roo is really well defined which helps. Not having the sthn cross so far to the right on the kiwi flag will mean that they will need to be replaced more frequently due to fray. I like the red/black/white.

Well going back to the Canadian case, leaf aside it lacks most what you claim a flag should have. Of the proposals from 1965 the one then Prime Minister Pearson liked was probably the best, because its design actually conveyed a sense of meaning.

http://en.wikipedia....ennant_1964.svg

The repetition of the leaf makes is busy but the shade of blue really helps the red pop.

[raysox]

That's a nice idea. Gave me a couple of quick ideas for Aussie and the motherland:

The 3rd Aussie one, and 4th Kiwi one would be fantastic.

[Hathaway Browne]

One other issue is that some will argue that, in the case of Australia, they are trying to change the flag for the sake of it. Just like when companies and corporations believe their logos are "old" and need replacing. What you then end up with is something that doesn't really have any heritage and lacks the former iconic look.

[mcrosby]

Well, since Fiji was the start of this conversation I thought I'd throw in a concept for them. Those pushing the flag change stated that it was to go along with the rebranding of the currency, the airline, etc. Air Pacific has already released their Fiji Airways rebrand and have a great logo to go with. Seeing as it's a national airway I saw no issue in borrowing the mark.

I was going to try to add the dove of peace but opted for the addition of colors that say 'peace' to me, white and light blue. The current Fiji flag 'defaces the commonwealth flag' by changing the field from blue to light blue. Seeing as they were removed from the commonwealth after a coup d'etat I thought this 'defacing' color would be something they would hang onto.

[Hathaway Browne]

^Wow that is stunning.

[fumbler]

That is really good mcrosby i like the tribal circle, there will definetley be some sort of tribal design in their new flag for sure.

[Gazzzaf]

Well, since Fiji was the start of this conversation I thought I'd throw in a concept for them. Those pushing the flag change stated that it was to go along with the rebranding of the currency, the airline, etc. Air Pacific has already released their Fiji Airways rebrand and have a great logo to go with. Seeing as it's a national airway I saw no issue in borrowing the mark.

I was going to try to add the dove of peace but opted for the addition of colors that say 'peace' to me, white and light blue. The current Fiji flag 'defaces the commonwealth flag' by changing the field from blue to light blue. Seeing as they were removed from the commonwealth after a coup d'etat I thought this 'defacing' color would be something they would hang onto.

Love the idea, it would be the only national flag with a brown field for sure. I'd like to see the circle replaced with one of these patterns, filling the entire middle stripe.

Probably wouldn't need the white outlines in that case.

[raysox]

Off topic, but no country uses purple in their national colors, right?

[IceCap]

Off topic, but no country uses purple in their national colors, right?

The Second Spanish Republic used purple along with red and gold.

Currently Qatar's flag uses a shade of maroon that's very close to purple.