Hi there!
To the surprise of perhaps no one, I must confess I have a fascination with flag design and their usage. There's even a word for the study, symbolism, and usage of flags.
Vexillology.
Many of my friends and family must suffer through my diatribes on how the University of Nebraska flag with its red field and big white "N" is actually more of a state flag than the thoroughly unremarkable state seal on a dark blue field.
So unremarkable that no one noticed that it was flying upside down at the state capital for several days.
True story.
And many other states share the 19th century-era state seal on a blue or turquoise field design. They all look terrible.
To me the proof of a good flag design is whether the people under it will show it to people who aren't under it. In particular at airports. I can personally attest that the University of Nebraska "N" is on proud display on shot glass, T-shirts and more in Omaha's airport.
The seal-on-blue state flag? If it was on display, I must have missed it.
I've been in an airport where the state flag is on all kinds of merch.
Denver, Colorado.
The Colorado blue-and-white striped flag with a red C and a gold circle inside of it is iconic. It's on their freeway and highway signs. It's everywhere.
To parrot some points made by the 99% Invisible and Hello Internet podcasts, the best flag designs are simple, easily recognizable from a distance, and so easy to draw that a kid can ably reproduce it. Ideally, they also contain no words, though a single letter or number can work, as evidenced by the Colorado "C" and the University of Nebraska "N".
Flags have meaning, and that meaning can change over time, for good and bad. Most importantly, they can provide a sense of commonality among people who might not otherwise consider themselves as part of something larger.
Why am I waxing vexillological about this stuff?
Well that's because my Players of the Game series has flags of its own. All of them could replace the Nebraska state flag as a vast improvement in my opinion.
And from time to time, I shall show you one of them.
Now is one such time.
|