I prefer the maxim that a flag should be distinguishable from its peers at a distance. The seals on bedsheets don't pass this test, but Maine's old flag, California's flag, and South Carolina's flag all do. I also think that we should encourage the codified coexistence of simplified renderings of flags. As a real-world but uncodified example, I'm sure many of us Americans have seen tiny American flags that don't have stars in their union. That isn't to say that the stars are a design flaw; it just makes sense to omit them in that context.
I get this, it seems like the trend towards simple flag designs kinda just makes all of them seem corporate and samey, I especially like how you called them "Logo on an accent wall", it perfectly describes what these modern flags are while also pointing out how they're no better than "Seal on a bed-sheet" flags.
The "5 rules" should never be treated as absolutes, since distinctiveness - one of the rules - is impossible to achieve without breaking the other four rules. Why does everyone on the internet decide that distinctiveness is the rule that should be ignored?
I want to add that this was a feeling I was having way before CGP Grey made his tier-list video. In a discord server I used to be on long ago, I tried to get into flag design and made first flag which was a bit complex, but it had heart in my opinion, but it was panned for being too complex by one person who went to belittle me on flag design. Later down the line he would go on how this one flag he likes is so good and it's just minimalist as fuck. So since then, I've come to enjoy some more complex flags than ultra minimalist flags.
I feel like the Maine flag is such a great example of the poor interpratation of the childs drawing guideline. more real flags should look like the old one, but when a child draws the flag it ends up like the new one, and thats ok
You summarized all the pet peeves I've had with the vexillology community for a while, especially regarding the Maine flag. It's like you read my mind. It's disappointing that large groups of people apparently can't be nuanced, you know what I mean? Reddit is probably at fault. I also think that NAVA is at fault for not revising their 'guidelines', speaking out against the current dogma, and acting as leaders.
Something alot of US states do with their flags is add the name of the state. Personally I think this is probably the worst design choice and simply doesn't look good. While tricolour flags are very minimalistic, personally they're my favourite. Easy to draw, easy to remember. and it doesn't hurt the design in any way to add some sort of coat of arms, for example the Croatian flag, where the coat of arms takes up a lot of space in the centre, but the background tricolour still compliments the flag. I also love the Estonian flag and how they've captured the terrain with three colours.
When I was a 6 year old, before there was a fast internet, I already disliked almost all US states Seal on a blue bedsheet (someone gifted me a children's English dictionary that contains US flags at the back page). Anyways, "needlessly" complicated flags that are beautiful are the exceptions, not the rule - the Republic of Venice flag and Maryland are my favorites. Also, they should really use the green flag of Vermont again hehe
I haven't decided my opinion on the whole flag reform thing yet, but also when Brazil are used to prove that flags that break rules can work, that's dumb. The stars and text on the brazil flag are TINY compared to everything else I get tryna use examples to fuel your point but please can you only use logical ones?
The new uath flag is A definite Upgrade from the copy paste style of flags we saw alot of from U.S. states for so long and i think it fits well. I also think that Flags Are created as a product of the time and as flags get updated throughout the years, you can see the shifts in the overall culture as well. A good example of this is the Southern States of the us flags. Great video aswell, hope it does well for you, and i hope to see more in the future.
I do agree that the new Utah flag is an upgrade. Flags being a product of their time is also certainly true. (I just want to buck against the minimalism trend a bit) I'm thankful for your appreciation.
I’m way too late to this video but might as well say something to boost this in the algorithm perhaps. I’m personally a sucker for military flags and love complexity done more with symbolism than the straight up paintings you see on some flags. I really love anything with cantons for no good reason and personally my favorite flag is that of the second contential dragoons just because of those colors and neat symbols. My second are the black regiments colors from the American revolution but the name escapes me at the moment
I love this video as a flag enthusiast and is a great overview of the current state of flag design. However my opinion is that flags are products of their time and should be updated every so often to reflect that. Again taking Maine’s flag as an example: Maine’s detailed tree was good for early 1900s as that was popular then. However a few decades later public taste trended towards state seal on blue background to honour civil war regiments (I think all SOB flags were union states) and to de-emphasize state uniqueness as they thought a national identity would be better as state uniqueness led to the war, which created the current Maine flag. Now in the 21st century it looks like a relic from 100 years ago because it is and they want something that shows a state aware of the current times and prepared for the future, and a 100 year old design doesn’t say that. I fully expect the simplified pine tree flag will be laughed off the pole in 2103 as looking way too 21st century and ditch it for whatever the trend there is to show that Maine is not stuck in the past but facing the new 22nd century head on. (This is also why states such as Mississippi and Georgia changed their flags. People in those states didn’t bat an eye in the 50s when their flag had the confederate flag on it. Now it’s a good idea to change because it’s an advertisement for “stick in the past, refuses to change”. We applaud those that remove an obviously outdated confederate flag from their design because it shows that they’re ditching history and embracing the progress we’ve made in civil rights and treating people equally, so why do we also need to keep SOB flags that just as much scream “dated” only because they don’t have the awful burden of racism with it?
Great video, you make really good points. Dogma isn’t my cup of tea. Guidelines they are only guidelines. As a kid I had a hard time drawing the canadian flag and the Quebec flag, both are highly praise as good design by the Internet. You could guess right away the right flag but dam was it ugly. Tha maple leaf and the fleur de lys aren’t easy to draw. As for history, it really depends on the context. If you are trying to gather many nations under one flag, historical symbol might just be symbols of suffering and dominance over other people. Something new can be created, it does not always has to do with the past. Usefulcharts also made flag rankings which was more open to discussion than CGP. And to be fair, people take CGP more seriously than himself, I feel. I like distinctive flags. For exemple, Brazil flag is a mess (5 colors, not sure what position of the stars mean, one for each state?, ordem progesso?(close enough), etc.), but I like it a lot.
I personally quite like the flag of Missouri, i love flags with a tri-colour and a coat of arms on top. One thing i don't really like about it is that it has a tiny United States greater coat of arms in one of the field of the coat of arms, and i would prefer it to be a lesser coat of arms adapted to the partition it is in. If one day however they decide to change the flag i'm betting they'll do an oversimplified graphic design flag that'll look so bland and this makes me sad.
Note on Japanese and European flags: Japan, I presume, probably has its own history of iconography similar to that of heraldry in Europe. If you go on Google Maps and you zoom in on any random town in Europe that looks like it has 1000 citizens or more, and you look up its flag or coat of arms, you'll find a flag that simply looks good and distinctive (try this, it works basically every time). These flags are designed based on principles of heraldry, which is the closest thing Europe has to NAVA's 5 guidelines. Or rather, NAVA is the closest thing that North America has to heraldry, but heraldry actually produces good results, and NAVA doesn't. Heraldry, by the way, is inherently undemocratic, you need to gain approval from some kind of mysterious guild full of posh weirdos from aristocratic families for your design, rather than how it works in the US where you basically need approval from the masses.
blue bedsheets arent as bad as logo flags, but i just find most seals kinda bland and not culturally significant. Virginia's flag is ok, Idaho's is meh.
"flag design iz az complex & varyed az the languages we speak" pans over america, the continent where only 3 languages are really spoken by everyone (id assume most people who speak native american languages also speak english/spanish/french) & even then those 3 languages are related to each other (especially spanish & french)
“Logo on an Accent Wall” should be the new “Seal on a Bedsheet” dis.
Oh absolutely.
I just realized that my passing opinions on flags boil down to a subconcious, "would this flag look good as a gym badge from Pokemon?"
Lmao that's great
I prefer the maxim that a flag should be distinguishable from its peers at a distance. The seals on bedsheets don't pass this test, but Maine's old flag, California's flag, and South Carolina's flag all do.
I also think that we should encourage the codified coexistence of simplified renderings of flags. As a real-world but uncodified example, I'm sure many of us Americans have seen tiny American flags that don't have stars in their union. That isn't to say that the stars are a design flaw; it just makes sense to omit them in that context.
I get this, it seems like the trend towards simple flag designs kinda just makes all of them seem corporate and samey, I especially like how you called them "Logo on an accent wall", it perfectly describes what these modern flags are while also pointing out how they're no better than "Seal on a bed-sheet" flags.
I'm very glad you noticed the meaning behind LAW flags in comparison to SOB flags. Yeah corporate samey flags feel sterile and safe at times.
The "5 rules" should never be treated as absolutes, since distinctiveness - one of the rules - is impossible to achieve without breaking the other four rules.
Why does everyone on the internet decide that distinctiveness is the rule that should be ignored?
because, distinctiveness can't be achieved with a basic understanding of vector programs, only the other 4 can be.
I want to add that this was a feeling I was having way before CGP Grey made his tier-list video. In a discord server I used to be on long ago, I tried to get into flag design and made first flag which was a bit complex, but it had heart in my opinion, but it was panned for being too complex by one person who went to belittle me on flag design. Later down the line he would go on how this one flag he likes is so good and it's just minimalist as fuck. So since then, I've come to enjoy some more complex flags than ultra minimalist flags.
Thank you Lain enjoyer. yeah this has been brewing for a while.
I feel like the Maine flag is such a great example of the poor interpratation of the childs drawing guideline. more real flags should look like the old one, but when a child draws the flag it ends up like the new one, and thats ok
You summarized all the pet peeves I've had with the vexillology community for a while, especially regarding the Maine flag. It's like you read my mind. It's disappointing that large groups of people apparently can't be nuanced, you know what I mean? Reddit is probably at fault. I also think that NAVA is at fault for not revising their 'guidelines', speaking out against the current dogma, and acting as leaders.
Something alot of US states do with their flags is add the name of the state. Personally I think this is probably the worst design choice and simply doesn't look good. While tricolour flags are very minimalistic, personally they're my favourite. Easy to draw, easy to remember. and it doesn't hurt the design in any way to add some sort of coat of arms, for example the Croatian flag, where the coat of arms takes up a lot of space in the centre, but the background tricolour still compliments the flag. I also love the Estonian flag and how they've captured the terrain with three colours.
2:28 that flag actually looks pretty good
When I was a 6 year old, before there was a fast internet, I already disliked almost all US states Seal on a blue bedsheet (someone gifted me a children's English dictionary that contains US flags at the back page).
Anyways, "needlessly" complicated flags that are beautiful are the exceptions, not the rule - the Republic of Venice flag and Maryland are my favorites. Also, they should really use the green flag of Vermont again hehe
I haven't decided my opinion on the whole flag reform thing yet, but also when Brazil are used to prove that flags that break rules can work, that's dumb. The stars and text on the brazil flag are TINY compared to everything else
I get tryna use examples to fuel your point but please can you only use logical ones?
The new uath flag is A definite Upgrade from the copy paste style of flags we saw alot of from U.S. states for so long and i think it fits well. I also think that Flags Are created as a product of the time and as flags get updated throughout the years, you can see the shifts in the overall culture as well. A good example of this is the Southern States of the us flags. Great video aswell, hope it does well for you, and i hope to see more in the future.
I do agree that the new Utah flag is an upgrade. Flags being a product of their time is also certainly true. (I just want to buck against the minimalism trend a bit) I'm thankful for your appreciation.
Im surprised you have so few subscribers so have my subscription
I’m way too late to this video but might as well say something to boost this in the algorithm perhaps. I’m personally a sucker for military flags and love complexity done more with symbolism than the straight up paintings you see on some flags. I really love anything with cantons for no good reason and personally my favorite flag is that of the second contential dragoons just because of those colors and neat symbols. My second are the black regiments colors from the American revolution but the name escapes me at the moment
I love this video as a flag enthusiast and is a great overview of the current state of flag design. However my opinion is that flags are products of their time and should be updated every so often to reflect that.
Again taking Maine’s flag as an example: Maine’s detailed tree was good for early 1900s as that was popular then. However a few decades later public taste trended towards state seal on blue background to honour civil war regiments (I think all SOB flags were union states) and to de-emphasize state uniqueness as they thought a national identity would be better as state uniqueness led to the war, which created the current Maine flag. Now in the 21st century it looks like a relic from 100 years ago because it is and they want something that shows a state aware of the current times and prepared for the future, and a 100 year old design doesn’t say that. I fully expect the simplified pine tree flag will be laughed off the pole in 2103 as looking way too 21st century and ditch it for whatever the trend there is to show that Maine is not stuck in the past but facing the new 22nd century head on.
(This is also why states such as Mississippi and Georgia changed their flags. People in those states didn’t bat an eye in the 50s when their flag had the confederate flag on it. Now it’s a good idea to change because it’s an advertisement for “stick in the past, refuses to change”. We applaud those that remove an obviously outdated confederate flag from their design because it shows that they’re ditching history and embracing the progress we’ve made in civil rights and treating people equally, so why do we also need to keep SOB flags that just as much scream “dated” only because they don’t have the awful burden of racism with it?
I didn't even realize this was a small channel and video this was really well made
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it
Fair enough. I like the redesigned Maine flag though.
Great video, you make really good points. Dogma isn’t my cup of tea. Guidelines they are only guidelines.
As a kid I had a hard time drawing the canadian flag and the Quebec flag, both are highly praise as good design by the Internet. You could guess right away the right flag but dam was it ugly. Tha maple leaf and the fleur de lys aren’t easy to draw.
As for history, it really depends on the context. If you are trying to gather many nations under one flag, historical symbol might just be symbols of suffering and dominance over other people. Something new can be created, it does not always has to do with the past.
Usefulcharts also made flag rankings which was more open to discussion than CGP. And to be fair, people take CGP more seriously than himself, I feel. I like distinctive flags. For exemple, Brazil flag is a mess (5 colors, not sure what position of the stars mean, one for each state?, ordem progesso?(close enough), etc.), but I like it a lot.
audio volumn is way to low
I personally quite like the flag of Missouri, i love flags with a tri-colour and a coat of arms on top. One thing i don't really like about it is that it has a tiny United States greater coat of arms in one of the field of the coat of arms, and i would prefer it to be a lesser coat of arms adapted to the partition it is in. If one day however they decide to change the flag i'm betting they'll do an oversimplified graphic design flag that'll look so bland and this makes me sad.
Note on Japanese and European flags: Japan, I presume, probably has its own history of iconography similar to that of heraldry in Europe. If you go on Google Maps and you zoom in on any random town in Europe that looks like it has 1000 citizens or more, and you look up its flag or coat of arms, you'll find a flag that simply looks good and distinctive (try this, it works basically every time). These flags are designed based on principles of heraldry, which is the closest thing Europe has to NAVA's 5 guidelines. Or rather, NAVA is the closest thing that North America has to heraldry, but heraldry actually produces good results, and NAVA doesn't. Heraldry, by the way, is inherently undemocratic, you need to gain approval from some kind of mysterious guild full of posh weirdos from aristocratic families for your design, rather than how it works in the US where you basically need approval from the masses.
froyour can i borrow like 10k gold
lmfao
I would like to see a row of the seal-on-blue-bedsheet flags lined up a nice healthy distance away from you, and watch you try to distinguish them.
blue bedsheets arent as bad as logo flags, but i just find most seals kinda bland and not culturally significant. Virginia's flag is ok, Idaho's is meh.
"flag design iz az complex & varyed az the languages we speak" pans over america, the continent where only 3 languages are really spoken by everyone (id assume most people who speak native american languages also speak english/spanish/french) & even then those 3 languages are related to each other (especially spanish & french)
2:50 think simpler, that eagle is way to complex for the landscape of today!
Yes, it should look like it was made by a child in MS Paint, not this trash.