Green and blue are pretty close to each other on the color spectrum, and they blend together at a distance. I would simplify and remove either the land or the water. They won’t blend into each other, and you still have more than enough symbolism.
The stoke on the wine glass is super smart. I like it. But I agree with the other commenter who recommended unifying the semi circle fill sizes. It simplifies the layout.
I would also pump up the stroke on the wine glass so that is reads a bit better from a distance. Also, that stroke is clever, so play that element up.
Yeah, there might be a way to make it work by fiddling with color values. Green next to blue can be tough, but it’s not impossible. The trick will be finding a green and blue that are also complimentary and don’t create a pallet that looks like a McDonald’s ball pit.
If you’re new to color theory, do a Google search for color theory / color pallet tools. There are a lot of good ones out there. Adobe has a nice free one.
You might also be able to represent land another way. Like using a shape or illustration instead or color.
That said, as someone who’s been doing this for few decades now and directs some design teams, my advice is to keep symbolism to like 2 or 3 things. One you go over that, it can really be easy to get messy harder to pull off. Just my 2¢.
That said, I like where you’re going with this. Will this be officially adopted by the area?
keep symbolism to like 2 or 3 things. One you go over that, it can really be easy to get messy harder to pull off.
Point taken.
Will this be officially adopted by the area?
I certainly intend to try and get it in front of the council, but they weren’t actively looking to get a flag. Folks around here can be hesitant to change, so I’m not getting my hopes up.
I think it’s more about where you draw the line between red and brown, which is individual and cultural. Apparently, my view on this might be a bit controversial. I first saw the old Georgian flag as a small child that did not know fancy words like “burgundy” and “maroon”. It seemed brown to me, and so it has remained in my mind, even if it would be more exact to describe it as some nuance brownish shade of red, or reddish shade of brown.
You can also have a look at the Wikipedia page with shades of brown, and I’m sure you will find that people can be way crazier than me when it comes to describing things as brown. Like, how can wheat, bone, moles or black olives be brown?
It all depends on your color model. If you would use CMYK instead you would see that burgundy is a combination of magenta, yellow and black, just as brown is.
At this point, the NH state flag needs to be a solid yellow square with a pile of trash bags at center and the state motto in Comic Sans. Folks don’t seem to know the difference between libertarian and anarchist in the worst ways possible.
The flag should be a bunch of trash bags and one bear that looks like a trash bag. Different place on every flag so you can play Where’s Wally with him
Also so you don’t have to be that fancy at the flag factory. Unless you accidentally make two flags with half a bear
When I made this flag, I used red to symbolize the violent history of the Kansas Territory, a yellow stripe at the bottom to evoke a wheat field (given that one of Kansas's nicknames is the Wheat State), and a sunflower at the top left. I didn't notice the communist connotation of a red flag with a yellow symbol in the canton until someone pointed it out back when I posted this on Reddit. I still really like how the design looks, though maybe it'd be best to change the red to blue.
Setting aside whether the California flag needs a wholesale overhaul or just have the words removed, the Canadian pale tricolor here is an interesting concept. What’s irking me the most is the bridge, which is very prominent on this flag, but there’s enough missing from the rendition that it bears almost no similarity to the most famous bridge in California.
The Golden Gate Bridge has towers in an Art Deco style. I’m not an art student, so I can’t really describe what makes it Art Deco, but the prominent detail are the flutes which extend up alongside the tower, tapering off. From the side, it would make the tower somewhat blockish. Often times, a stand-in for the GGB is the Guy West Bridge in Sacramento, which is a smaller suspension bridge and has no Art Deco flares.
The other issue is the number of cross arms. Both the GGB and Guy West have four evenly-spaced cross arms, whereas here there are only two, with a large space where a third one should be but isn’t.
Please don’t take this as a personal dig at this rendition, but California is not particularly known for bridges generically – although our other, less famous bridges are becoming infamous – but instead for one very particular bridge, and possibly its adjacent bridge, the Bay Bridge. In fact, the latter’s new eastern span graces the flag and logo of the Golden State Warriors, rendering it in profile, rather than the view from the bridge deck itself. I would consider rendering the GGB if you’re going to feature a bridge.
On that final point, most people – tourists, locals, TV and film camera operators, etc – view and appreciate a bridge from afar. Suspension and cable-stayed bridges are exceptions, but a flat-top bridge is almost entirely unremarkable while traveling over it, but is gorgeous when viewed from another vantage point. The Foresthill Bridge in Gold Country is entirely mundane to drive or ride on, but is breathtaking as the tallest bridge in California, viewed from helicopter above or from the river below.
I don’t have the artistic skill to rendition the Golden gate bridge. I don’t think a detailed rendition would work for a flag anyway. You’d run into the same problem as the bear.
If you have the skill, I’d love to see that option though.
The first thing that sticks out to me, is that there are too many colours.
Red 1 (stripe/Star)
Red 2 (bridge)
Orange
Yellow Green (stripe)
Green (bridge)
Blue
Purple
Brown
White
Black
Red 1 and 2 are the same. The brown of the bridge and green are from the current flag. I just added the six rainbow colors. There is no black or yellow green. Maybe it’s too much.
Red, white, green brown + 6 rainbow colors = 10 (probably too many anyway) But I like the rainbow motif for California. I like it’s contrast with the white (for the white supremacists that still call this state home).
No black between red and white (at least not intentional).
Ngl I wish every New England state had a pine tree on their flag. It’s such a great symbol for a flag. Recognizable, easy to prescribe meaning to, historically significant, and easy to draw.
100% agree. I don't have pine trees on all my New England flag redesigns (just New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine), but I might make versions where all of them do, maybe with the same pine tree design.
Good start! My constructive criticism would be that the flag’s color design is almost identical to Mexico’s flag.
I like the tree but I think the branches shouldn’t spread as much. And while I know Texas doesn’t own the star, that lone star on a flag makes me think of Texas first, rather than Maine.
I've honestly never thought of the Mexico comparison, though I can kinda see it now. I think the buff center and the pine tree are enough to differentiate it from the Mexican flag, though I may flip the green and red.
The tree design was taken directly from Maine's ensign, and the star position came from Maine's old flag. As for the Texas point, the lone star is used in other U.S. state flags, like those of Arizona and California (and North Carolina but that one does just look like a Texas flag ripoff), so I don't think it's unfitting to use it here, especially since it was on the old flag.
Agreed, the stripes are an unfortunate loss, but I’m pleased they didn’t use the “M shaped” star orientation and instead went for the star pointing north. Neither were from the original submission, but overall, the commission’s work will massively elevate the MN flag. Can’t wait to buy myself a small one for home.
vexillology
Active
This magazine is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.