@ThatOneKirbyMain2568@kbin.social
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ThatOneKirbyMain2568

@ThatOneKirbyMain2568@kbin.social

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ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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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.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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He seems to really like "Maryland-style" flags, which just have a ton going on all over the place. I don't really like those kinds of flags, though honestly New Brunswick's isn't that bad. The top and bottom strips each stick to a solid color on a solid background (yellow on red for the top and white on blue for the bottom). I'm not a huge fan of the middle strip with the ship — I think it would be better if it stuck to solid color on solid color like the top and bottom — but it doesn't use that many colors and goes well with the water.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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As you can probably guess from the image I gave this post, my favorite is the flag of Bhutan. The yellow & orange create a distinctive & satisfying background, and the dragon in the center makes for a strong focal point that doesn't clash with the background due to its simple color palette.

A close second would probably be the flag of South Africa. The pattern and colors here are just really nice, dunno what else to say.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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Ooo, I love this one. Simple yet satisfying design that (as you said) does a great job evoking fjords.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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Seems unnecessary given the lack of activity in this community. I doubt a heraldry community would get much traction rn.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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7 founding fathers seems like a rather arbitrary number — at least not one I've heard of and definitely a number you could argue — so I wouldn't put that as symbolism on the flag. Also not a huge fan of the arrangement of the stars. They don't fill the width of the blue field, and the 13 stars feel oddly small. I definitely agree that the U.S. flag could be simplified, but this isn't it imo.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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Very interesting flag. I think it'd look better with a simpler color scheme on the device and a bit more variety to the background, but it definitely has a pretty distinctive icon.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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Since I'm that one guy who doesn't like Maryland's flag, I tried to give it a redo when I was redesigning all of the US state flags. I took the Crossland and Baltimore banners and simplified them to make an (imo) better looking flag that alludes to the designs. There's even some extra symbolism in there: there are seven stripes since Maryland was the 7th state to ratify the Constitution and join the US.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568, (edited )
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Most of the symbolism is taken from the original flag. The left part is a simplified version of the Crossland banner (used by Marylanders who supported the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War), and the right part is a simplified version of Lord Baltimore's banner (used by those who supported the Union). Together, they represent the reconciliation of Marylanders following the Civil War. Unique to this redesign, the right part also has seven stripes, symbolizing Maryland's status as the 7th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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I'm definitely not advocating for changing the flag. If a flag is distinct and loved by the people it represents, then changing it would likely do more harm than good. That being said, I think the original flag is an overly counterchanged mess that looks decent only in the context of the mostly bad competition.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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Glad you like it! I made a whole set of redesigns for about all of the U.S state & territorial flags, some of which I've already posted here and on vexillology@kbin.social.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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While I prefer triangles, the trapezoids still look nice. And like you said, they make them more distinct from other flags.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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Those are definitely important factors, especially distinctiveness at small size and at a distance. There are lots of red, white, and blue tricolors that only differ in some small, complicated symbol, making them difficult to distinguish even up close, much less from afar.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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It's definitely subjective. Case in point, I think the Seychelles' flag is great where as New Brunswick's is quite messy if still decent. The latter is helped by not going overboard on colors, though I think it'd be more cohesive if the ship followed the pattern that the lion and the water followed (single-colored design on single-colored background). The lion is yellow on red and the water is white on blue, but the ship is all over the place with red flags and a white, outlined sail.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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After I finished all of my U.S. state flag redesigns, I decided to take a stab at designing new flags for the territories! Here's the symbolism:

American Samoa

  • The triangular pattern is taken from the existing flag, just flipped to be more prominent when waving.
  • The red, white, and blue symbolize American Samoa's link to the United States.
  • The color arrangement—a field of red with a blue shape on the left and white symbols within the blue—is similar to that of the Samoan flag.
  • The war club and fly-whisk are symbols of Samoan leaders.

Guam

  • The blue field stands for the vast ocean surrounding Guam.
  • The red symbolizes the violent history of the island.
  • The two shapes are meant to resemble a slingstone and a sinahi necklace, both Chamorro symbols.
  • Yellow is used to represent the hope of a prosperous future and so that the center of the flag resembles islands in the sea.

Northern Mariana Islands

  • The blue once again represents the ocean.
  • The white slopes on the sides of the flag evoke the Mariana Trench, which lies near the Mariana Islands.
  • The latte stone in the center of the flag is a Chamorro symbol.
  • There are 14 stars for the 14 islands in the territory. The red and pink resemble that of the original flag's wreath, a symbol of the Carolinians.

Puerto Rico

  • The white stripes are now yellow to better symbolize Puerto Rico's Spanish history.
  • The rest of the symbolism is the same.

U.S. Virgin Islands

  • 'Murican colors represent 'Murica.
  • The Nordic cross alludes to the islands' former status as a Danish colony.
  • There are 3 stars for the 3 main islands in the territory.
ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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I like the concept, but I have a few suggestions:

  • Maybe make the green a bit darker. I get that you're going for grass and a river, but that's conveyed with any green, and I think a dark green would go a lot better with the lighter blue.
  • As another commenter mentioned, the river would be better as a simple diagonal stripe. You don't need a complicated river shape to convey a river.
  • This may be limited by your drawing skill, but I think the emblem should be more complex. Right now, it's in this area where it's not simple enough (i.e., it's not just a flat, one-color shield) to match with the rest of the flag but it's not complex enough to really feel like an emblem. It stands out but doesn't quite have the complexity to warrant it, if that makes any sense.
  • The emblem might be better off in the middle, left, or upper left. Symbols on flags tend to go there instead of on the right, where it'll be flapping in the wind more.
ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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The new green and the emblem on the left are definitely improvements. While I get wanting to convey an island, I think you could still do that with a more geometric shape. Maybe a stripe that splits into a circle or diamond in the middle. If you're going to have a line going diagonally across the flag, I think it's best to have it be simple and geometric.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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Artifexian makes a bunch of awesome content in general, though it's mainly related to conlanging and worldbuilding

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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This seems like the dumbest decision imaginable. Users are flocking to alternatives, many of those who haven't don't trust you, and you're trying to become profitable … so you delete the stuff people paid for without any sort of replacement. What a genius ideaǃ Making the platform less unique and giving the middle finger to the people who give you money in one go!

There's no way a human adult is running this company. It has to be a council of toddlers run by a keyboard-smashing orangutan. At this point, they might as well start encouraging bots and karma farming. Maybe even pay people to do it!

Wait, what did you just say? They might actually do that?

The circus never ends.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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I really don't get why they're doing this.

Reddit has already showed how much it cares about its users. We've tried going private, we've tried going restricted, we've tried going NSFW, we've tried spamming John Oliver posts, we've tried asking nicely in open letters, and Reddit has consistently given its community the middle finger in every single situation. And now that we've seen the admins change rules, remove mods, ban users, and break privacy laws, the plan is to just do the exact same thing they did before in the hopes that it'll work this time?

If a blackout on the platform was going to get Reddit to change its mind, that would've happened already. The time to induce change was two weeks ago, when the protests had lots of momentum. But it didn't work, and trying to make another stand now is going to be even less effective.

I still think that the best move is to leave Reddit for alternatives like /kbin, Lemmy, and Squabbles. Thankfully, some of the comments on the /r/ModCoord announcement are also saying this. Instead of desperately trying to cling to a platform that doesn't care about you, go somewhere else.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
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I agree: migrating a community is really challenging. I'm a subreddit moderator myself, and when we were initially discussing this stuff, there was a lot of doubt because of how daunting the task is. Mods from other subs see the challenges as reason to not even try. However, I think it's important that people at least make the attempt given the current state of Reddit.

Something that I think people should keep in mind is that this stuff is gradual and doesn't have to happen all at once, especially since the alternatives aren't fully polished yet. Even just establishing a small, active community outside of Reddit (like people have been doing with all these fediverse communities) is a big win.

Some of the best things we can do right now are

  • providing feedback and suggestions for alternatives
  • making sure alternatives are approachable (/m/quickstart is great)
  • simply being active and providing stuff to do here
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