This design is part of my 2009 flag proposal series (the flag designs from my old site with the most hits and ratings).
Updates
- 2021: This flag won the Louisiana redesign poll on the U.S. State Flag Facebook page, beating out hundreds of other designs.
- 2009: This particular flag was rated the best of my proposals on my previous website 🙂
The current design
Current flag of Louisiana
The current flag scored a 4.98/10.00 in NAVA’s North American flag survey. It could be worse, but it could be better, and I had a great idea I couldn’t wait to try out.
My proposal
Proposed flag of Louisiana
First off, this design is simple enough to be remembered by a child, yet distinctive enough to be identified at a distance.
The background layout of this design echoes one of the most recognisable flags in the world, that of France. Louisiana was once a colony of the French Empire and its French legacy and influence is still visible today. The white stripe takes the form of a fleur-de-lis, an old symbol of Royal France that has significance in Louisiana in both historical and modern times. The fleur-de-lis was featured on many flags that flew in that region and is still a popular symbol. For example, it was frequently used as a reminder in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and was made an official state symbol in 2008. A symbol this widespread and iconic deserves the official recognition of being on the flag.
There are also references to Louisiana’s status as a U.S. state. The colours red, white and blue echo the colours of the national flag. The white star on blue in the canton (top-left corner) echoes the canton of the national flag, in which each white star on blue represents a state.
The blue stands for the sky and sea. The white stands for the coastline and peace. The red stands for the blood that we all share and that has been shed in the past. The colours are all present on the current flag, so any further symbolism they have can be carried over as well. Additionally, blue and white are official state colours.
Vector files available on request.
Mock-ups of the proposed flag of Louisiana
Construction sheet of the proposed flag of Louisiana
Brian Cham's personal website 
Looks great, I love it! Way better than what we have now. However I think you should remove the white star, it looks better with just the blue and red with a white Fleur de lis. One other thing, that style of Fleur de lis is the one of Quebec, it’s their personal Fleur de lis, I don’t think we should use that one they will be like wtf I’m sure. Louisiana uses one similar to the ones of France, kinda like the Saints NFL emblem. It would also be great to use the pelican Fleur de lis, that gets the pelican state emblem along with our heritage emblem, the Fleur de lis. And I know the pelican Fleur de lis is based off of the Quebec Fleur de lis, but being it’s made into a pelican I think it will be ok. Also, the Fleur de lis might look great with a gold outline, which the gold against the red will tie in the heritage of Spain since Louisiana was both a French and Spanish colony while the white Fleur de lis ties into the blue and red for the French heritage. We need to get the updated version of this to be voted in. Great job.
Robert Dupré
Thanks for your constructive feedback. If I ever return to this flag, I will consider alternative forms of the fleur-de-lis.
Wow, nice design! I’m going to include it in my book Flag Quest – symbols.geobop.com/flag-quest
I see you put it in the public domain, but I’m going to include credit and a link to this web page.
Most of the flag proposals in my book are designs I created myself, but you beat me on this one. 😉