Current flag of Michigan
The current flag of Michigan is a typical American-style seal-on-blue-bedsheet design; as a result it is convoluted, unmemorable and uninspiring. It scored 3.46/10 in NAVA’s survey, making it the 14th worst rated flag in North America. In 2018, a state senator introduced a bill to replace it with a new design. Although nothing came of that, below is what I would have proposed:
![02 proposed flag of michigan [recoded]](https://briancham1994.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/02-proposed-flag-of-michigan-recoded.png?w=1100)
Proposed flag of Michigan
Part of my 2009 flag proposal series. SVG files of the flag and its construction sheet are available on request.
At first, I did not re-upload this design from the old site, since I only wanted to present the most popular designs and this one did not have much support. Many years later, I received a sudden personal request to upload this one again. I was hesitant until I realised that this person remembered this exact design and its author even though it had not been online or accessible for over five years! That had to mean something.
Note: This post lists the flag designs that are most popular with the general public. For my own judgement on the best proposals, see this post.
When I was thinking of designs for the New Zealand flag competition, I was curious about the preferences of the wider public. No doubt others are too. Unfortunately, polls had a limited selection of designs to begin with, and while the government gallery had social media sharing and suggestions for every submitted flag, there was no way to sort the gallery to show the most popular.
So I made a quick Java script to scrape all entries in the website and identify the most popular flags. This is measured in number of times each design was independently suggested. Ten was the minimum number to get on this list.
Keep in mind that popularity does not equal quality, nor is it a final indicator of public preferences. It is affected by many factors like age, status and prior exposure of the design. This list is simply for interest of the data itself.
Flags are listed in ascending order of popularity. Each one lists the three main points of the respondents.
Silver Fern Flag – Kyle Lockwood’s ‘New Zealand Colours’. Designed by: Kyle Lockwood.
Suggestions: 13
Here’s my first New Zealand flag proposal that I am re-uploading because it was by far my most popular design proposal based on the feedback of 120 people*. I personally don’t like it much anymore though. The name is especially stupid. In 2014 I submitted it to the government gallery for consideration but it got rejected because of intellectual property shenanigans**.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” – Leonardo da Vinci. This design is a simple and clean combination of the Māori colours (top left half) and British/current colours (bottom right half), acknowledging and uniting the two main founding cultures of the nation. The colours in common overlap in the middle to form a bar reminiscent of the Union Jack’s bars. Finally, in the black field is a striking Southern Cross, giving the design a single focus and establishing continuity with the current flag. SVG file available on request.
* That either says something about the quality of this flag design or of my other proposals :O
** Having previously entered it into the public domain, I no longer have the rights to the design, therefore I cannot transfer said rights to the crown. Not to mention I can’t prove that I was the one who created it.
Note: This post features my own judgement on the best flag designs. For the proposals that are most popular with the general public, see this post.
Now that the New Zealand government has closed submissions for a new flag, I decided to go through and pick out the best. That’s right, I looked through all 10,293 of them. Don’t worry, it only took me 48 minutes to evaluate (about 0.28 seconds per flag; thank god for learning scanning techniques).
It probably helped that the whole gallery was a beautiful testament to Sturgeon’s Law (in this case more like 99% though), Poe’s Law and the futility of crowdsourcing design, making it easy to mentally filter out the crud and parodies. You wouldn’t believe the Nazi, apartheid, North Korea, Israel, PRC, Imperial Germany, Quebec (of all places), meme and My Little Pony based parodies that got through their filters. Seriously, the name “Moswald Osley” didn’t ring any alarms? Well done to the Lautaro joke for subtlety and this thing for sheer insanity though. All in all, an experience I would not recommend.
Anyway, here are the best I picked out, emulating the judges’ process of picking an initial list of 50-75 best designs. There were a lot of duplicates and near-duplicates so it’s hard to know exactly how to count and credit them (I’m sure I’ve missed a few credits, sorry!), but it should be around 50 some way or another.
The only restriction was that I didn’t include my own designs. Naturally enough I do like them, but including them would be a little biased! Oh, and I also automatically discarded anything too similar to another national flag, no matter how well designed or New Zealand-y it was. I hope the judging panel can do that, but since it has no vexillologists (flag experts) I don’t have a lot of faith.
This list is in no particular order.
After publishing my New Zealand flag proposal concepts in 2014, this one topped the poll by a large margin so consider it my main proposal. I have now named it the “Red, White and Blue Fern Flag”.
Update: It has been submitted into the government’s flag gallery. Share if you like it!
Figure 1. Red, White and Blue Fern Flag. Vector files available on request. Credit for fern design goes to Dave Clark.
Part of my 2009 flag proposal series. SVG files of the flag and its construction sheet are available on request.
Note: My choice of design does not reflect my political views.
The flag of Chad
The flag of Romania. The only difference is the shade of blue, and it’s a miniscule difference.
Chad’s flag is so similar to Romania’s that Chad asked the UN to inspect the issue. However, as Romania rightfully pointed out, they have had their design for longer, so Chad should be the one to change. Therefore, here is my proposal.
Flag proposal for Chad I made in 2009.
First off, this design is unique enough to be distinguishable, yet simple enough to be remembered by a child.
The overall layout represents the geography of Chad. In the south is fertile land, in the north is desert and in the west is part of Lake Chad, which is important to the country. The eight pointed star represents the sun, warmth, vitality and hope for a bright future. The eight points represent the eight directions, referring to the vast size of Chad. Its location ensures its importance, as the left hand side will be last part of the flag to wear out.
Construction sheet of the proposed flag of Chad
Part of my 2009 flag proposal series. SVG files of the flag and its construction sheet are available on request.
Note: My choice of design does not reflect my political views.
Current de facto flag of Mars
I think that the current de facto flag of Mars looks horrible and mainly represents terraforming which is only a small aspect of the planet Mars. Therefore, here is my proposal.
Flag proposal for Mars I made in 2009.
First off, this design is unique enough to be distinguishable, yet simple enough to be remembered by a child.
I will not explain the design because I think that I have made it intuitive enough. The design is neutral so that it can represent the planet Mars in any aspect. Note that I have not included symbolism of terraforming and/or space exploration because they represent terraforming and/or space exploration, not the planet Mars.
Construction sheet of the proposed flag of Mars
Part of my 2009 flag proposal series. SVG files of the flag and its construction sheet are available on request.
Note: My choice of design does not reflect my political views.
Current flag of Utah
The current flag scored a 3.47/10.00 in NAVA’s North American flag survey, which makes it the 15th worst rated flag.
Flag proposal I made for Utah in 2009.
First off, this design is unique enough to be distinguishable, yet simple enough to be remembered by a child.
This design incorporates features of the current flag, the Mormon pioneer flag and the national flag. The thirteen stripes are from the national flag, in the colours of the Mormon pioneer flag, aiding recognition and suggesting a connection with both. Indeed, the majority of Utahns are Mormons, who form a significant part of Utah’s history. This design is also similar in that the main emblem is in the top left corner.
This emblem retains the blue field and golden circle from the current flag. The circle represents unity, the star represents the sun and the hexagon represents a beehive, the symbol of Utah. The twelve points of the sun reference the twelve hours, the twelve months, the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve regions in Utah; twelve is often seen as the number of perfection. The hexagon references Utah’s official nickname, “Beehive State”. The inclusion of only one beehive unit, in conjunction with the star, sends the message that every individual shines.
Its location in the canton (upper left corner) ensures its importance. When a flag wears out, the left hand side will be the last to remain. When it is not flying, that corner will be most visible part of the flag. When it is flying, the eye will be naturally attracted to that region as a starting point since the writing system we use goes from left to right and top to bottom.
In terms of colours, the blue represents the sky, the white represents salt and the gold represents the sun, vitality, life, warmth and power. The colours are all present on the current flag, so any further symbolism they have can be carried over as well.
Construction sheet of the proposed flag of Utah
Part of my 2009 flag proposal series. SVG files of the flag and its construction sheet are available on request.
Note: My choice of design does not reflect my political views.
Current flag of New Hampshire
The current flag scored a 3.18/10.00 in NAVA’s North American flag survey, which makes it the 10th worst rated.
Flag proposal of New Hampshire I made in 2009.
First off, this design is unique enough to be distinguishable, yet simple enough to be remembered by a child.
Inspired by the state quarter, the overall scene depicts the “Old Man of the Mountain”, a well known symbol of New Hampshire, against the sky, which is in the same shade as the blue on the national flag. On the sky is a circle of nine stars in an arrangement echoing the historic Betsy Ross flag and the recent flag of New England.
There are nine stars because New Hampshire was the ninth addition to the United States. The blue background with the circle of stars, strongly suggesting the national flag, is the dominant part of the design, to represent how New Hampshire was one of the original thirteen states. By representing the Old Man of the Mountain, New Hampshire’s official nickname “The Granite State” is also accounted for, as the Old Man was composed of granite. The colours are all present on the current flag, so any further symbolism they have can be carried over as well.
Construction sheet of the proposed flag of New Hampshire
