Let's make better US state flags

[charl]

It's no secret that the US state flags are most of them very bad and boring. It's already quite evident from the poll threads that are going around right now that people simply don't like the "let's put our seal on the flag" theme that is going around.

So can we do it better? Can we give each state a unique and nice flag?

Some of the flags, to their credit, aren't all that bad. There is some creativity in quite a few of them. In some cases I would personally just take the current flag and improve it rather than create something genuinely new.

For example I had this suggestion for an improved Rhode Island flag:

But in retrospect that doesn't look very good. The lack of colours quite hurts it. This is a compromise I made instead:

Which at least preserves some of the gold yellow colour of the original, but doesn't put it directly on top of the white.

I'm not completely happy with it anyway, but it's better than the current one at least, IMO. Maybe if I made the stars yellow with a blue border as well?

 

[LSCatilina]

Well, RI state flag is the less bad of the New England. All the others are just coat-of-arms on a blue background.

 

[charl]

I know.

Though that old Maine flag someone showed us earlier was actually quite good.

This one:

Only thing is the background colour isn't very good. I mean, beige? Really? Even white would have been better. Also the star is a bit... I dunno. I don't think it adds anything, just makes the flag looks unbalanced and ruins the symmetry.

 

[Beedok]

Stick some Union Jacks on 'em.

 

[charl]

Stick some Union Jacks on 'em.

That doesn't do Hawaii any favours. It may be one of the nicer looking ones, but damn if it isn't extremely busy with clashing colours.

 

[LSCatilina]

I know.

Though that old Maine flag someone showed us earlier was actually quite good.

This one:

Why i'm thinking right now : "Why someone have made a flag for elementary school decored for Christmas by children themselves with paper of random color?"

 

[charl]

Why i'm thinking right now : "Why someone have made a flag for elementary school decored for Christmas by children themselves with paper of random color?"

I think that's actually a compliment for a flag. All the best flags are easily reproducible by children with crayons.

 

[Beedok]

That doesn't do Hawaii any favours. It may be one of the nicer looking ones, but damn if it isn't extremely busy with clashing colours.

Then add more of them. Be creative too, like BC.

 

[False Dmitri]

I know.

Though that old Maine flag someone showed us earlier was actually quite good.

This one:

Only thing is the background colour isn't very good. I mean, beige? Really? Even white would have been better. Also the star is a bit... I dunno. I don't think it adds anything, just makes the flag looks unbalanced and ruins the symmetry.

One can take the "designed by school children" guideline too far, I think. This one looks like the sign for a kids' campground.

 

[charl]

Well, it's just a digital reproduction of the old flag using the tree from the Maine maritime merchant flag (why a state would need one of those I don't know).

But I get your point. It's a bit too simple, maybe. Still, you have to admit it's better than a fucking seal on a blue background!

 

[lord caedus]

Anyone who wants to improve Minnesota's horrible mess of a state flag gets my endorsement for whatever office they are running for.

 

[charl]

A couple of more goes at playing with the colours of the Rhode Island flag:

With the gold stars with a blue border I talked about earlier.

Same stars but with the outer border changed back to the gold.

And the same, but with an internal blue border (wouldn't make any sense putting a border around the outer edges of what is already a border).

 

[Dan1988]

About the Rhode Island flag - the latter two are what the state government uses in practice (except that in all variations of the state flag, "HOPE" is missing).

 

[charl]

About the Rhode Island flag - the latter two are what the state government uses in practice (except that in all variations of the state flag, "HOPE" is missing).

Ah, yes, I took out the HOPE because I'm opposed to text on flags as a general principle.

But really it's not a prominent feature of the flag so it wouldn't hurt too much to have it stay.

 

[False Dmitri]

Ah, yes, I took out the HOPE because I'm opposed to text on flags as a general principle.

But really it's not a prominent feature of the flag so it wouldn't hurt too much to have it stay.

There's really no reason for the scroll, then, if the word is gone.

In RI's case, the motto is short enough to not be as obtrusive as other mottoes.

 

[charl]

There's really no reason for the scroll, then, if the word is gone.

In RI's case, the motto is short enough to not be as obtrusive as other mottoes.

If I remove the scroll the anchor will be off centre, and I wanted to change as little as possible. Besides I think the scroll looks rather neat, even without any words on it.

But I agree, in this case the text could stay.

 

[Unholy Mistress]

Anyone mind if I attempt to re do Florida's flag?

 

[Evan]

Two possibilities for Illinois:
There's a Centennial Flag here [below] that looks pretty good,

but we might just have to go with the University sports team flag...
http://www.collegeflagsandbanners.com/images_products/illini_flag_8388big.jpg

 

[Iserlohn]

An old one I did for Virginia, taking quite a few elements of the Washington coat of arms, but hey, looks better than the blue blob now.

 

[Unholy Mistress]

Here's Florida without the seal on the flag, how does it look?