Morgan123 Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 After accidentally derailing several threads into flag-based discussion, I thought it would be good to have a dedicated flag thread. I checked and there are a number of pride flag threads but I haven’t seen any general vexillology ones. So- anyone else like flags? Any favourites? Flag-related musings or rants? Otherwise it’ll just be me going off on one again (and no one wants that). Link to post Share on other sites
3Xi3X Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I do like flags a lot. Some favorites are: - Conneccticut - Puerto Rico - Cuba - UK - Japan - Aromantic (My favorite color is GREEN) I hate when people get the Puerto Rican and Cuban flag mixed up. But, at the same time it is sort of understandable. =D Link to post Share on other sites
Morgan123 Posted July 20, 2019 Author Share Posted July 20, 2019 1 minute ago, 3Xi3X said: I do like flags a lot. Some favorites are: - Conneccticut - Puerto Rico - Cuba - UK - Japan - Aromantic (My favorite color is GREEN) I hate when people get the Puerto Rican and Cuban flag mixed up. But, at the same time it is sort of understandable. =D Ooh, I love the Japan flag- I think because it’s so obvious people actually forget about it. Just think- it’s an incredibly simple design but it’s so distinct and immediately recognisable. Yet it doesn’t skimp on symbolism. All that and it’s still beautiful. People confuse the Puerto Rican and Cuban flags??? I guess I can understand that if you aren’t a flag person (whoops, that sounded snobby ), but they aren’t as similar as something like, I don’t know, Indonesia and Monaco, for example. Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Zulas Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I make flags all the time for my D&D campaign, with FlagMaker. Tis fun, I like making really simple pretty designs. Also I think the ace flag is second only to the intersex one in terms of cool-ass pride flags Link to post Share on other sites
Grumpy Alien Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I think most flags are ugly. If I were to pick a favorite, it’d be Japan. Link to post Share on other sites
Morgan123 Posted July 20, 2019 Author Share Posted July 20, 2019 8 minutes ago, Chris Zulas said: I make flags all the time for my D&D campaign, with FlagMaker. Tis fun, I like making really simple pretty designs. Also I think the ace flag is second only to the intersex one in terms of cool-ass pride flags I love the intersex flag too! Definitely my favourite. Designing flags is so fun *flashback to days of trying to make my own pride flags* Link to post Share on other sites
Captain_Tass Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I adore flags! Mostly because my special interest is symbolism. Who wants me to provide some random facts about the Greek flag? Link to post Share on other sites
Morgan123 Posted July 20, 2019 Author Share Posted July 20, 2019 13 minutes ago, Life Of Tass said: I adore flags! Mostly because my special interest is symbolism. Who wants me to provide some random facts about the Greek flag? I sense a challenge! 😋 Although there are a number of different stories, my favourite legend by far of the nine stripes is that they represent the nine syllables of Eleftheria i thanatos (ie. freedom or death- a battle cry originated from battles with the Ottoman Empire). Another interesting thing: while there are a number of rules about the flag (e.g. it must be flown on a white mast with a white cross and orb) there isn’t an official colour of the blue- so in actual fact it doesn’t matter if you use dark blue or light blue. Link to post Share on other sites
Anthracite_Impreza Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I'm more into standards/heraldry, but symbolism is something I've been into for a long time. I actually did heraldry as part of my GCSE art. Link to post Share on other sites
Captain_Tass Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 29 minutes ago, Morgan123 said: I sense a challenge! 😋 Although there are a number of different stories, my favourite legend by far of the nine stripes is that they represent the nine syllables of Eleftheria i thanatos (ie. freedom or death- a battle cry originated from battles with the Ottoman Empire). Another interesting thing: while there are a number of rules about the flag (e.g. it must be flown on a white mast with a white cross and orb) there isn’t an official colour of the blue- so in actual fact it doesn’t matter if you use dark blue or light blue. Oi, you beat me to it! Another legend I like is the one of the two brothers. The colours of the flag represent the land (white) and the sea (blue). Legend has it that Greece (the personification) had two sons, and they couldn't be more different. These two brothers wanted to design the Greek flag, but they couldn't agree on the colour. The first brother wanted a flag to represent the sea, because he was a fisherman and the sea was an integral part of his life. The second brother wanted a flag to represent the land, because he was a farmer and the land was the source of his income. The two brothers ended up compromising, and made a flag which was blue (sea) and white (land). Link to post Share on other sites
Morgan123 Posted July 20, 2019 Author Share Posted July 20, 2019 2 minutes ago, Life Of Tass said: Oi, you beat me to it! I am the Flag Master. 😋 2 minutes ago, Life Of Tass said: Another legend I like is the one of the two brothers. The colours of the flag represent the land (white) and the sea (blue). Legend has it that Greece (the personification) had two sons, and they couldn't be more different. These two brothers wanted to design the Greek flag, but they couldn't agree on the colour. The first brother wanted a flag to represent the sea, because he was a fisherman and the sea was an integral part of his life. The second brother wanted a flag to represent the land, because he was a farmer and the land was the source of his income. The two brothers ended up compromising, and made a flag which was blue (sea) and white (land). Yeah, there’s lots of references to the sea- I’ve also come across ones that use white as the sky. The lore behind the Greek flag is fascinating- there are some theories that it references the Muses as well. Link to post Share on other sites
Alawyn-Aebt Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I love flags, but I live in the USA where flag design is not our specialty. Whoever thought putting a seal on a flag was an idiot, and whoever decided it would be a good idea to copy that same basic principle was an even greater idiot. On a better note, I live in Maryland where the state flag is much cooler than many of the other state's, although it is technically an armorial banner and is hard to draw, at least it is distinctive, follows historical patterns, and has a logical history. Link to post Share on other sites
Piotrek Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I used to copy national flags A LOT when I was a kid, with colored pencils (yup, that far back ) and felt-tip pens. I can still recognize most of them. My favourite ones are probably Estonia (such unusual color choice) and Finland. Does anyone here know the YT channel Geography Now? It's an alphabetical series of videos about independent countries of the world (the author goes by the UN list). Flag and coat-of-arms presentation is an important element of each video (up until a certain point it had its own designated video once a week). Link to post Share on other sites
3Xi3X Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 versus 🤪😋😛😝😜🧐🤓 No but seriously this is just playful teasing. I like them both @Aebt Link to post Share on other sites
Morgan123 Posted July 20, 2019 Author Share Posted July 20, 2019 7 minutes ago, Aebt said: On a better note, I live in Maryland where the state flag is much cooler than many of the other state's, although it is technically an armorial banner and is hard to draw, at least it is distinctive, follows historical patterns, and has a logical history. Whatever your opinion on it, the Maryland flag is certainly interesting. But you’re right when you say there are some state flags which are utter shockers. It isn’t the worst one, but I just don’t understand the Bear Flag- someone needs to tell California that writing the name of the place on the flag completely defeats the point of having a flag in the first place (and yes, I know it’s a reference to the breakaway state, but still). Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Jay Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 Funny that this should pop up. I used to read a lot of flag books. I guess it's just fascinating to see how they use symbolism and such to represent countries, states, and so on... or maybe they're just cool to look at. Probably both. And in regards to how most of the United States' state flags are seen as "boring", that opinion is apparently fairly common. I've seen quite a few attempts to redesign them, like this one (which has two parts) and this one. (This thread must've gotten a dozen replies in the time it took me to write this message. Well, at least I'm not alone.) Link to post Share on other sites
Gloomy Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I like the Jolly Roger Flag and the Gadsden Flag. Also I kind of like the California Flag eventhough I wanna move out of this state eventually. Link to post Share on other sites
Karst Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 The US flag is terrible in terms of graphic design. I like the Union Jack and the flags of the various Scandinavian countries much better. I'm also not a big fan of designs for Pride flags that break away from the basic "horizontal stripes" look. Having a certain level of visual unity is a nice symbol for communal unity. Link to post Share on other sites
iam135 Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I don't have much to contribute beyond the fact that Colorado has a good flag. Nothing extraordinary, just good. Though I'm moving to Ohio for school and I'm not quite sure what to make of their flag. It just has a lot going on and seems very extra. Not bad, just extra. Link to post Share on other sites
daveb Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 1 hour ago, Morgan123 said: California It's still better than Oregon's flag! (former home state vs current home state) I like the Scottish flag. The Welsh flag is cool, too. Link to post Share on other sites
Morgan123 Posted July 20, 2019 Author Share Posted July 20, 2019 2 hours ago, daveb said: (former home state vs current home state) Very true. I only mentioned California because it could be a really good flag- the writing is so unnecessary. Some other state flags are either so boring or hideous that the writing is an improvement. 2 hours ago, daveb said: The Welsh flag is cool, too. Ay, the Welsh flag is pretty nails. I’m still annoyed that it was missed off the Union Jack. Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Jay Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 9 hours ago, 3Xi3X said: I hate when people get the Puerto Rican and Cuban flag mixed up. But, at the same time it is sort of understandable. =D Oh, I've noticed that. Cuba's flag has blue stripes and a red triangle (and is a bit wider), and vice versa for Puerto Rico's. This was actually on purpose, as both areas were fighting for independence from Spain at the time. Of course, there are some other flags with shared origins - for example, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela were once part of "Gran Colombia". Then again, sometimes the resemblance is just dumb luck (i.e. Chad and Romania, Italy and Mexico). It's probably because there are only so many ways to make a flag, at least traditionally. Link to post Share on other sites
daveb Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 15 minutes ago, Captain Jay said: Italy and Mexico At least Mexico has the big eagle emblem thing in the middle so it's easy to spot the difference. Italy and Ireland can be more problematic, especially for people who have some red-green color blindness. Or Ireland and Côte d’Ivoire, were the colors are reversed. Or Indonesia and Monaco where about the only difference is the proportions of the flags; not easy to spot! Or Luxembourg and the Netherlands, practically identical and close to each other geographically. (I admit I had to look some of that up) Link to post Share on other sites
Ashmedai Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 The Australian and New Zealand flags are almost identical except for a few little differences, so it's sorta understandable when people get them mixed up Link to post Share on other sites
ColeHW34 Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 I love a couple of polish flags, norad's flags, and the texas flag is okay. Link to post Share on other sites
CelesteAdAstra Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 8 hours ago, Piotrek said: I used to copy national flags A LOT when I was a kid, with colored pencils (yup, that far back ) and felt-tip pens. I can still recognize most of them. My favourite ones are probably Estonia (such unusual color choice) and Finland. Does anyone here know the YT channel Geography Now? It's an alphabetical series of videos about independent countries of the world (the author goes by the UN list). Flag and coat-of-arms presentation is an important element of each video (up until a certain point it had its own designated video once a week). I know Geography Now, I watched their videos a lot 😃 Especially liked the 1st of April videos 😂 My favourite flags include: Estonia (my favourite colour scheme) Saar Basin (historical one, colours the same as Estonia but switched) Tanzania Uzbekistan Svalbard and a lot of pride flags, like the quoisexual one and the vertical version of the androgyne one. Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Zulas Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 Flag of a mercenary company in my D&D setting Religious banner for a not-all-evil death goddess religion Ancient banner of a dead kingdom one of my players is heir to. Link to post Share on other sites
Morgan123 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 My favourite is probably the Vanuatu flag- it’s just so beautiful and it makes me happy every time I look at it. 🇻🇺 On a similar note, the South Africa flag is also cool- even though it actually has quite a few different colours on it, it carries it off so well and seems so simple. No one can deny that it is one of the most perfect flags out there. 🇿🇦 I also think East Timor deserves a shout out- it shows that you can have stars on your flag without looking tacky. And the gold arrow is a brilliant touch- just appreciate it for a minute. 🇹🇱 It’s funny how most of my favourites have a side triangle- it just adds that bit of interest that you don’t get in stripes but it isn’t overly complicated. It definitely helps them stand out from the rest. Link to post Share on other sites
Captain_Tass Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 Anybody else really like the Angola flag? Link to post Share on other sites
Morgan123 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 5 minutes ago, Life Of Tass said: Anybody else really like the Angola flag? Yeah, it’s one of my favourite ones that features weapons, along with Kenya. You can definitely see the resemblance with the hammer and sickle too- obviously that particular flag has a controversial history but it is well-designed. Link to post Share on other sites
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