I can’t remember for sure, but I believe that it was The Big Bang Theory‘s vodcast Sheldon Cooper Presents: Fun with Flags (season 5, episode 14, “The Beta Test Initiation”) that kicked off my fascination with vexillology (and the fun it is to just say the word).
Or maybe it was Roman Mars‘s TED Talk “Why city flags might be the worst-designed thing you’ve never noticed” that made me start looking up the flags of every city I lived in and realize he was right (although I now believe that region/district/county flags are far worse on average).
I remember as a kid wanting to design my own herald (probably due to exposure to U.S. Air Force unit shields, a few of which my dad had designed himself), and I think it resonates with me as an intersection between history/legacy and art/design.
But I didn’t really give it more thought after high school until those instances a few years ago. Since then, I’ve loved collecting example of flag designs I appreciate, and evaluating them according to Ted Kaye’s Good Flag, Bad Flag principles.
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| Saint Lucia | Jamaica | Ireland |
Personal Flags
I’m quite lucky that a lot of the flags where I have personally lived have fun designs:
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| Maryland, USA | Washington, D.C., USA | San Antonio, Texas, USA | New Mexico, USA |
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| Arizona, USA | Canada | Vancouver, BC, Canada | Aboriginal Flag, Australia |
I also have the flags representing my heritage, which I think are great ones:
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| Scotland | Philippines |
Fun Flag Designs
As 2020 was supposed to be a year in which the Olympic Games are held, I was prepared for a few of the usual articles on “countries with the best flags”, so there’s plenty of literature out there on national flags. But I have a lot more fun finding ones that aren’t usually written about. Here are a few of my current standouts of the lesser-known flags (some current, some historical, and some fiction):
There are a few flags out there that are examples of good flag design but have such horrific connections or connotations that I don’t want to acknowledge them, lest it be thought that I approved of the things they represent.
The Future
Maybe one day I’ll get back to creating my own herald and flag. There’s a Scott Clan crest (and variants), arms, and tartan, so I’ll probably try to incorporate those for fun, as well as plenty of other symbols that have meanting to me. But in the meantime, I’ll continue to just collect those flags that inspire me with their beauty.
