Flagging Interest

Flagging Interest

By: NickC on January 3, 2012

JJ Smith over at Graphicology has set himself the task of redesigning all 50 of the American State Flags.

Being a resident of the European side of the North Atlantic I didn’t even know each state had its own flag until I came across the Graphicology blog and read up on the Fifty Flags project. Before now, I hadn’t had the opportunity to appreciate the vast array of flags designs that exist throughout the USA.

Now that I have, I have to say that I agree with JJ’s appraisal of the flags in their current state:

“Our flags by and large are an ugly mess.”

With all due respect to their original designers, the flags are largely outmoded and fairly uninspiring, which is kind of the opposite of what a flag should be. In the generative process of crafting these new designs, JJ has used everything from local landmarks to commercial exports, in an effort to give each state an independent conceptual identity. This is branding at its toughest.

Tackling the States alphabetically, JJ has created designs for Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California and Colorado which you can see below:

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

You can read a more in-depth account of the development and rationale behind each of these concepts on the Graphicology blog and you can follow JJ on Twitter here.