23 (1st Round) “Finalists” for New Fiji Flag

Posted on by SDM

Update: Fiji has cancelled its plans to change its flag.

Fiji’s National Flag Committee has selected 23 designs from the hundreds submitted as finalists for the new Fijian flag.  At newfijiflag.com Fijians and foreigners are able to give their feedback on each of the finalists.

In order to interpret the designs, the committee provides this guide to the symbols they employ:

  • “Fiji Blue” provides continuity from the 1970–2015 flag, remaining the “banner blue” of the national anthem. It represents peace, serenity, and freedom, as well as the Pacific Ocean. It shows solidarity with all island nations.
  • Yellow represents radiance, life, sustenance, and a new beginning. It recalls the sun and Fiji’s place as “the land of the first rising sun” and its tropical location.
  • Dark Blue stands for peace, prosperity, trust, dignity, and intelligence. The colour of the deep ocean, it represents the depth of Fiji’s culture.
  • Red represents passion, strength and energy of the Fijian people.
  • The Sun symbolises a new day, hope, and Fiji moving forward. It recalls Fiji’s place as “the land of the first rising sun” and its tropical location. It represents health, light, life, and energy, as well as the warmth of the Fijian people.
  • The Triangle signifies Fiji moving forward together as one people.
  • Stars represent guidance, navigation, and direction. They symbolize the gallantry of Fiji’s people.
  • Three represents the three independent branches of Government as a strong and vibrant democracy under our Constitution: the executive, the judiciary and the legislature.
  • Seven is a number that symbolises a good omen for many Fijians.
  • The Tagimoucia represents blessings, courage, and peace. The flower is unique to Fiji and found only on the island of Taveuni.
  • The Turtle represents the humility, strength, patience, and perseverance of the Fijian people.
  • The Davui [conch shell trumpet] represents community and respect; the call of the nation to come together as one people.
  • The Drua [double-hulled sailing canoe] represents past, present, and future of all Fijians and our voyage into the future as one people, one nation.
  • The Tapa [decorative barkcloth] represents the many islands of Fiji and our past with its geometric, triangular elements in the centre of the flag.
  • The Coconut Tree represents sustenance and the versatility of the Fijian people.

Here are the 23 designs as presented in the online survey (sizes have been reduced to approximate viewing them at a distance):

newfijiflag.com/design-1
Design 35
36
Design 36
37
Design 37
38
Design 38
39
Design 39
40
Design 40
41
Design 41
42
Design 42
43
Design 43
44
Design 44
45
Design 45
46
Design 46
47
Design 47
48
Design 48
49
Design 49
50
Design 50
51
Design 51
52
Design 52
53
Design 53
54
Design 54
55
Design 55
56
Design 56
57
Design 57

70 thoughts on “23 (1st Round) “Finalists” for New Fiji Flag”

  1. There are some terrific designs here. I’ll look forward to hearing about the final choice. I hope Fiji will organize a fabulous celebration once the choice is made.

  3. Design 35 is a complicated design for a national flag. Foreigners will ask what is it? Designs 36-39 are excellent. Design 40, 41, 43 and 44 are “good flags” as well. The rest as well. Best collection of good flags in a long time. They need to narrow it down to what best describes Fiji that is simplcite on a Fiji blue flag. – Patrick Genna, PFA

  4. The selection is FAR from being great… Pictograms on a national flag? Yellow on light blue? #42 to #44 are commercial logos… The number of rays from the sun has no significance whatsoever in Fiji. #56 and #57 : details too small. All in all, poor designs.
    Design #46 would be good with only one large star instead of… 7? why 7? symbol of luck? not serious. Not a lot of people are happy in Fiji about these designs! Even those that were in favour of a change are now unhappy. It is obvious that any of these flag will have to be changed again in some distant future.

    #48 would be my choice, but I don’t like it… how come no better ideas came in?

  6. design 49? man… it is in my top-3 most ugly flags… Flags should carry meaning. I can count 11 points, what does it mean? Any Fijian can tell us?

  7. After having a second look at it:

    Design #47 has 10 points.
    Design #49 has 11 points.
    Design #50 has 12 points.
    Design #51 has 14 points.
    Design #56 has 15 points.

    And some designs have 7 points… and when they have 5 points, there are 3 or 7 stars…
    We can conclude at least that 13 is not popular in Fiji… but all those numbers are confusing! Which ones mean something relevant in Fiji, if any? That’s something we need to know ro decide…

    1. So this letter to the editor says that they should keep their flag the same, except change every single part of it. He says the proposed designs are bed, but does not offer a graphical representation of his proposed design… sigh…

      I’ve never been to Fiji, so I can’t comment on the flag’s representation of the Fiji’s history, but I really like 46 and 47.

  9. I do not believe any of these are the best design to say FIJI!!! Of those posted #40 would be the best of these…Fiji moving forward having already traveled a strong course. It is also unique to Fiji- not just one island. Red shows better than white & the other red drua looks like it will sail off the edge.

  11. I prefer design 53 suites the nation of FIJI for people of tomorrow n beyond. My interpretation ,the Takia signifies moving from the past {history} to the future {New Era}.The Triangle Point signifies Fiji s fruitfull age is ahead,The three stars signifies The Government ,The People,and The Law.The Colour Blue is the Bluesea that binds all the islands of Fiji Together as a Nation.The White Line is to forget all the wrong doing of the past and strive for better future,The Darkblue Colour is deepsea riches that waits for us to find. May God Bless FIJI and its people.

  13. these flags are design by one person, i believe…? cause they have most similarities on designs, pattern etc..etc…
    i don’t agree with any of these flags.! they r so meaningless to my eyes…!

  14. I agree to likulikulosana all the flags are designed by only one designer…..the canoes…tapa…sun…its all the same but the colors changed….its stupid…..I Love the Flag we have now….and why do they have to include the sun and the stars???…..

    2. Yes ur ryt y we HV to change our Fiji flag
      Its not ryt for pple
      Idk y they c others comment n say yes to change it wtf
      We pple from Fiji we love Fiji n our Fiji flag

  17. Number #53 shows Fiji’s Culture and History which Fiji has……
    This will depend on the younger generation to know about the past and the way of living that had been done in the past…..

    2. The current Fiji flag rating by world flag ranking is FAIL. We need to put the new Fiji flag in the A grade. The A grade flags are so simple. We don’t need any fancy design on the flag. We need another set of new designs, not happy with these. I want my vote but not with these ones. My request is to give us more new designs to choose from.

      1. that’s right, our colonial flag is a fail, and so are those designs. good flags only have rectangles, maybe a circle or one to four standard stars. hopefully we can see some new designs soon.

  19. it is time we accept changes. Come on people, grow up…Fiji is destined to hoist a new flag. It is not about what an idividual wants….Its for Fiji…Some of these designs show modern Fiji….Why not give it a chance…..No one ever consulted us during the making of the last flag, so why so much fuss now…..

  20. Excuse me…Im a fijian since birth and if you want to change the flag then come up with a better design not a little kid art and craft….if only you would give a chance to every citizen of fiji a chance to express themselves youll see that we dont need a new flag!but if we do we’ll do something much better then your top 23…..

    1. you are right, those flags are somewhat ugly (the yellow-light blue or blue-brown is horrible…) the main problem I see is the symbolism. If there was any good flag outhere, we would know; if the current flag was great, we wouldn’t be talking about it… so we need to keep thinking about it . a good flag is one that will shout FIJI in a rugby stadium.

  21. I think the flag should include things which represent Fiji in the world and things that gives a tourist or person from anywhere in the world idea that Fiji is a multicultural , friendly and peaceful island

  22. because we have become a republic and has lost ties to great britian , keeping the old flag but removing the union jack and replace it wiith 13 stars depicting the 13 tikinas in a circle and in the middle have 3 doves depicting the 3 yasanas all in white

  25. i think in design 57 there should be a peace sign on the top right hand corner to symbolize multiculturalism with a combination of bit white n red to also brighten up the flag.

    2. I agree. The sun not only represents a new day and a new future for Fiji, but it also represents Fiji as the land of the first rising sun. It is a little unknown fact, but the rays of the sun fall first on Fiji before any other country. I also agree wit you that the old flag is better than any of these designs. We should hold another competition after a referendum is given so more people will participate in the competition. We need a better flag design than this. Fiji is great, and none of these flags say GREAT!

  28. The flags don’t make sense…if paired, most of it look similar- (36 and 37) , (38 and 39) , ( 40 and 41), ( 42, 43 and 44), (46,47 and 48), (52 and 53), (54 and 55) and (56 and 57) .. Now that is something I don’t understand, why finalize the flags which look similar in design….there were much better and meaningful designs displayed on FBC TV and I’m sure there must have been more meaningful designs submitted, and plus why choose something which already looks similar to other countries flag….. please have a look again and the designs submitted.

  29. This goes to show that the creativity of the flag designers is HORRIBLE…the symbols on the flags have no meanings to our culture, and it looks like that a single person designed all the flags since some flags look a bit similar to each other.

  30. They all look the same and most are not fitting as national flags. Also, the ratio (1:2) if official doesn’t it any of the selected designs. Having said that, nr 35 is the least bad of them all.

  31. we have been told from a reliable source that the flag committee actually considered some of the designs submitted by the people of Fiji but somehow they got their final orders from the top and that’s how we ended up with that poor selection of flags… :( not a democratic exercise.

  32. All dreadful and insipid. If I had to chose it would be 51 but depite the colonial baggage, none of them are a patch on the beautiful current Flag of Fiji. They should have modified that flag retaining at least some of the History

  34. The new Fiji flag designs look fabulous, I personally prefer the# 51 the rising sun but the ocean colour should be more deep blue. Its time for change long over due but the but its in the right direction.I cant wait see the new Fiji flag. May God Bless Fiji Always. I will celebrate with new Fiji flag

  35. Pathetic comments. Did anyone of the above commenting participated in the new flag designing???? I suppose none. Fiji gave all Fijians more than enough time to do this. At least some Fijians showed their interest. Lets appreciate what somebody had done something for Fiji.

    1. That doesn’t matter if people participated or not because the council that judged the flags admitted that they designed the final 23 themselves by using small designs from other flags. In other words, this is not what Fiji submitted!

  36. Why didn’t they just leave our flag alone? I was born and raised in Suva and I always loved my nations flag. So did everyone else. Why is everyone trying to change our history and heritage?!?

  37. tbh, all of these flags are meaningless. I would be so ashamed if one of these flags were to be our new flag. Oh yes and btw..it’s so clear that it’s designed by the same one person! Inside job if you ask me!!

  38. Keep the current flag its beautiful. if it is changed then remember the old saying- you just can’t please every one. So Just let it fly.

  39. I agree that we should replace the flag, but we shouldn’t do it in a rush. These designs have no life at all! Fiji has a lot of talented artists, look at the tapa and masi designs, look at the Fiji airways logos…even Tattoo artists in Nadi come up with great designs, so why have we selected these? I am not taking away any credit from the people who have submitted these, but I think we can do way better, and I think we are doing this in a big rush, which is not a good thing. Lets take our time to choose a new and great a flag.

  40. I think that the present flag is not ugly but it looks very similar to others around the globe, and for this reason, I was excited when I first heard that Fiji decided to change it. I was disappointed about the proposals, though. In my opinion, they don’t look remarkable at all. I believe Fiji deserved better designs.

  43. These designs are a joke and insult to the native Fijian people, their way of life, beliefs and culture. This has nothing to do with racism, it’s simply about portraying culture, customs and it’s people. Also, there is simply no need to change, although some “bright” souls out there may ask “Why NOT?”. It’s not like we don’t have a flag, so Why CHANGE, Frank or should it be Why CHANGE Kaiyum?

    1. Richard, we don’t as a rule publish reader-created flags here on the portlandflag.org blog. The “Flags and Vexillology” group on Facebook, or the /r/vexillology community on Reddit would be more appropriate venues (or you could publish your designs on your own website). Or you might think about writing up an article for an upcoming Vexilloid Tabloid newsletter; check out past issues to get the sense for format and length, and contact editor@portlandflag.org for details.

  45. WHAT ABOUT ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO DON’T WANT A NEW FLAG??? Are we going to be allowed to vote for our OLD flag design too? Only then would it be TRUE democracy.

  47. Never thought I’d see the day when the country where I was born would change it’s flag. I like the old one, though I’m also open to something new. And even more interested in something newer than these 23 designs.

  48. I’d like to add that if they decide to change the flag, this is an opportune time to choose something futuristic. Also, it doesn’t need to be too simple. It needs to be recognizable and adding a few interesting details will make people want to find out more about the flag…

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