Author: SDM

Thanks to the efforts of vexillonaires Connor Mahlbacher and Zachary Carter, the city of Fayetteville, Georgia has launched an online design contest to redesign its municipal flag. Flag designers are welcome to submit proposals at fayetteville-ga.gov/flag, and are encouraged to view Roman Mars’ TED talk on municipal flag design, and to consult NAVA’s Good Flag, Bad Flag guidebook. The deadline is 5PM Eastern Time, Monday, October 15, 2018.

The Flags of the World database provides information about the current text-heavy red, white, and blue tricolor flag the city adopted in 2002. Local designer and artist Nita McFarlin won a design contest that year, explaining “I designed the flag with the same colors as France, since LaFayette was French and Fayetteville is named for him. Also, the double t in Fayetteville serves as the foundation for the clock tower. I believe the courthouse, being the oldest in Georgia, is most recognized by the tower and clock.”

The search for a new flag has generated some controversy, as evidenced in this July 2017 letter to the editor of local newspaper The Citizen by the county historian, Carolyn Cary.  She apparently sees an educational purpose to having words on flags: “If someone wants to create a new city flag devoid of any historical elements and any wording, go ahead. But that is not going to teach children and new residents a thing about our history.”

On the other hand, Mayor Ed Johnson has been generally supportive. When Mahlbacher and Carter spoke before the city council earlier that same month about the need for a redesign, The Citizen reported:

Mayor Ed Johnson thanked Carter for his comments, and suggested Carter be on a committee to see if the flag should be updated.

Carter agreed, and Johnson gave him a preview of what his new position might entail.

“Just be prepared for some blowback,” he said.

Controversy and blowback often come with the territory of local efforts to improve existing flag designs.

SAINT-ALPHONSE-RODRIGUEZ, QUEBEC — In a surprise announcement today, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto proclaimed their mutual withdrawal from NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the merger of their two countries into the Federation of Camexida.  “It just got too difficult dealing with the Trump administration, so we’ve decided to leave NAFTA and join forces,” explained Trudeau. “That Trump, he’s just one bad hombre. Loco… Loquísimo!” added Peña Nieto, in an uncharacteristic display of informality.

The two leaders further revealed that to appease the Quebecois, the capital of the new federation would be developed in the small town of Saint-Alphonse-Rodriguez in Quebec (one of the few municipalities in Canada with a Spanish place name) and that Mexico would half-heartedly adopt French as a second official language (due to some lingering resentments around the events of 1861).  A new two-sided flag was revealed to represent the new country, with the Mexican eagle side serving as the front of the flag in even-numbered years, the Canadian maple leaf in odd-numbered years.

After their short announcement, the two leaders declined to answer any questions from the stunned audience, and left to have a meal of moose meat tacos and huitlacoche poutine.

The municipal government of Scottsdale, Arizona — “the West’s most Western town” according to its uninspired current flag — is narrowing in on a redesign and inviting public input. Why? “Scottsdale hopes a new flag will become an immediately recognizable symbol of the proud and accomplished desert community known around the world for its blend of western heritage, natural beauty and modern art and culture.”

Here are the contending proposals. (Interestingly, the web survey shows each proposals at two sizes, to allow the design to be read both close-up and at a more typical viewing distance.)

As with many of these redesign efforts, it is worth asking whether deciding between these specific options through a public poll will lead to a better result (a more widely adopted flag) than would hiring a design professional to produce a final design after taking these amateur ideas into thoughtful consideration.

(Also, Oregonians will beg to differ: Port Orford, Oregon and obviously not Scottsdale is the literally most western incorporated settlement in the continental US.)

From the August 2017 Vexilloid Tabloid #65
By Max Liberman

Queen Elizabeth II reigns as monarch of 16 sovereign and independent countries.  Although they share the same person as queen, each country’s throne is legally distinct:  she is simultaneously and separately Queen of the United Kingdom, Queen of Australia, Queen of Papua New Guinea, etc.

Some of these countries have adopted royal standards for the monarch’s personal use, usually a banner of the national coat of arms, defaced with Elizabeth’s  personal badge of a crowned “E” in a wreath of roses.

The royal standard of New Zealand, shown below, is a typical example.

Since the queen lives in the United Kingdom, in her other 15 realms she is represented by a governor-general, who fulfills the day-to-day functions of the head of state.

Most of these viceroys (governors-general) fly nearly-identical flags:  blue, with the lion-and-crown crest from the British royal arms above a scroll bearing the country’s name.

The flag of the governor-general of Belize is shown above.

From a heraldic and constitutional perspective, the symbolism of all this is not very satisfying.  The crowned-“E” badge serves as an armorial mark of difference, indicating that someone other than the actual bearer of the coat of arms is represented.  But as monarch, the queen is the personal embodiment of the state; the nation’s arms are her arms, and there is no reason for a person to bear his or her own arms differenced.

In accordance with heraldic custom, I suggest that in each realm she should use a banner of the  national arms without defacement or difference—as illustrated by proposed standards for the Queen of Grenada, the Queen of Tuvalu, and the Queen of Canada below.

What of the governors-general? They do not represent the United Kingdom or the British government, so there seems little justification for their flags bearing the crest of the British monarch.  Rather, since each governor-general is the personal representative of his or her own country’s queen, I propose that he or she should fly a differenced version of that country’s royal standard.

A bordure ermine for difference might be especially suitable; this has often been employed in heraldry as a mark of difference, and is used today in the United Kingdom by members of the royal family without banners of their own.  Proposed flags for the governors-general of New Zealand and Barbados are pictured here.

For the governor-general of Jamaica, ermine will not do, since the field of the Jamaican royal standard is already white.  In this case, I suggest a bordure compony of the national colors of green, gold and black.

Something similar could be done in the Bahamas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (see below), and St. Kitts and Nevis, where the same problem arises.

Australia (below) and Tuvalu present another problem—how should the vice-regal flag be differenced when the royal arms already have a bordure?

The overall result, in my view, is a series of flags which clearly denote each realm’s independence and distinct national identity, combining existing national symbolism and centuries-old heraldic principles to accurately reflect today’s constitutional realities.