Author: SDM

Ethnography * Technology * Design

Art is the Handmaid of Human Good

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Lowell's city flag, like so many, places the city seal on a plain field -- an example of the infamous "seal on a bedsheet".  And, yes, there is a Roman Mars-inspired grassroots effort underway to improve it at lowellflag.com. But let's stop a moment to consider this artwork. Lowell's seal is a remarkable example of its genre.… Continue reading Art is the Handmaid of Human Good

Dallas = The Pegasus and The Trinity?

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In an interesting twist on the "let's improve our city's flag!" meme that, courtesy of Roman Mars, is circulating around the U.S., a Facebook-centric initiative is underway in the Big D, Dallas, Texas.  And a rapidly-moving initiative it is!  Dallas I. May created the Facebook page Your Dallas Flag less than a month ago. After some… Continue reading Dallas = The Pegasus and The Trinity?

Whitney Smith: Flags of the Arab World, 1958

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It was 57 years ago this month that the word vexillology first appeared in print, in an article by the founder of flag studies, Whitney Smith, in the now discontinued journal The Arab World. Here is a transcription of the article. FLAGS of the ARAB WORLD By WHITNEY SMITH, Jr. One of the most interesting phases… Continue reading Whitney Smith: Flags of the Arab World, 1958

How Roman Mars Brought Vexillology to the Public

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Vexillology may have more fame as an answer to a trivia question than as an serious topic of conversation, but Roman Mars is changing that.  In May we reported on the release, on TED.com and YouTube, of the video of his March 2015 TED Talk. On TED.com it's titled Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing… Continue reading How Roman Mars Brought Vexillology to the Public

A New Flag For A New L.A.

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Want to improve your city's flag?  Take a look at what Ian Williams and his collaborators have put together to push for "A New Flag For A New L.A.". First, they managed to get the domain losangelesflag.org (welcome to the [cityname]flag.org family, Los Angeles Flag!), the twitter handle @LosAngelesFlag, and the Facebook page facebook.com/losangelesflag.  (That all these… Continue reading A New Flag For A New L.A.

Designs Sought for New Milwaukee Flag

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Update: Robert Lenz's design "Sunrise Over the Lake" won the contest. Steve Kodis is on a mission to create a new flag for the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  His group, Milwaukee Flag, is currently soliciting designs from the public.  Anyone is invited to submit a design (up to five of them, actually), until the deadline of… Continue reading Designs Sought for New Milwaukee Flag

Birmingham (Alabama) Flag Project Wants Your Vote

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Public voting for a new flag for Birmingham, Alabama ends at midnight (Central time) on Friday, October 23rd.  Here are the three candidates to consider. Please visit each design's profile to learn more about it, and to see "applied uses of the design" -- a smart nod to the requirement that a flag design function… Continue reading Birmingham (Alabama) Flag Project Wants Your Vote

Brendan Patrick Hennessy’s Flog

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Torontonian Brendan Patrick Hennessy blogs about flags on a site named, appropriately enough, Flag Log.  He writes: Flag Log is a blog about flags (or “flog”). Come to this flog if you want to see a bunch of cool pictures of flags. More than just a bunch of cool pictures, it is actually quite a treasure… Continue reading Brendan Patrick Hennessy’s Flog