In the most recent Vexilloid Tabloid, we announced a design challenge: Ignoring the political near-impossibility of change...simply from a DESIGN perspective, how could the US flag be improved? Readers were (and still are!) encouraged to send proposals to editor@portlandflag.org, to be discussed at our next meeting. Here are two proposals readers have sent in so… Continue reading Improving the Design of the US Flag
Jeppe and Birger Morgenstjerne of the Danish design agency Ferdio recently released an extensive set of beautiful vexillological infographics entitled Flag Stories. These have attracted, deservedly, considerable attention around the web, including that of Linda Poon of The Atlantic's Citylab. In her article What's in a Flag's Design? she asked our very own Ted Kaye… Continue reading Ted Kaye on Flag Stories
The April edition of our newsletter is out early, featuring an insightful article political science professor and psephologist Erik Herron on last year's referendum in New Zealand. (That vote determined the design that Kiwis are deciding this month whether to adopt as their new national flag.) Contents for Vexilloid Tabloid #57: Introduction: Psephology and NZ; Mississippi (Ted Kaye) How… Continue reading Vexilloid Tabloid #57
As we reported last October, in honor of the city's sesquicentennial, the SB150 Committee hosted a public contest at the beginning of a carefully designed process to design a new city flag for South Bend, Indiana. After selecting three finalists, gathering public feedback, and creating a composite design, the city's elected officials today revealed the final result:… Continue reading South Bend, Indiana Has a Great New Flag
PFA luminary Ted Kaye was on Turkish television (TRT World) last week, being interviewed as part of a story about national flags and the flag change debate in New Zealand. Check it out:
As every Oregonian Portlander knows, our city name was the result of 1845 coin tosses between two founders from New England, a Bostonian and a Portlander. So it is with special interest that we see that our namesake city has now joined the long list of US cities in which vexillonaires are trying to improve the… Continue reading Changing The Other Portland’s Flag
Upon hearing Roman Mars repeat Ted Kaye's dictum In every bad flag there's a good flag trying to get out, James Reyes decided to simplify the flag of his hometown, El Paso, Texas, from this: to this: Adding to the list of city flag improvement efforts underway in the US he began lobbying for a… Continue reading Simplifying El Paso’s flag
Last November we wrote about the Flag for All Mississippians Coalition (NewMSFlag.org) and contentious efforts underway in the Magnolia State to change the current state flag, the only state flag to include the Confederate battle flag. Here is an update. The NewMSFlag people are currently collecting signatures to qualify The Flag for All Mississippians Act as Initiative… Continue reading Mississippi Flag Initiatives
by Ted Kaye, Vexilloid Tabloid #56 The mere-exposure effect is a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them. In social psychology, this effect is sometimes called the “familiarity principle”. I recently learned of this term, and the concept which it describes. It puts… Continue reading The Mere-Exposure Effect
Alas, no, not a flag for Dungeons & Dragons: rather, a flag for the twin Scottish villages of Denny (pop. 8000) and Dunipace (pop. 2500). The River Carron -- which might be the "River Itys" described in Ptolemy's Geography in the 2nd century -- separates the two. Deadline for submissions is February 17, 2016. For instructions and details, download the… Continue reading Have an Idea for a D&D Flag?
Portland Flag Association 