Dec 31, 2024
the news media isn't doing my design justice. Bask in the glory of my child, Laserham Lincoln.
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the news media isn't doing my design justice. Bask in the glory of my child, Laserham Lincoln.
BIG FLAG NEWS ! ! !
The Great American Flag Revolution is in full swing! Not a month after Maine chose a winner, the state of Illinois has announced a flag redesign contest, which will be open from the 3rd of September to the 18th of October.
Currently, the flag of Illinois is a simple white banner with the state's seal in the center, and the word "ILLINOIS" underneath.
It's not the worst state flag, not by far. It's actually a pretty neat design, and kind of similar to the emblem on the flag of Mexico. But Illinois' seal was deliberately designed to look similar to the seal of the USA, making it look kind of generic, like this could be the flag of really any state. I was going to say that this flag doesn't really scream "ILLINOIS," but alas, it technically does. Nonetheless, it's not a great design and I'm glad they've realized it needs an update.
Interestingly, in 1918, to celebrate the Illinois' first hundred years of statehood, a centennial flag was designed, and it actually slaps:
The centennial flag was designed by Wallace Rice, the same fellow who was responsible for the flag of Chicago, which also goes hard and is probably one of the most iconic municipal flags in the country, if not the world. The 21 stars on the centennial flag represent the 10 northern states and 10 southern states at the time of Illinois' admission to the Union, as well as a big one for Illinois itself. The centennial flag is popular among Illinoisans and some propose making it the flag of the state. Most redesigns for Illinois I've seen incorporate some elements from this flag.
If Illinois does go through with changing its flag, (which will be up to a decision of the General Assembly sometime this year or next), it will be the most recent in a wave of flag redesigns around the nation. Most state flags are unoriginal and/or poorly designed, with more than half of them being just the state seal on a monochrome field, a design loathed by flag enthusiasts everywhere and known very unaffectionately as the "seal on a bedsheet."
There are 25 of these. These flags are not only soulless, but also completely useless. Seals are not legible from a distance, especially waving on a flagpole. Furthermore, seals are symbols of the authority of a government, not of the people, making them kind of inappropriate for a civil flag.
Luckily, the states seem to be slowly realizing the importance of well-designed flags, and now they're redesigning in droves. Mississippi, Utah, Minnesota, Maine, and now Illinois have all redesigned their flags in the past five years, and many more are considering it. I both hope and believe that I will live to see an America with unique, colorful flags for every state.
Reviewing Illinois State Flag Finalists
In September, Illinois started taking submissions for redesigns of the state flag, and recently they published their 10 finalists. Let's take a look.
Entry 4220
This design took me a solid fifteen seconds to decipher, and it was stationary, on my computer screen. I can scarcely imagine the nightmare of trying to make out Abraham Lincoln's silhouette from several hundred yards away, while the flag is waving in the wind. This flag would also surely be a pain to manufacture by traditional methods--especially at smaller sizes, stitching along the precise and irregular lines would be difficult. I see the creative vision behind this design, but it just doesn't work. It's clumsy enough as a digital image, and would be downright illegible as a flag.
Entry 4129
This one's not bad. I really like the gear inside the flower, and the stripes representing Illinois' rivers. Overall it's a nice design, but I do have to voice my discontent with the use of a pastel blue. I'm generally against the use of pastel colours in flags, because they are given to fade, and are harder to make out in the sun. I especially dislike the combination of pastel blue with white, because they create a very low contrast that confuses the otherwise legible design and makes the details vulnerable to confusion. I think this design would fare better if the pastel blue were replaced entirely with white (or vice versa, but I would opt to eliminate the blue.)
Entry 200
This is one of my favorites of the bunch. It seems to be inspired by the centennial flag, which we'll discuss later. The thin blue stripes represent the rivers Mississippi and Illinois, which is a nice touch. The 21 stars denote Illinois being the 21st state. This design isn't anything thrilling, but I truly don't have any complaints about it, except maybe that it looks like a recoloured North Korea.
Entry 4321
This one is fine. Nothing remarkably Illinois about it, but I don't dislike it. My only real complaint with this one is that there's an awful lot of negative space above the butterfly's head. I would move the largest star in the circle down into that negative space, balancing out the flag and putting even more attention on that particular star.
Entry 4669
4669 is disappointing. If you MUST put your initial on your flag, which you shouldn't be doing in the first place, you have to at least be creative about it, like Colorado or Ocean City. This flag feels like it's admitting that there's nothing unique about the state, clinging desperately to the American flag for a shred of symbolism. Not even the six-pointed star can save this design, because all it does is remind you that there are decent flags in Illinois, and that this is not one of them.
Entry 896
This one pisses me off perhaps more than any other. Allow me to refresh your memory of the current flag of Illinois:
It's the SAME
FUCKING
DESIGN
I want you to reflect on this for a moment. Why would a populace vote to replace their flag, at the expense of valuable time, resources and taxpayer money, specifically because they did not like the current design, if they did not intend to noticeably change any of the key parts of said design? What, I ask you, is the point of replacing the word ILLINOIS with stripes on the sides? It's a random change purely for the sake of change without any recognition of the reasons a change was called for.
But what truly baffles me is the logic presented by the originator of the self-proclaimed redesign. The designer stated that this was "simply an embellishment to the existing flag ... to save money on an entire new design." I don't think this person understands how this works. They're not going to take every existing Illinois flag, cover up the text and sew stripes onto the edges. If this redesign is chosen, entirely new flags will have to be manufactured, and since the state seal uses a shit ton of colors and shapes, the materials and labour required to manufacture any flag featuring the seal would be expensive, meaning not only will the Illinois flag continue to be expensive to produce, it will cost the state several hundreds or even thousands of dollars to replace all the existing flags for no fucking reason, meaning that in the long run, the redesign will have been nothing but a waste of time and taxpayer money with no noticeable effect. Out of the almost 5,000 entries, I am genuinely confounded that this one received more than a few minute's consideration, and downright shocked that it made it to the top 10. What are we doing.
Entry 2246
This one isn't bad. It feels kind of generic--they have fields and sunsets everywhere. But visually, it's cleaner and prettier than probably any other design in this batch, and honestly I don't mind it.
Entry 3754
I like this one. It's nothing special, but it's pleasant to look at, and it makes use of relevant symbols more effectively than any other proposal. All things considered, this is probably the one I would vote for.
Entries 3679 & 2752
I'm lumping these together because they're essentially the same. I virtually never approve of maps on flags. They're hard to make, but more than that, it just feels lazy. If a map of your state is all you have to work with, I think you need to need to work on building an identity before you start designing flags. My complaints about using Abraham Lincoln's silhouette also still stand.
1918 Centennial Flag
This flag was designed in celebration of Illinois' 100th anniversary of statehood, and was a co-official flag of the state for the year of 1918. It is also included in the redesign choices and is considered a finalist in its own right by default. This flag established blue and white as the unofficial colours of Illinois, and inspired many of the redesigns. I still think it's the best option for a state flag by far.
In summary,
the redesigns are all over the place. Given the choice between the finalists, I would go for the centennial flag, but 3754, 2246, and 200 are all good choices as well. The Illinois Flag Commission will spend the next few months narrowing down their decision even further, and then the people of Illinois will vote on their final design. Almost all of the proposals are better or at least not worse than the incumbent flag, so any change is better than none in my opinion.
so the initial illinois flag vote didn't go the way i was hoping it would--the current flag won in a landslide with 43 percent of the vote. but that still means that 57 percent (ie., a majority) voted for a new flag--they just couldn't agree on which one, and i honestly don't blame them because most of the redesign proposals are shit. i think what should happen now is they should do a re-vote with the current flag, the runner-up, and the centennial flag.
quite frankly, i think they shouldn't have even had the design contest in the first place. the centennial flag was already well-established and, in my opinion, perfectly well-designed. they should have just did what maine did and gone straight to a referendum to make the centennial flag the official state flag, instead of spending time and money sifting through thousands of (mostly awful) redesigns just to end up splitting the vote.
Which of the proposed Illinois redesigns is your favorite?
1918 Centennial Flag
1968 Sesquicentennial Flag
Submission 4321
Submission 4669
Submission 4220
Submission 4129
Submission 3679
Submission 3754
Submission 2246
Submission 2752
Submission 200
Submission 896
But don't just tell me, tell the Illinois Flag Commission! Anyone can vote online once every 24 hours through February 14th.
Click here to vote
My Personal Top Three (and two bonus choices)
Illinois is narrowing down its choices for a new flag (it also has the option to keep the one it's got) so we'll see what they decide to do! Here are my thoughts on my personal favorites from amongst their finalists.