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Columbus Needs a New City Flag

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Started 1 year ago by johnwirtz
Latest reply from MattCooper

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johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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The Urbanophile recently noted how great Indianapolis' city flag is.

I have to agree that it's a pretty nice looking flag. So I Googled something about flag design to see what makes a great flag. The website for the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) came up. The have a guide about "good flags" versus "bad flags," which recommends against the use of lettering, seals, and other complicated symbols on a flag. Therefore, I decided that Columbus needs a new city flag.

Old Flag

New Flag

My design maintains the same three principal colors for the flag. I'm not sure, but I might guess that colors chosen relate to Spain, the country that commissioned Christopher Columbus' journey. The vertical lines on my flag represent the general orientation of High Street, while the horizontal line is Broad Street. Clean, simple, recognizable, meaningful.

What do you think?

Posted 1 year ago #
J.R. Locke
Weinland Park
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How about we just retire city flags?

Posted 1 year ago #
artbomb112
The Heights
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I agree the flag could use a little sprucing up. How about we all take a stab at it? I'll make one up and post it soon. Whether comical or serious... I'm sure this could get interesting.

Or maybe there are only a few of us that are flag nerds out there.

I love this stuff.

Posted 1 year ago #
Snarf
How Do I Delete My Account
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Have spent nearly three decades in Columbus, had no idea there was a city flag.

Posted 1 year ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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johnwirtz wrote >>
The Urbanophile recently noted
What do you think?

How about this?

Posted 1 year ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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johnwirtz wrote >>
What do you think?

Definitely an improvement!

Posted 1 year ago #
alove
Downtown
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You have a point, but I love our flag as is!
It's classic.

Posted 1 year ago #
Columbusite
Minneapolis
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I like.

Posted 1 year ago #
groundrules

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Posted 1 year ago #
arenn

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The city I think has a great city flag and has leveraged it to huge effect is Chicago:

That's not the greatest picture of it, but it has been adopted into everything from the police car livery to interstate highway railings.

The Columbus flag isn't that bad, apart from the seal. If you dropped that, you could adjust the bar widths to go with a classic tricolor design.

The color scheme is a bit strange to me. I think the city flag of Columbus ought to include colors that call to mind the city, which those do not, and above all the colors that do that are those of Ohio State.

Of course, most flag designs include a lot of symbology that isn't a straight local adoption. As with the Columbus flag, New York city's is the flag of the Netherlands that was in use at the time NYC was founded. It also has a seal on it. You also never see it..

Posted 1 year ago #
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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^Agreed that the Chicago flag is great.

As an OSU alum, I also agree with your color choice suggestion. How's this:

...or this to put the scarlet in the honor position (upper left):

I was trying to maintain some consistency to avoid violent reaction to drastic change. But if we're changing, I guess we might as well go all out.

Posted 1 year ago #
alove
Downtown
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arenn wrote >>
The Columbus flag isn't that bad, apart from the seal. If you dropped that, you could adjust the bar widths to go with a classic tricolor design.
The color scheme is a bit strange to me. I think the city flag of Columbus ought to include colors that call to mind the city, which those do not, and above all the colors that do that are those of Ohio State.

Perhaps a tri-colored flag consisting of the seal's light blue, yellow and that pretty orange-red. (Kind of) the three primaries! Indie art capital, yes?

Posted 1 year ago #
arenn

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That color scheme I like better. The odd crossing angles of the streets might violate some rules about flags. I'm not sure, you'd have to research the rules about that. I'd probably be inclined to go with a cardinal N-S bar for High St.

Posted 1 year ago #
groundrules

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the last thing this place needs is any more scarlet and gray. there's just a touch more to this city than ohio state.

Posted 1 year ago #
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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arenn wrote >>
That color scheme I like better. The odd crossing angles of the streets might violate some rules about flags. I'm not sure, you'd have to research the rules about that. I'd probably be inclined to go with a cardinal N-S bar for High St.

I disagree. I think the unusual angle of High and Broad (due to the Scioto river) makes the flag unique and recognizably Columbus (at least to me). I've seen much crazier angles and curves on other flags. The following were highly rated by NAVA:

Denver

St. Louis

Wichita

groundrules wrote >>
the last thing this place needs is any more scarlet and gray. there's just a touch more to this city than ohio state.

That was the reaction I was trying to avoid. I understand this view. The ubiquity of OSU in Columbus can be overwhelming for non-grads or fans. However, if you're talking about creating a brand identity for Columbus - as arenn often does- I don't think you can separate Columbus from OSU. It's our most known, recognized, and meaningful asset. Columbus and Ohio State are completely co-dependent. Frankly, Columbus wouldn't be what it is today if it weren't for the OSU cranking out grads and creating a talent dividend over a period of decades.

Posted 1 year ago #
Nitsud Regnifloh
Valerio Heights
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groundrules wrote >>
the last thing this place needs is any more scarlet and gray. there's just a touch more to this city than ohio state.

+1,000,000

Posted 1 year ago #
Brant
Gahanna
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The offset angle representing Broad & High vaguely reminds me of an Eastern Orthodox cross.

Not that that's a bad thing. It's just one of the first things that sprang to mind.

Posted 1 year ago #
jennyw
Clintonville
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Nitsud Regnifloh wrote >>

groundrules wrote >>
the last thing this place needs is any more scarlet and gray. there's just a touch more to this city than ohio state.

+1,000,000

I concur.

Posted 1 year ago #
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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Brant Jones wrote >>
The offset angle representing Broad & High vaguely reminds me of an Eastern Orthodox cross.
Not that that's a bad thing. It's just one of the first things that sprang to mind.

Great, it can reflect the Greek church at Goodale & High

Posted 1 year ago #
Brant
Gahanna
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Opa!

Posted 1 year ago #