How would you design a state flag?
Maybe you would be creative with the design.
Use bold, unique colors.
Use historical symbolism and, you know, just make it unique, make it stand out among the
rest to show the world what makes your state awesome.
Or, you could just put a boring coat of arms or seal on a blue background and call it a
day.
Believe it or not, about half of all U.S. states do this with their flag designs.
Some states have great flags.
New Mexico, Maryland, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, California, Hawaii, Alaska.
There are some great state flags out there, but about half of them are unoriginal, boring,
not creative at all, and like the only way to tell them apart sometimes is to look really
closely and try to read it to see if the name of the state's on there... which you can't
do if the flag is flying in the breeze!
And it's flying on a flagpole and you have to see it from a distance!
So, with that in mind - I'm a little riled up today about this, get ready - I'm about
to show you my top ten worst state flags in the USA.
Let's begin.
Tied for number 10 and number 9 are Maine and Vermont.
Look at these two flags, okay?
Not only do they both have a blue background; they both have their state's coat of arms
in the middle, they both have their state's name on a banner beneath the shield, and they
both have a tree in the middle of the shield.
How are you supposed to tell these two apart?
One difference they have is that Maine has a star above the shield, and Vermont has a
severed deer's head above the shield.
Which one looks better?
I dunno, you tell me.
And Vermont's little banner, that includes the state name, also includes the state's
motto.
And no, the motto isn't "Freedom Vermont and Unity"; the motto of the state of Vermont
is "Freedom and Unity".
That's right, you're not seeing things; they put the name of their state right in the middle
of their motto of their state!
Who does that?
I mean, what if companies and brands did that?
"Think Apple Different."
"I'm McDonald's Lovin' It."
"Save Walmart Money.
Live Better."
"Broadcast YouTube Yourself."
"You're gonna like the way you look, I Men's Wearhouse guarantee it."
"Just Do Nike It."
Number 8 is the flag of Utah.
How are you supposed to tell it's the flag of Utah?
Well, if you look really really really really close, you might be able to see the tiny name
"Utah", the tiny state motto "Industry", and the tiny beehive, which is actually a unique
Utahn symbol.
You know what's not a unique Utahn stymbol?
An American flag.
A bald eagle.
Those arrows by the bald eagle.
Those are kind of American symbols.
And nothing wrong with that, but maybe you should focus on stuff specific to your state
to celebrate.
Make the beehive the central element!
What are you doing, Utah?
Celebrate what makes you...
"tah".
The 7th-worst state flag is that of Kansas.
Look at that.
That is the state seal's design in the middle of the flag.
If you look really closely, you'll notice there are 34 tiny stars on it representing
the fact that Kansas was the 34th state.
You'll also notice a banner saying "Ad astra per aspera".
Because, as we all know, most Kansans speak fluent Latin.
And actually, there is one unique symbol on this flag.
It's this sunflower image that appears above the state seal's design.
That could've been a great central element of the flag.
Kansas is famous for its big, enormous, beautiful sunflowers.
But instead, they just made it really tiny and put it somewhere that very few people
will see it.
But actually, guess what?
I'm not actually showing you the actual current flag of Kansas.
No, I'm showing you the flag of Kansas before 1961.
Around that time, people started complaining that it looked too much like other state flags.
Really?
So, get this: they came up with a brilliant, creative, artistic solution to that problem.
How do you make our flag unique?
Do we make the sunflower larger, and make that the main element of the flag?
No, no, no, no, no.
Don't do that.
No, no, it's even better than that.
How about we make the mountains that we apparently have, according to this state seal.
Why don't we show off our amazing Kansas mountains and make that the main element of the flag?
No, no, no, no, even better.
Even better... let's write "Kansas" on it!
Tada!
Number 6 is the flag of Montana, which features the design on the state seal on top of a blue
background.
Of course.
On the bottom of the state seal design you'll notice a banner, reading "Oro y plata", which
is the state's motto.
Because, as we all know, everyone in Montana speaks fluent Spanish.
But I'm not actually showing you the current flag of Montana.
No, no, no.
This was their flag before 1981, when it looked a lot like other state flags with blue backgrounds
and their seal on it.
So they decided to fix it.
How did they fix it?
This was really unique and really creative...
They put their name on it!
And now, I know what you're thinking.
They just copied what Kansas did.
No, no, no, no, no, they didn't do that.
They put their name on the top.
Kansas put theirs on the bottom.
Montana put theirs on the top.
That's artistic.
That is... mm!... art.
Beautiful!
The number 5 worst state flag is the flag of Wisconsin.
You'll notice it's got the state's coat of arms on a background of blue.
But actually, I'm showing you the flag before the year 1980.
Because around that time, people were complaining that it looked a little too much like other
state flags so they decided to change it- jfdjr ghsfuivdkk hekfjjkk--
Are you trying to make me cry, guys?
Number 4: South Dakota.
Now, I can give this flag a few points for the creative little sun rays design they got
going in the middle there, surrounding the state seal, because the state nickname of
South Dakota used to be "The Sunshine State".
So I can give a few points to this flag for that, but then I have to immediately deduct
those points, because this flag has the name "South Dakota" written on it.
Twice!
You know what other flag has the name of the state twice on it?
Idaho, our number 3 worst flag in the country.
By the way, count how many humans you see on this flag.
You see 1...
2... keep looking... closer... closer... closer, closer...
Hey, Mom, Dad, look!
I'm on the state flag!
Check it out!
I'm like, two millimeters tall and you'll need a magnifying glass, but I'm there!
Check it out, Mom and Dad, I made it on the state flag!
The second-worst state flag in the country is the flag of New York.
And my main problem with this is that there is almost nothing, if not absolutely nothing,
specifically unique to the state of New York on this flag.
Okay, those two ladies: one's holding the stick and one's holding the scales, representing
liberty and justice?
We had that one lady just now on Idaho's flag doing both at the same time.
So that's not a special New York symbol.
That eagle?
That eagle is not unique to New York as a state; it's more of an American thing.
That state motto on the bottom of the flag is in Latin.
Seriously guys, what's with all the Latin?
In New York City, they've got almost every language you can think of being spoken in
all those diverse neighborhoods, and I'm still pretty sure Latin ain't one of them.
The only thing that might possibly be New York about this flag is apparently that this
river is supposed to be the Hudson River in particular.
Okay, maybe I'll give you that one, but it's just boring normal state flag.
You should not be boring, New York.
You should be like the tongue twister: unique New York.
Unique New York.
Unique New Nork.
Uni, u, ni, you know what I mean.
You know what I mean.
But even that one is not as unoriginal and uncreative and just ugh, ugh, as the number
1 worst state flag in the country: the flag of North Dakota.
Let's break this down, shall we?
We have the bald eagle in the middle, which is a symbol of the United States.
We have that shield in the middle with the blue and the red and white stripes.
That's a symbol of the United States.
We've got the olive branches and the 13 arrows, symbols of the United States.
We've got the motto "E pluribus unum", in Latin of course, because that's the motto
of... uh... the United States.
And we've got the 13 stars above the eagle, which represent the original 13 colonies of
the United States.
And, by the way, North Dakota was not one of those 13 colonies.
The only thing North Dakotan about this flag is the name "North Dakota".
That's it.
Zip.
There's nothing else.
That's the only North Dakotan thing at all on this flag, is the name "North Dakota'.
There's got to be something you're proud of, North Dakota, okay?
You've got those cool metal sculptures in the middle of nowhere.
You've got the tallest TV tower in the country.
You've got Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
You've got the Hidatsa, and the Mandan, and the Lakota tribes.
You've got so much history, so much culture, and so much natural resources.
You've got all that oil and natural gas.
And none of that made it onto your flag.
This flag just copied American symbols, put it on there, and slapped the name "North Dakota"
on it.
That doesn't count!
That's not... that's not symbolism.
That has nothing to do with your state.
Aren't you proud of anything in your state to put on your flag?
Anything?
So there you go.
The ten worst, in my opinion, state flags of the United States.
And there are plenty more blue ones, boring blue ones, beyond that.
There's the flag of Virginia, which I can't show up close because it might violate YouTube's
terms of service - just look it up.
You've got the flag of Nebraska, which was actually flown upside-down for multiple days
at the state capitol of Nebraska, and only one guy noticed that whole time.
You've got the flag of Oregon, which not only has one of these terrible designs on the front;
it has another design on the back that's actually better than the design on the front.
I know we're more creative than this as a country, guys.
My fellow Americans, we are more creative than this.
We can do better than this.
Please.
Anyway, thanks everyone for watching.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
Have an awesome day.
Bye.