good morning John first yes your last
video yes this video is nothing to that
leave me now click the card and go but
if you've already seen that video John
flags now we've recently started to sell
99% invisible merch at dftba.com which I
love and unsurprisingly since it's a
podcast about design the designs are
good Roman Mars the creator of 99%
invisible is known for many things but
his most popular YouTube video is about
bad flag design and John I live in a
state that was voted third to last for
bad flag design though the fact that
Maryland was above us makes me
suspicious of the entire process because
do they want me to know what the flag
looks like cuz I've looked at it and I
can't tell but I'm willing to admit it
yes the Montana state flag is bad every
other state flag looks like this a seal
even shows like a wall of glacier
meeting a large body of water which
literally doesn't happen in the state
this is why in Montana we actually
identified by our area code we only have
one for the whole state so 406 everybody
loves it also our old license plate
design which is quite good but Roman
Mars and his TED talk focuses on the
flag of the City of Milwaukee which is
bad it's so bad right it's a flag on it
there's a flag on the flag it's bad
design I love good design and Roman Mars
makes the case that a good flag doesn't
just represent civic pride it can
increase civic pride and since that TED
talk on alternative has arisen at least
with a certain kind of Milwaukee and the
kind of Milwaukee in who like you know
watches TED Talks what and I don't want
to make a bunch of enemies right now
among my fellow microbrew loving friends
the people's flag of Milwaukee is good
design its iconic you can understand it
from across the baseball stadium but and
I'm not from Milwaukee so I'm not
weighing in on this conversation as a
Milwaukee and at all I'm just as from
like the perspective of design it feels
a little bit posh and it feels a little
bit like it cares more about design than
it does about a city because you know
what I feel like when I look at
Milwaukee's current bad flag like I look
at that and I think that's bad design
but I also think like compromise is the
main thing that's being conveyed here
it's the thing that we all too often
these days call
tics like oh yeah okay they had to get
the shipping industry in the gear and
the church and the beer and the baseball
and the old flag and oftentimes what
politics like yeah politics but it's
actually synonymous for is like yeah I
had to think about someone who wasn't me
other people and that way the current
Milwaukee flag it feels like earnest it
feels kind of sweet and in that way it
feels kind of Milwaukee this does not
make it a good design and it does not
make it a good flag there's neither of
those things and I will say that like
democracy is not incompatible with good
design the US has an amazing flag it is
very different from most flags but is
still deeply iconic and very good and
Pocatello Idaho went from this which to
this which yes Pocatello well done
though this was also suggested and you
should have done it you should have just
gone for it I guess I'm feeling after
all this talk is that like a good design
is about more than good design and a
great flag needs to be simple but I
don't think every place needs a great
flag after all these days Pocatello blow
in New York City out of the water
John I'll see you on Tuesday