Superficially, a flag is just a piece of material, but it’s a powerful symbol that may represent
millions of people, and, ideally, should reflect their ideals, beliefs, values, and culture.
Having a good one can therefore be incredibly important. So what makes for a great flag?
A good place to start might be the 5 basic principles of flag design from Ted Kaye’s
Good Flag, Bad Flag - 1 - Keep it simple. A flag should be simple
enough that a child can draw it from memory. 2 - Use meaningful symbolism. Like I said,
a flag could potentially be representing millions of people, so it’s important that they’re
able to relate to it. 3 - Use two to three basic colours from the
“standard” colour set - red, white, blue, green, yellow, and black.
4 - No lettering or seals. Flags are meant to be viewed from a distance, writing and
seals cannot be read or recognised from far away.
And 5 - Be distinctive or be related. Flags should be instantly recognisable, unique from
other flags. Any similarities should be purposeful to show connection.
While these guidelines are by no means the only way to design a great flag, most of the
best flags do follow them, at least in part.
For example, the flag of Estonia, one of personal favourites, is generally regarded as a really
well designed flag. While it may seem fairly boring, just 3 horizontal bands… its greatness
becomes apparent when we look at the symbolism behind it. The colours on the flag mimic the
winter landscape of the country itself. The blue sky, black forest, and white snow.
It’s not entirely unique, as there is actually another country that does this as well - Ukraine.
The flag of Ukraine is blue and yellow. Blue for the sky and yellow for the country’s
wheat fields.
Now, one thing these guidelines don’t mention is: shape. Almost every country in the world
uses a rectangular flag, with a 2 by 3 ratio being the most common. There are actually
two countries that use a 1 by 1 ratio… that is, a square flag - Switzerland and the Vatican
City. Of course, there’s one country that just likes to be completely different altogether.
Nepal is the only country in the world whose flag is not rectangular. Its shape can be
described as a “double-pennant”, basically two triangles, which is an important part
of the flag’s symbolism. It’s thought that originally the triangles were used to
symbolise the Himalayas, therefore representing the country’s geographic location. The modern,
official interpretation is that the triangles represent Hinduism and Buddhism, the country’s
two main religions. The sun and moon depicted on the flag symbolise longevity, with the
hope that Nepal continues for as long as the celestial bodies themselves.
Though not a country, there is another flag that is not quadrilateral, and that is the
flag of the US state of Ohio. The designer of the flag, John Eisenmann, described the
shape as "a triangular forked or swallow-tailed flag corresponding to the shape generally
known as a 'cavalry-guidon' or 'broad pennant.'"... whatever that means. The flag was originally
designed to represent the Ohio Pan-American Exposition Commission in 1901, but was officially
adopted as the State flag the very next year.
Another country flag that is unique from the rest is Paraguay. Their flag has red, white,
and blue horizontal bands with the country’s coat of arms in the centre. However, what’s
unique about this flag is that the seal changes between the front, ‘obverse’ and the back
- the ‘reverse’ side. This is the only national flag that’s like this… but it’s
not the only flag in the world. Again, there is a US state that shares this trait. The
flag of Oregon, which breaks pretty much all rules of good flag design, also has two distinct
sides. The obverse having the state’s seal, name, and date, while the reverse has a beaver
on it.
Now, instead of turning a flag over, what about turning it upside down? Well, that’s
exactly what you’re supposed to do to the flag of the Philippines during wartime. The
flag’s design is horizontally symmetrical, so turning it upside down merely switches
the blue on top with the red on the bottom. The blue stands for peace, truth, and justice;
while the red symbolises patriotism and valor.
The flag also has white and yellow, of course, bringing the total number of colours up to
4, but I think you’ll agree that even though it has more than the recommended 2 or 3, it’s
still a good flag. In fact, another one of my favourite flags uses all six of the standard
colours - South Africa. One country definitely takes it too far, though. The flag of Belize
uses… I don’t even know how many colours. It has a least 4 shades of blue, maybe 3 shades
of green… and aside from the color rule, 2 of the other 5 rules have been completely
broken. Fun fact: Belize is the only country whose flag has humans on it!
So there's that...
Another country that went a little overboard on the colour, Dominica, has seven different
colours - green, yellow, black, white, red, purple, and brown. Dominica is actually the
only country in the world whose flag contains the colour purple… unless we count the tiny
amount of purple on the flag of Nicuargua whose coat of arms has a rainbow on it…
which I don’t.
But by far the best colour-related flag fact is about the flag of Jamaica. Jamaica is the
only country in the world whose flag does not have any of the colours red, white, or
blue. Instead, it has green and black with a gold solitaire. The green represents the
land and the lush vegetation of the island; the gold represents the wealth of the country
as well as a golden sunshine; and the black represents the strength and creativity of
its people, used to overcome difficulties.
If you’re now thinking “wait, there’s another country - Mauritania”... this is
no longer the case. The country changed its flag recently. Originally green with a gold
star and crescent, an addition of two red bands along the top and bottom of the flag
was made in 2017, leaving just Jamaica without red, white, or blue.
So the Jamaica flag is unique… although some flags are anything but. The best example
of this would be the flags of Chad and Romania… who have basically the exact same flag. Romania
had the flag first, being originally adopted in 1867, and then re-adopted in 1989. In between,
the flag featured the Romanian coat of arms in the middle. Speaking of coats of arms,
this flag is also extremely similar to the flag of Andorra. If we just add the Andorran
coat of arms then we have their flag - also a blue, yellow, and red tricolour.
Another example of this is the countries of Monaco and Indonesia. Two countries that arguably
couldn’t be more different, yet have the exact same flag - half red, half white. In
this case, Monaco had the flag first, having been in use since 1881, based on the Royal
House of Monaco. Indonesia adopted the flag in 1945 upon its independence. Monaco was
unhappy about this and complained about the use of an identical flag… but they were
pretty much ignored, apparently.
To make matters worse… add a moon and some stars and you’ve got the flag of Singapore;
or turn it upside down and you’ve got the flag of Poland. Far from distinct, these flags.
There actually used to be another two countries whose flags were exactly the same, but have
since been changed. Haiti and Liechtenstein both used a horizontal blue and red flag.
Completely identical. This wasn’t discovered until the opening ceremony of the 1936 Olympic
Games, where the coincidence was first noticed. Liechtenstein added a crown to the top-left
of their flag to distinguish it from Haiti’s. Haiti also made an addition of their coat
of arms on a white square to the middle of their flag.
Now, there are several ‘groups’ of flags that have several features in common, particularly
colour. This refers back to Rule 5, which stipulates that flags should be distinct,
unless they are “related”. An example of this is the many countries in the Arab
world that use some combination of red, black, green, and white. Several use the exact 4
colours. These are known as “Pan-Arab” colours, which originate from the Arab Revolt
in 1916. Each of the colours is thought to represent an Arab dynasty from history. Although
the flag was actually designed by a British diplomat, the colours stuck, as several Arab
states used the colours in their national flags upon independence.
Other examples of this include the horizontal red, white, and blue flags in and around the
Balkans, the Pan-Slavic colours, which are based on the flag of Russia. There’s also
the various African nations that use green, yellow, and red on their flag. This is used
as a homage to Ethiopia, who mostly managed to remain independent throughout the European
colonial period.
Staying in Africa, there’s a country that used more than just colours as inspiration
in its flag design. The flag of Liberia is quite obviously based on the American stars
and stripes flag. Both Liberia’s flag and constitution are based on the United States,
because Liberia was founded by African Americans in the lead up to the American Civil War.
Many of the country’s founders were actually former slaves.
This is a good example of how to make the flag’s inspiration immediately obvious while
still being different enough from the original. Now, while the country itself has a good flag,
unfortunately the same cannot be said of Liberia’s county flags… which are just… well, I
have no words, really.
But as terrible as these flags are, at the very least, they are distinct, so I’ll give
them that. The same can’t be said for the pre-2011 flag of Libya. Until then, the country
had a flag that was entirely green… one solid colour. Just green, nothing else. Thankfully,
their flag was changed, and they now have a much more distinctive flag, using the previously
mentioned Pan-Arab colours.
A country changing its flag is usually a very important decision, as the flag is the symbol
of the nation. For this reason, in 2016, New Zealand had a two-part referendum to decide
whether or not to change theirs. The primary motivation being the inclusion of the Union
Jack on their flag, a reminder of their colonial past. There were thousands of new designs
submitted, including the fantastic ‘laser kiwi’ flag. But after the final flag was
chosen and went up against the current flag, the current flag won, so no change took place.
Similarly, Fiji, whose flag also features a Union Jack, also intended to hold a referendum
to change their flag. There were several potential new designs proposed, but after the country
won the gold medal in rugby at the Olympics in 2016, the referendum was called off. This
was due to an eruption of national pride from the victory and the entire country rallying
around the current flag. Changing it seemed inappropriate.
The changing of a national flag is usually a rare event… but not so much for one country,
Afghanistan. The country changed its flag no fewer than 18 times during the 20th century!
Since then, it’s been changed 4 more times, with the current flag having been in use since
2013.
Now, at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, which country has had the longest continuously
used flag? ie - what’s the oldest flag in the world? By all accounts, it seems to Denmark.
The country holds a Guinness World Record for their flag, although it only gives the
date as 1625. It’s very possible that it has been in use much longer though. Legend
has it that a Danish flag fell from the sky during a battle in 1219, turning the tide
from a losing position to victory. While this is likely untrue or exaggerated, it’s still
very possible that the flag was used back then, and has potentially been the country’s
flag for 800 years!
The flag has a red field with a white Nordic cross. Today, the Nordic cross is used by
5 different countries. As well as Denmark, there’s also Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and
Finland.
One of these flags that is particularly interesting is Norway. This is because it’s actually
possible to make several other flags of the world using sections of the Norwegian flag…
I’ll show you what I mean. If we take the blue, white, and red part here, we can make
the flag of France. Likewise, from the horizontal part we can make the flag of the Netherlands.
We can also make the flag of Monaco, which of course also means Indonesia, and since
the colours reversed is right below, Poland as well. If we’re not too strict about proportions,
we can use the Nordic cross to make the flag of Finland, and probably the most difficult
one to spot… the flag of Thailand, making for a total of 8 country flags in 1!
Flags are something that I’ve wanted to make a video about for quite some time now,
and I’m glad I finally got around to it. If you share my interest in vexilollogy, then
you might want to check out a great audiobook I listened to called “Worth Dying For: The
Power and Politics of Flags”. This is yet another audiobook from Tim Marshall, the author
of Prisoners and Geography that I recommended in my last video. I listened to this audiobook
using Audible, the largest selection of audiobooks and audio entertainment, the sponsor of today’s
video.
The audiobook is split into 9 different chapters about all kinds of different flags, from the
American Stars and Stripes, to the Union Jack, to flags of Fear, Freedom, and Revolution.
Right now, for a limited time, you can get 3 months of Audible for just $6.95 a month.
That’s more than half off the regular price. Visit audible.com/wonderwhy or text wonderwhy
to 500-500. Audiobooks are yours to keep even if you decide to cancel, and can be exchanged
if you don’t like the one you chose. Unused credits roll over from month to month.
Again, that’s audible.com/wonderwhy or text wonderwhy to 500-500. And as always, thank
you so much for watching and I’ll see you next time.