Friday, March 11, 2011

New Criteria

While sitting in traffic today I had a thought.  Other sites use various criteria for critiquing flags, one of which, the Betsy Ross test, I've have lovingly stolen (theft if the highest form of flattery, right?) and used in a couple of my own posts.  However, in the spirit of being more original, I've come up with my own version of this idea, namely that a flag should be simple, yet distinct, a design that is recognizable and with as little clutter as possible.

In pursuit of that I will now be using (drum roll please) a bumper-sticker test.  Ok, a bit anti-climactic, I know, but think about it for a second.  When you're stuck behind a car and see a little palmetto and crescent in the corner of the back windshield or affixed next to the license plate, you immediately think, "This person must be from South Carolina" no matter what color the palmetto may be or what the actual plate says.  Only a few other states can pull this sort of thing off, namely Texas, California, Mississippi, and maybe Arkansas to name a few. 

This should be the sort of thing a state strives for in its flag, a design that is either simple and recognizable to begin with, or at least one that remains recognizable if reduced to the simplest form.

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