Flag of the City of Boston

[Arlington]

Wikipedia says:
"The flag [of the City of Boston] placed 133rd out of 150 city flags in a 2004 survey by the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA), based on appearance.[4]
It is commonly categorized by vexillologists as a 'seal on a bed sheet.'"

Always good to know that Founded and Given A City Charter can happen 192 years apart. And when that question does come up in meetings or sidewalk conversations, it is always handy to have a flag available for settling bets.

For comparison, here are the top 10 form the 2004 Survey:

Ten Best City Flags in the United States

flagpolesetc.com

Washington DC | Chicago | Denver

Phoenix | St Louis | Wichita

Portland (Ore) | Indianapolis | Louisville

Corpus Christi

 

[Scott]

I never liked the ugly powder blue color; that would be the first thing I would change.

Out of those I like the St. Louis flag

 

[Arlington]

Because when you have a sucky city flag (& Sucky City Branding) the corporate owners fill the void in defining your city--owning it and renting it back to you.

I think that's the Boston Globe muscling in on the B and Delta Airlines inserting itself as the O.

 

[bobthebuilder]

Delta Airlines inserting itself as the O.

That's the citgo sign

 

[Arlington]

That's the citgo sign

Oh, If so, being a Venezuelan corporate logo, I think my point just got stronger: when Boston abdicates branding itself, others will.

 

[wilkee]

I am a fan of Nat Varmac's redesign of the Boston city flag: https://medium.com/@natvarmac/a-better-flag-for-boston-massachusetts-c14ce0e86333

He even includes some team rebrandings of the flag:

 

[Arlington]

I am a fan of Nat Varmac's redesign of the Boston city flag:

A little "Before" and "After"

Mind blown. The one on the right is spectacularly good branding. Thank you wilkee.

Before I read Nat Varmac's words (in the post), here's what I immediately and wordlessly get from the picture:
1) Blue and Yellow == Brand colors of Boston as used in Boston Strong (etc)

1a) we tend not to go for the "washed out blue" of the current bedsheet flag​

1b) The BAA's Blue & Yellow are basically "it", but this is a more "US Flag" blue and a more "Bruins" Yellow​

2) White Star on Blue Field == It is a Capital City* (first reading of the star) of a (founding) United States State (second level read of the same star)
3) A Hub == Oliver Wendell Holmes' "Boston State-House is the hub of the solar system."

3a) The Ring need not be 128 (indeed for the city, it isn't) but it kinda puts a claim on the metro area.​

4) A Map == the star is in an unusual location, and is depicted roughly where Boston falls when Mass' State Map is inscribed on a rectangle. If it didn't have the "southwest" spoke, it would be a beautifully stylized map of the whole state. With that spoke, I'd say you've added CT and you're looking at "New England"

4a) A city on Massachusetts Bay (only blue to its East, no spoke on the right)​

4b) A nod to the capital of New England and our Principal Highways with spokes in counterclockwise from upper right​

• Maine (I-95),
• NH (I-93)
• VT (US3/I-89)
• Massachusetts Itself I-90/US20,
• CT I-84,
• RI I-95,
• Plymouth Colony / The Cape US3

Freaking brilliant. I frankly don't see how it can be improved upon. Were I Boston Inhabitant, i'd be writing my politicians at this very moment.


I don't think the white outlines are necessary, but I see that they make the sports variants easier (The ability to do Red/White/Blue for the Sox, Red/Blue/Silver for the Patriots, Brown/Green/White for the Celtics and Brown/Gold/White for the Bruins)

I move for immediate adoption.


*and one of only two Capitals of the 13 Colonies from 1776 still in use as a capital, which, in itself is a great tale.

 

[Arlington]

I like that I (generally) got the significance Nat Varmac intended in his 7-spoke hub, even though he was being more "in state" He describes it as:

Each of the seven spokes harken to New England cities as they geographically relate to the city. Counterclockwise from the top right, they go:​

• Northeast: Salem, MA
• North: Haverhill, MA
• Northwest: Lowell, MA, and Nashua, NH
• West: Framingham, Worcester, and Springfield, MA
• Southwest: Attleboro, MA, and Providence, RI
• South: Taunton, Fall River, and New Bedford, MA
• Southeast: Plymouth, MA, and Cape Cod

 

[fattony]

That is a truly great flag design. The asymmetry makes me a little uncomfortable, but that isn’t necessarily a reason not to use it. It makes you stare at the flag longer.

 

[Scott]

I like it, a lot. But if we are hoping a flag will represent a people I think it is too abstract. So maybe it should go through some civic process. I think most people in the city would agree that it's time for a new flag but it's also possible they don't. I would be interested to see what people today might come up with as representations of themselves and how that it may be incorporated into a new flag

 

[Arlington]

What does "too abstract" mean?

Bicolor, Tricolor, stars and stripes, maple leaf, are all abstractions.

 

[Scott]

I shouldn't have bothered

 

[Arlington]

I asked because I was interested in your thoughts.

 

[Scott]

Okay, the St Louis flag has all kinds symbolism of its past, the Phoenix one says we are rising. I think the idea of the flag representing the city as being the Hub just isn't very modern. I would love the city to ask people from the Dedham line to the Revere line for ideas. How do you see the city; how would you like to be represented. I think it could foster civic pride, not that we don't have an abundance of that

 

[astroTrain27]

I am a fan of Nat Varmac's redesign of the Boston city flag: https://medium.com/@natvarmac/a-better-flag-for-boston-massachusetts-c14ce0e86333

I just came across Nat Varmac's design a few weeks ago and fell in love with the Hub symbol. However, I wasn't a fan of its placement so far off-center (it makes the flag interesting and unique and I wanted to like the design because of that, but I just couldn't). So, I sketched up my own version.

1. I shifted the Hub to the horizontal center line and towards the Hoist so that the leftmost 45° spokes now bisect the flag’s corners. One issue I had with Nat's flag design is that its "center of mass" is towards the Fly rather than the Hoist. Two reasons this looks weird on a flag:
   1. Because of how flags move in the wind, details towards the Fly are more difficult to discern than details near the hoist
   2. When flags are made with multiple pieces of fabric sewn together, areas with more details are physically thicker and stiffer than blank regions; so by concentrating the details near the hoist, the flag becomes "flappier"
2. I think five pointed stars are over-done, and should probably be reserved for state flags
3. I think it's fine for blue and gold to touch
4. I kept the powder "Commonwealth" blue of the current flag. It's unique to Boston and blends in with the sky, thus emphasizing the gold Hub (whose shade was also pulled from the current flag)
5. To reduce the amount of dead space on the Fly, I used a 7:10 aspect ratio of the current flag rather than Nat's more conventional 3:5.

This is the result:

I tried a bunch of different iterations with different colors and symbols and coloring schemes, but this was my favorite. Very basic and admittedly a bit Swedish, but I like it. Here it is in flagwaver:

I'm also a big fan of Nat's variant idea. In addition to the sports team possibilities he made, I made three other variants of my own:

• Boston MBTA Flag
  • Line colors assigned to spokes that roughly line up with their paths through Boston, plus a blue "bay" (for the B in MBTA)
  • 
• Boston St. Patrick's Day / Irish Pride Flag
  • 
• Boston LGBTQ+ Pride Flag
  •