Massachusetts State Flag (we need a better state flag)

[Shepard]

Just a few more thoughts on "competitive" branding.

A better visual shorthand for Cambridge would allow it to claim for itself some (more) of the value of being home to both MIT & Harvard, without being at the mercy of MIT & Harvard to say what that is (it involves shades of reds, apparently)

A better visual shorthand for Boston would allow it to claim for itself some (more) of the value of being home to the Bruins, Celtics, & Red Socks without being at the mercy of them, and to assert its role as namesake for BC, BU, and host to Emerson, Suffolk, & The Longwoods.

And we delegate too much to Puma, Wolverine, New Balance, Reebok who mostly fail to add "and we do it in Massachusetts...a great place to do business"

And, relevant here, a better visual shorthand for Massachusetts would allow it to claim more of all of these things above AND a grab-bag of other stuff (Basketball, Volleyball, Stock Ticker, Telephone, Raytheon).

Oookay... I get branding, but all these efforts look like an exercise not in branding but in archaic symbology. Anyway, I'll shut up and let all you vexillologists get back to it

 

[Arlington]

Oookay... I get branding, but all these efforts look like an exercise not in branding but in archaic symbology. Anyway, I'll shut up and let all you vexillologists get back to it

Really? You can't see that NM, AZ, AK, HI and MD, TX, TN did a branded flag, versus the 35 other states (including Mass) that have a bedsheet with a coat of arms--usually with latin and ribbons and an unreadable picture? (Boston's "view from the Harbor in the Arbitrary Past" is particularly bad)

Coats of Arms are the thing freighted with archaic symbology--like whether our Native holds his arrow point down (a state seal problem, perhaps for another thread).

Good flags, like good brands, are very basic shapes and colors that can be easily summed up in words
- The bicolor (Ukraine, Poland, Indonesia )
- The tricolor" (Germany, France, Netherlands, Russia)
- The ONE thing: Maple Leaf, Bear, Southern Cross, Big Dipper, Star of David
- The shape: Lone Star, 3 Stars, Sun

 

[393b40]

The flag is fine and doesn't need to be touched. It's classic.

 

[Arlington]

Kudos to Mississippi for the design of its new flag (that requires a referrendum).
Not quite as elegant as Canada's "Maple Leaf and Two Bars" but close enough, (I'd have dropped the stars and text) and it is vastly better and quickly vaults to a "top quartile" among state flags. Clearly "on brand"

[The 20 stars are clearly reference to Miss. being the 20th state in the Union, but I'd have dropped the whole encriclement and doubled the size of the flower and maybe put the gold star at its center, amongst the flowers pistels/stamens/whatever ]

It also appears proportionally wider than many state flags (more "HD" and less 3x5)

Mississippi Wants Magnolia to Be Centerpiece of New State Flag

 

[statler]

Sooo close!

(I get why the "In God We Trust" is on there, but UGH)

 

[kingofsheeba]

The flag is fine and doesn't need to be touched. It's classic.

Talk to the local tribes and you might think rethink your position

 

[Semass]

I was enjoying a Wormtown Mass Whole not too long ago and thought that the logo grabbed the essence of what could be a compelling seal and flag from the existing. I like the white background with blue and gold color scheme. I like the blue shield motif. I like the star which could be the north star. It does away with the sword. It does away with the native figure. It does away with the ribbon and motto. It generally cleans it up nicely. While I quite like hops, the space could be filled with something else that symbolizes the state such as a tree, a cod, or some feature of the landscape. Simplified, the shield with a symbol, without circles and text, could make a flag that meets some of Arlington's criteria for design.

 

[bolehboleh]

I was complaining about the Mass flag last week, when I decided to look up some examples of some other state flags. Aside from a few good ones, most state flags are crap.

 

[Arlington]

I was complaining about the Mass flag last week, when I decided to look up some examples of some other state flags. Aside from a few good ones, most state flags are crap.

As noted (bemoaned) by critics, about 35 states are bedsheets with a wax seal (including Mass)
In any hall of (US) flags, you'll see that
Bedsheets come in 3 colors: Blue, Light blue, or White
Seals come in 2 shapes: Hubcap or Shield.

Sometimes the effort is so pitiful, they resort to spelling the name out (Looking at you, Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Montana)

Boston = Hubcap on light blue (but easily could be awesome)
Mass = Shield on white
All make for awful, undifferentiated messes.

But let's not do butwhataboutism for flags, which would be "ours may be bad, but 34 others are worse"

Instead, let's directly ask: what benefits can a flag confer on a state, and does ours confer them?

My answer: the flag could (but isn't doing) any and all of
Express ideals of our commonwealth to an INTERNAL audience
Convey unique, positive attributes to EXTERNAL audiences
- Reasons to live here
- Reasons to do business here
- Reasons to come as a tourist
Actually power tourist merchandise business (bling, swag) that is more attractive and sold by local merchants

 

[BeeLine]

I was out by the Airport this weekend and noticed this flag being flown at a Massport facility. Is this offical or fantasy. It has 6 stars which I have not seen before. In Charlestown you see this flag often flown, but it does not contain the 6 stars. I'm guessing the stars may represent the 6 New England States, but to my recollection only 4 New England States existed when the original flag was in use. Anyone got the skinny?

IMG_2719 by Bos Beeline, on Flickr

 

[Arlington]

^ that has familiar elements (the red on white St George's Cross of England, the pine tree for Massachusetts and later Maine) but I've never seen themassembled like that

 

[Arlington]

Fantasy transit map fans please let me introduce you to fantasy flag fans:

Massachusetts

The flag of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts displays, on both sides, the state coat of arms centered on a white field. The shield depicts an Algonquian Native American with bow and arrow; the arrow is pointed downward, signifying peace. A white star with five points appears next to the...

vexillology.fandom.com

 

[Arenacale]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_New_England

Flag adopted by the New England Governors' Conference (NEGC) in 1998

 

[Arlington]

Got it, so in Charlestown, we're probably seeing the Bunker Hill Flag:

or the 1998 version for the 6 states of New England (that BeeLine pictured at Massport)

 

[Arlington]

Mississippi did it. 70% support

Mississippi’s new magnolia flag starting to fly after vote

“Mississippi voters sent a message to the world that we are moving forward together,” former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Reuben Anderson said in a statement.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[bobthebuilder]

Good news.

Massachusetts lawmakers pass bill that takes steps to change state seal and motto, following decades of protests from indigenous activists

I would love to see this go out as a design competition. The more submissions the better.

 

[donkeybutlers]

I was curious about this because I hadn't heard anything since January. The flag is racist as all fuck and needs to go so I was happy to see this pass.

Seems the "Special Commission Relative to the Seal and Motto of the Commonwealth" met in July and

The panel has until Oct. 1 to submit a revised or entirely new design for the seal and motto. Any design will be accompanied by an educational program.

Hopefully we will be seeing an update this week.

Also feels worth pointing out with all the references to pine trees in the thread that the symbolism predates colonial New England and is currently used by six nations of the Haudenosaunee to symbolize their confederation.

 

[MrDee12345]

I found this one online a while back and I like what they're trying to do. I wouldn't mind going somewhere in this direction for the new flag.

 

[BronsonShore]

I found this one online a while back and I like what they're trying to do. I wouldn't mind going somewhere in this direction for the new flag.

View attachment 17258

Where’d this come from? I’d love to hear the designer elaborate on the symbolism.

Regardless of what happens to the state flag, I really hope to see an increase in usage of the Flag Of New England. New England has arguably the strongest regional identity of anywhere in the country and we should show it off. I love the way the Revs have embraced it:

 

[MrDee12345]

Where’d this come from? I’d love to hear the designer elaborate on the symbolism.

Regardless of what happens to the state flag, I really hope to see an increase in usage of the Flag Of New England. New England has arguably the strongest regional identity of anywhere in the country and we should show it off. I love the way the Revs have embraced it: View attachment 17260

It seems someone on reddit designed it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/comments/bszysy
Here are some more that I've found online: