Posts Tagged ‘Flags’
All Flags Flying…
From the North American Vexillological Association:
With the publication of its landmark book American City Flags, NAVA polled its members and friends about their opinions of 150 city flag designs in the United States.
Based on their design qualities, each flag was rated from 0 to 10, where 0 is the worst score and 10 is the best. Respondents were asked to rate each flag based on his or her personal opinion about what constitutes a good flag design (see NAVA’s guide to flag design, Good Flag, Bad Flag)
See the results, from the best…
Washington, D.C.
… to the worst…
Pocatello, ID
… here.
[TotH to Roman Mars, producer of the all-too-modestly self-described "tiny radio show and podcast about design," 99% Invisible]
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As we’re sending composing birthday greetings for Ernest Hemingway and Marshall McLuhan, we might recall that it was on this date in 1969 that Neil Armstrong stepped out of the lunar module that had descended from the Columbia on the Apollo 11 mission, becoming the first human to set foot on the moon, uttering the now-famous “that’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”– and handing MTV its inaugural graphic…
“Thou hast set all the borders of the earth…” but then humans marked them…
Fifty states, fifty welcome signs.
(“Thou hast set all the borders of the earth…” Psalms 74:17)
As we gas up and hit the road to collect ‘em all, we might recall that it was on this date in 1777 that the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution– and the Stars and Stripes was adopted as the flag of the United States of America for maritime purposes. While Congress reserved the right to adopt a different design for the nation’s ensign, it never did; rather it just added stars to the original thirteen for each new state in the Union.
The resolution specified “that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation”– but it did not specify the layout of the stars. Consequently there were several early versions, for instance:
In 1795, the number of stars and stripes was increased to 15 (reflecting the entry of Kentucky and Vermont). It was about this flag the Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner”– and the dye was cast.
Happy Flag Day!
Oh say can you see…?
source: Dark Roasted Blend
On the heels of a weekend of frankfurter-fortified patriotism here in the U.S., the good folks at Dark Roasted Blend have published a momento mori– “Flags of Forgotten Countries“…
Consider the beauty above– the standard of one of the superpowers of its time, The Most Serene Republic of Venice. A version of this pennant waved for most of the thousand years– from the late seventh century to 1797– that Venice stood sovereign… a period that ended with the city-state’s defeat by Napoleon, himself the author of a number of now-redundant flags.
See the whole collection here.
As we think timeless thoughts, we might recall that in the midst of Venetian ascendancy, on this date in 1593, across the boot in Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi was born. Influenced by her father Orazio and his mentor Caravaggio, she was the first female painter to tackle historic and heroic themes that were at the time believed to be “beyond the reach of women,” and to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence.
