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Xiubee t1_jb9hbg0 wrote

I like our current flag.

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FordMaverickFan t1_jb9me6e wrote

Seriously.

If we're gonna change it make it something related to Constantinople which is where the city name comes from anyway

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rndljfry OP t1_jb9mt95 wrote

We're not changing it, this is not from the City Council. The Inqy is trying to engage readers with a little widget and collect emails. All in good fun.

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CerealJello t1_jb9ruwu wrote

Why? I doubt most residents could pick it out of a lineup with the PA flag and surrounding states' flags. It doesn't have anything iconic about the city represented. It's unrecognizable to most people who live here and probably almost everybody not living in Philly.

The article thumbnail could have had the wrong flag in it, and I probably wouldn't have even noticed.

Conversely, I can instantly recognize the flags of Chicago, Denver, and California.

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hairlikemerida t1_jb9uy5h wrote

Philly’s flag is yellow and blue because of our original Swedish founding (the Swedish Museum in FDR Park is a great laidback day activity btw). Both PA and Philly’s coat of arms depict ships and a plough. I’d say Philly’s flag has more in common with PA’s than other cities do with their state flags.

If I didn’t know that was Chicago’s flag, I would literally never be able to guess it was theirs, as it’s incredibly generic; I think a lot of cities could use the same exact flag and say that each star represents a historical event in their own city.

Denver’s could belong to literally any mountainous city, but because it uses the same color palette as Colorado’s flag, you are able to reasonably guess it’s Denver.

California’s flag literally says California on it. If you see a version that doesn’t say California or you just see the bear, you know it’s California because you’ve seen the real flag, so you’re able to identify its separate elements. It’s also a state flag, which is a little different.

The only reason you know what they are is because you learned it previously, same with just about every piece of knowledge on this earth.

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CerealJello t1_jb9vc2w wrote

Or it's just that simple, eye catching designs are better than complicated seals which cities and states decided to put on their flags 100 years ago.

We can keep the colors and the symbols and remove the complicated bits which make it look like every other city and state seal.

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TheTaraStark t1_jbbiw2x wrote

And there are elegant ways of doing this (paying homage to what came before in a new design meant for a flag) - the Keystone Flag is a great example of this!

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PurpleWhiteOut t1_jbbxood wrote

There is a version without the seal that I see commonly flown so this isn't really an issue

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napsdufroid t1_jb9wgdn wrote

How would changing the flag have any positive impact on the city other than a few more people might recognize it? We have far more serious things to worry about.

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CerealJello t1_jb9x3rn wrote

Branding, merchandising, pride in the city. People could be wearing hats and clothing and flying flags that represent the city itself rather than a sports team.

In many cities, people wear the flag of their city with pride. We don't do that here. Instead, we wear the symbols like the Liberty Bell which would be more suited for a flag than what we already have.

"We have more serious things to worry about" is a joke. This is a flag design. It doesn't require the entire city government to stop what they're doing for weeks to create a new one. It doesn't even require much money to design and roll out a new one. Just license the design to apparel companies.

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napsdufroid t1_jb9yx95 wrote

Somehow I think you vastly overestimate how many people would wear flag merch vs. sports merch. But if you feel so strongly about it, why not spearhead a movement?

Also, I don't know what cities you visit, but I've been to Chicago at least 50 times and can count the number of people I saw wearing city flag merch on one hand. Can say the same for several other major cities.

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CerealJello t1_jba258d wrote

I'm not expecting it to be some windfall for the city or some huge change in culture. I just think the current flag is ugly and recognizable and would be extremely easy to find something better to replace it.

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napsdufroid t1_jba2nag wrote

Again, if you hate it that much and think it would be easy to replace, start a movement.

Edit: Your downvote kinda tells me you're not that interested.

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Simon_the_Cannibal t1_jba8nmz wrote

I'm here to downvote you for complaining about downvotes.

Obviously not downvoting you for complaining generally, else I'd have to do that in every thread. Have you ever posted something positive?

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napsdufroid t1_jbaa12q wrote

Wasn't complaining; just making an observation. And I complain far fucking less than a number of others on here. But you believe what you want.

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Xiubee t1_jbaiptj wrote

Because I have a strong emotional reaction to it. That seems like the only important criterion to me. I find Roman Mars’s standards for a “good” flag to be arbitrary and random. You can’t apply “objective” standards to art, which is what flags are. To me, a good flag is one that stirs its inhabitants. A lot of Roman’s rules yield dumb-downed flags that look like the designs of children. Just the idea that you can use the Inquirer tool to design a new one supports that. Who would design Brazil’s glorious flag with that? Even if I couldn’t draw it from memory to save my life, I love it. Last, maybe my favorite part is the multiracial representation of the women in the seal. That gesture by itself is beautiful to me.

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PurpleWhiteOut t1_jbbwvhw wrote

This article is brought to you by someone who found r/vexillology and now thinks they're a design expert

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ManliusTorquatus t1_jb9ihq0 wrote

Fun fact: Henry McCook also designed the basilica on Logan Square. He was also obsessed with spiders, and wrote “Tenants of an Old Farm” which has some amazing illustrations of insects.

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Astrostuffman t1_jb9md1v wrote

Chicago’s flag is the standard bearer.

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napsdufroid t1_jb9khc8 wrote

This nonsense comes up every few years...the goddam flag's fine. Worry about real problems the city has.

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rndljfry OP t1_jb9l9fg wrote

I think someone needed an idea for an interactive story. The little flag widget on the page is kind of fun to mess with. I don't expect anything to change. Thought I might see some cool ideas from the comments

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illy-chan t1_jb9rpfc wrote

The widget is definitely cute but definitely a bit of a non-issue.

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Simon_the_Cannibal t1_jba7m6p wrote

I'm late to the party on a downvoted thread, but here are my two cents:

If a random person can't sew the flag, it's too complicated. A flag is a piece of cloth that's generally fifty feet off the ground - it's best to construct something that works for that purpose.

The argument "I think it looks good" falls flat on this grounds - one might think the Mona Lisa looks good, but it would not make a good flag.

People arguing that Council has better things to do - this is literally never going to be on their agenda, so why waste energy arguing from that perspective? Philadelphia hates change so much that we got pissed we might kill fewer kids on Washington Ave. To not kill kids was too much change for Council. Why can't we have a little fun thinking about new symbols for the city, even if it won't happen?

To sum up: I think it should change, I know it won't change; you're allowed to have fun.

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rndljfry OP t1_jba8nsa wrote

A lot of people here thinking this post is taking away from crime-fighting efforts or something lol

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TheAdamist t1_jb9q67h wrote

Wheres simon to school us all on flags?

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benifit t1_jb9ld8r wrote

Overall I like the flag, but I will admit I have a bias against flags with seals as they are overly complicated to draw. Ideally a child should be able to produce at least a facsimile of a good flag. With that being said, PA state and city flags all seem to feature seals so at least it is on brand.

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rndljfry OP t1_jb9mgga wrote

The cornucopia adds most of the 66 unique colors, which I'd never noticed

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Wuz314159 t1_jb9n97f wrote

We could just replace the seal with the Liberty Bell and call it good.

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RexxAppeal t1_jb9s0l1 wrote

Just change it to the seldom used and much simpler City Ensign:

https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-pa-ph.html#ens

If Pennsylvania were to adopt the Keystone Flag (https://keystoneflag.org), Philadelphia could adopt the same keystone pattern with our colors and symbol.

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BrythonicMan t1_jbamtyu wrote

Depicting the Penn family coat of arms for the Philadelphia city flag and the Keystone on the State flag is my dream.

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RexxAppeal t1_jbaqijr wrote

William Penn's coat of arms is pretty boring as a flag though. Just 3 white circles on a black bar across a white field.

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BrythonicMan t1_jbelo0h wrote

Could always be integrated into a more interesting design with colors I suppose.

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rndljfry OP t1_jb9mnkg wrote

I left the article title as is - the author is referring to a style guide for flag design. Thought it might be a light-hearted topic for a chat.

I was playing with the tool and like the idea of bisecting the flag with a light blue to represent our rivers, but couldn't decide on a color. Have a nice day, everyone!

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EakinsCanoeFleet t1_jba2cqw wrote

What the they don't mention in the article, is the flag with the seal is the official flag. Generally, it is only flown from city government buildings. The informal city flag, which is just the fields of blue and yellow, is what is more commonly flown across the city by non-city or quasi-city buildings like the Art Museum.

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courageous_liquid t1_jba3lbi wrote

paging our resident vexillologist /u/simon_the_cannibal who has had serious thoughts about this for years

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ME24601 t1_jb9qww9 wrote

The same colors, but with Gritty in the middle.

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FormerHoagie t1_jb9rw74 wrote

Not something I would make any effort towards. I do look forward to seeing whatever designs people come up with. Maybe something will be so fantastic that it sticks.

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TheBigBigStorm t1_jbachrq wrote

Give me a yellow liberty bell on a blue field please

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Proper-Code7794 t1_jbaw35t wrote

We do this every year and we even get a couple posts from vexology. And all they come up with is remove the ladies.

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Wuz314159 t1_jb9mwqh wrote

Y No this?

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WikiSummarizerBot t1_jb9my2k wrote

Flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

>The flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a Canadian pale triband consisting of blue, gold, and green bands charged with three green diamonds at the centre. Adopted in 1985 to replace a similar design used from the time of independence, it has been the flag of Saint Vincent since that year. The design of the present flag entailed substituting the country's coat of arms on a breadfruit leaf with the diamonds. They are a reference to both the letter "V", which is the first letter of the country's name, and its nickname as the "Gems of the Antilles" and "Jewels of the Caribbean".

^([ )^(F.A.Q)^( | )^(Opt Out)^( | )^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)^( | )^(GitHub)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)

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PirelliSuperHard t1_jbamxkb wrote

Please don't, I don't feel like re-doing my twitch emotes.

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nalgene_wilder t1_jb9u8ef wrote

Literally zero people care about a dumb city flag

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