>To me, a coat of arms echoes everything about European royalty that the American revolution was intended to reject.

May I first just challenge what is a common American conception of coats of arms. These were never the exclusive property of royalty. In many parts of Europe they weren't even exclusive to nobility; for example, each member of a medieval Dutch town council or the equivalent of a chamber of commerce would be expected to have their own coat of arms by which they were identified. And some of the best coats of arms come out of Switzerland, somewhere that has been without royalty for longer than the US! :-)

>I'd rather see a flag that incorporates the state's physical wonders: mountains, trees, water.

That is completely fair enough. That message has been coming across from other commenters too.

>But hats off to you for taking a stab at anything that would replace our bland currrent flag.

Thank you. It was a fun exercise, if nothing else.

Interesting

Thanks for the feedback

Gotcha

I wish it well

I didn't know about that one. It looks good. What momentum does it have?

>I'd be curious to see what r/vexillology's take would be

I posted the design there first and it got a favorable response. But that didn't tell whether the people of WA would connect with it.

>Do the stars/stripes have any other meaning? Or are we cool with a rotated and recolored coat of arms as our state flag? It's a little lazy, imo.

I don't what meaning, if any, the stars and stripes had for the Washington family, but as far as my design is concerned they are solely to signify Washington the person. It's a fairly standard approach in heraldry/vexillology for a place or institution to incorporate or adapt the arms of someone connected with it. The bigger question of course is whether signifying their namesake is something that the people of WA still want their flag to do.

Thanks. I was starting from the basis of keeping to the current flag's intention of representing the person, but doing so less literally than a portrait of him. But perhaps a redesign needs to go beyond that idea, as you suggest.

Is that because the stars and bars don't say George Washington to you, or because you don't feel there's a strong connection between him and the state, beyond lending his name?

Thanks for the feedback. Being from somewhat out of state, I lack the inside knowledge on whether folks feel a strong connection to the person the state is named for.