we have a bit of an interest in flag design that we indulge in every now and then, and figured we'd make a page to share some designs of ours. we'll likely come back and add to this page every now and then whenever we make another that we kinda like and wanna share :3 you can click on the flags to get a larger-size png of them, or click the link below them to get the original svg!
Flag of a place (2025)
while looking at the finalist designs for the illinois flag vote and how people described the state's landscape, we got the idea to make something based on our own perspective of the state. despite the base of it being specific scenery from illinois, we aren't sure if we'd say it ended up being a flag of illinois specifically? at least not as much as it ended up being a flag representing a place that exists all over the midwest.
- brown for gravel and old pavement and rust and rotted wood. the old structures and traces of past settlement.
- green for grass and moss. weed-choked lawns and plantlife reclaiming structures and objects.
- tan for fields and field dust. the wide swathes of the land that have been ploughed over for use, emitting clouds of dust, and lying abandoned and void of life after harvest.
- grey for the clouded sky, featureless and dimly lit. the silhouette of a utility pole is the only thing jutting into it in the expanse of the country, three sparks dripping from it.
- blood red for the presence of humanity, tethered together and supported in its isolation by aging infrastructure. only existing because of bloodshed. living and dying by connections to the rest of the world.
all together it's supposed to feel like an old photo from a highway between towns. utility poles (especially in the specific criss-cross shape around where we lived) feel like a very distinct and common structure, but also more generally represent infrastructure as a whole and its importance to the development, and eventual decay, of a lot of towns across the midwest, as well as connection (both implicitly representing the value placed on tight-knit community connection in many places, and more literally the long-distance communication that provides community for those who don't have a sense of belonging in these places).
Personal Flag (2024)
this was a design we threw together in a day to represent ourselves, after seeing some other friends do the same. there isn't as much explicit symbolism to it as there is more just general vibes to the design:
- the heart is teal, our favorite color, under an umbrella, a symbol we use for a couple things and that implicitly represents rain
- the four stripes are colored like ice cream flavors (the classic neapolitan combo of strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate, plus mint), and also represent the four of us that make up our system
- the stripes taper off because we like nontraditional flag designs
- like on our Pluto flag below, the heart and umbrella are tilted 17.16 degrees, both to subtly reference pluto in the same way, and because 17 is our favorite number
there's a chance that we might end up making a new design for ourselves someday, but for now we're pretty happy with this for how quickly we made it!
Forgottonia Flag (2024)
this was specifically made bcuz we have a weird kinda interest in the Forgottonia "movement", originally being from the region and all, and we figured that it'd be nice to make a (new) flag for it. the symbolism to it is:
- the base of the flag is still white to call back to the original all-white flag of surrender the "state" originally used in the 70s.
- the two overlaid star shapes and circle form a forget-me-not, mostly chosen for feeling like a fitting flower to represent the place,2 rotated to point towards the fly to represent progress.
- the blue border around the edge of the flag represents the rivers that surround and cross the region and form a major basis for its identity.
there were a couple other thoughts we had regarding potential designs for the flag, either replacing the border with two wider stripes (specifically representing the Mississippi and Illinois rivers), or removing them entirely to look more like the white flag defaced with the forget-me-not, but our favorite design of the three is the bordered one.
Pluto Flag (2023)
we made this after seeing some designs for planet flags and feeling like there wasn't one that really fully represented pluto. the little bit of symbolism here is:
- the heart represents Tombaugh Regio, and is tilted 17.16 degrees to represent Pluto's orbital inclination.
- the heart being near the fly is to represent its historical view as the furthest planet from the sun
- the reddish-brown stripe along the hoist of the flag is 2/10 the width of the flag, representing Pluto and Charon's shared status as the tenth planet from the sun1
- there isn't really any meaning to it but the ratio of the flag is 17:12, bcuz we thought itd be cool :3
IRIS flag edits
these were various flags we've put together initially for use in IRIS, but didn't end up actually using anywhere. most of these are just edits of actual flags, so we don't really feel right claiming them as wholly ours, but we figured we might as well share them anyways.
