Can we do a fun shyte-post?
I'm gonna go for it!
A few years ago, and I realize I am digging this out of the trash bin of Austin history, this proposal got a bunch of local media attention:
https://www.kut.org/austin/2015-08-2...-new-city-flag
I think the design is a bit basic and evokes Texas more than anything specific about Austin.
I present to you a new design for the flag of the City of Austin that capitalizes on much of what the city is known for!
Let's start with basic design principles:
- a modified bi-color with a separate hoist (taking notes from the iconic State of Texas flag);
- and each division of the field separated by a thick white line in the shape of a "T" for Texas;
- all underneath a circular emblem crafted from local symbology centered on the intersection of the division of field;
- the widths of the two bi-color stripes and the hoist are 2:1 ratio the width of division of field line;
- the diameter of the circular emblem is such that the hoist and two bi-color in the fly are divided into half by, specifically, the ring of stars (the middle point of the larger blue circle);
- the diameter of the inner light violet ring is the same diameter as the widths of the two division of field lines forming the "T" for Texas;
Next let's move to color choices and their meaning:
- the blue is the same Old Glory Blue as is present in the Texas and American flags;
- Austin is known as the City of the Violet Crown (after our sunsets), and so there are two shades of Violet present (a darker shade as the crown bi-color in the flv and in the coronal rays of the sun);
- Austin is the home of the University of Texas, and so there are progressive shades of school color Burnt Orange (from the darkest shade in the bi-color of the fly to a lighter shade in the coronal rays);
- white, for the goal of peace in Texas;
Finally, let's discuss symbology:
- Austin is the state capitol, which is represented by a ring of stars defining an emblem which when taken as a whole in the abstract appears as would a domed rotunda when viewing from underneath (such as in the State Capitol Building). I.E. the entire emblem as a cohesive product represents the State Capitol Dome, views of which are protected from various places throughout the city
- Austin is known as the City of the Violet Crown because of our sunsets (as I said above), and so the central emblem is a sunset shooting out coronal rays of various colors
- Austin is known for its Mexican Freetail Bat colony, and it is our unofficial animal and we host the largest urban colony of bats in the world, and so there is a stylized bat flying in front of the sunset;
- HOWEVER, this bat pulls triple duty, as it also symbolizes:
- an Oak Tree growing out of rough soil of the Texas Hill Country, representing the Treaty Oak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_Oak_(Austin,_Texas) -- a locally famous icon, which had served as a governing and meeting site for local tribes and cultures for generations prior to European arrival, and which was also mythologically the site of negotiations between Stephen F. Austin and the same local tribes;
- the winding Colorado River which runs thru the city pouring from one lake to the next;
- the sun and corona are also subtle cultural signifiers of Austin's relatively "western" and more "multi-cultural" ethos compared to the rest of the American south, being a nod to flags such as Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, Denver, and others;
Flag redesign is having a movement across American for two reasons:
1. getting rid of Confederate imagery and symbolist (for instance, Georgia and Mississippi)
2. moving away from the inherently bad design of a shield or crest on a blue (or even worse: white, which means surrender in vexillology) background (a bunch of municipalities, Minnesota, Illinois, etc.)
Austin's current design is definitely in line with the second movement and would receive a failing grade from the North American Vexillological Association, so why not have some fun creating bad flag designs with me on your offtime?
One alternative color scheme, which changes the central emblem to the pink granite of the dome:
Linear Mode
