Quote:
Originally Posted by hookem
I know the article says the current flag is basically a "crest on a sheet", and violates many standards of flag design... but hey, it's a city flag. People don't memorize city flags -- if there isn't something that stands out and says "hey, this is Austin"... people would have no idea what that flag represents. The crest and words "City of Austin" make it pretty clear. A new flag design like the one presented may have better design principles, but no one will know what it represents. Unless we spent millions promoting it to get some brand awareness.
Just about the only thing that would make a flag easily identifiable as "Austin" (that isn't something "relatively" short term in our history like a guitar or bat) would be the image of the Capitol building. The San Antonio flag has the Alamo, which serves the same purpose without the actual words "San Antonio" on it. So something like that could work, but otherwise, I'd say leave it the way it is. Or just add some color and leave the crest and "City of Austin".
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I give you the city flag of Chicago. It is very recognizable (the most recognizable city flag that I can think of).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Chicago
Visit Chicago and you will see it everywhere. There is nothing on it that says "Chicago", but it represents the city well (read the wikipedia page). People recognize it and citizens display it with civic pride. People from Chicago take the flag with them wherever they end up. It is very much like Texans love of their state flag. Visit any gift shop in Chicago and you're sure to see shirts, hats, coffee mugs, refrigerator magnets, mini replica flags, etc.
I like the proposal for the new city flag of Austin. Much like the flag of Chicago, it's clean, simple, and straightforward. It could become recognizable and well known too. The current flag is terrible. It's time to get rid of it.