Vexillography

Vexillography is the art and practice of designing flags; it is allied with vexillology, the scholarly study of flags, but is not synonymous with that discipline.[1] A person who designs flags is a vexillographer.

Principles of flag design

Flag designs exhibit a number of regularities, arising from a variety of practical concerns, historical circumstances, and cultural prescriptions that have shaped and continue to shape their evolution.

Vexillographers face the necessity for the design to be manufactured (and often mass-produced) into or onto a piece of cloth, which will subsequently be hoisted aloft in the outdoors to represent an organization, individual, idea, or group. In this respect, flag design departs considerably from logo design: logos are predominantly still images suitable for reading off a page, screen, or billboard; while flags are alternately draped and fluttering images - visible from a variety of distances and angles. The prevalence of simple bold colors and shapes in flag design attests to these practical issues.

Flag design has a history, and new designs often refer back to previous designs, effectively quoting, elaborating, or commenting upon them. Families of current flags may derive from a few common ancestors - as in the cases of the Pan-African colours, the Pan-Arab colors, the Pan-Slavic colors, the Nordic Cross flag and the Ottoman flag.

Certain cultures prescribe the proper design of their own flags, through heraldic or other authoritative systems. Prescription may be based on religious principles: see, for example, Islamic flags. Vexillographers have begun to articulate design principles, such as those published by the North American Vexillological Association:[2]

  1. Keep It Simple: the flag should be so simple that a child can draw it from memory.
  2. Use Meaningful Symbolism: the flag's images, colors, or patterns should relate to what it symbolizes.
  3. Use 2–3 Basic Colors: that is, limit of the number of colors on the flag to three, which contrast well and come from the standard color set.
  4. No Lettering or Seals: never use writing of any kind or an organization's seal.
  5. Be Distinctive or Be Related: avoid duplicating other flags, but use similarities to show connections.

Prominent vexillographers

Notes

  1. ↑ Smith, Whitney. Flag Bulletin XL:202(2001).
  2. ↑ "Flag Design". North American Vexillological Association / Association nord-américaine de vexillologie. Retrieved 2015-03-10.
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