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This is a thread about flags
I have previously proclaimed there were a cluster of GOOD FLAGS for US states bordering Mexico https://twitter.com/schaudenfraud/status/1274976762305413120
I have also proclaimed various other states to have GOOD FLAGS https://twitter.com/schaudenfraud/status/1274978929716031489
What appeared to be personal opinions, are actually rooted in objective FACT, backed by an organization dedicated to the study and appreciation of FLAGS.That organization is the North American Vexillological Association
The North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) is dedicated to vexillology, the study of flags.Not unlike "The Ten Crack Commandments" they've made a manual to succeeding in the flag game.
This manual is called GOOD FLAG, BAD FLAG
It will teach you the 5 principles of GOOD FLAGS
https://nava.org/good-flag-bad-flag/
Most of the rules are common sense, but rule 4 is where a lot of states get tripped up. STATE SEALS ARE BAD FLAG DESIGN. STOP DOING THIS. https://twitter.com/fordm/status/1277591847284756481
After starting with an unrecognizable state seal, a few states decided to make matters worse BY ADDING THE NAME OF THE STATE TO THE FLAG. 
Ladies and gentlemen.... these are THE BAD FLAGS
Unbelievable, historical bruh moments
Anyway, NAVA released a comprehensive ranking of state and province flags in 2001https://nava.org/digital-library/design/surveys/2001-State-Provincial-Flag-Survey.pdf
The 2001 survey ranked Georgia's flag the worst, and for good reason. The flag features a giant state seal and inexplicably includes 5 other flags!?Georgia's flag never recovered from NAVA's 2001 roasting and had to be changed in 2003
Very important state flag update 
NAVA also ranked 150 city flags. DC and Chicago have the best (they're pretty similar flags). Some of these other city flags are just wild. Pocatello and Milwaukee... what are you doing?!https://nava.org/digital-library/design/surveys/2004-American-City%20Flags-Survey.pdf
Should you meaningfully contribute to vexillology NAVA may award you.... the Vexillonnaire Medal.
I wanna be a Vexillonnaire so f@#$*%! bad
If you're going to have an entire association dedicated to vexillology, your flags better come correct and the North American Vexillological Association (left) and International Federation of Vexillological Associations (right) flags do not disappoint
Surprisngly, one of the worst major city flags has a long history. Yes, I'm talking about the Milwaukee city flag.http://www.borchertfield.com/2016/01/flying-milwaukees-flag.html
The first of many contests to design a flag for Milwaukee occured in 1897 resulting in this winning design that was ultimately relegated to history when the mayor was voted out of office months later.
The next flag came in 1927 when a "group of public-spirited citizens" had a flag made for the police department that was "formally adopted by the common council as the municipal emblem of the city"
In 1928, when the Hamburg America cruise line christened their MS Milwaukee, they requested the city flag be brought to Germany for the ceremony. Perplexingly, Milwaukee did not submit the "emblem of the city" and instead considered a new design...
Another city flag contest was launched by Milwaukee in 1950, ultimately won by 17 year old Alfred P. Dannenmann. The city art commission suggested the council "hire a competent artist to design a new flag" before deciding to just do it themselves in late 1951.
The 'F it we'll do it live' strategy by Alderman Fred Steffan resulted in this visually offending hodgepodge approved as the city's official flag in 1954.
No one seemed satisfied with the design, so another contest was launched in 1974, won by artist Lee Tishler. Like every flag contest in Milwaukee's history, the design was shelved by the common council.
In 2001 did Milwuakee have yet another flag contest?
YES!
Did they use any of the entries to replace their awful flag?
NO!
https://shepherdexpress.com/news/milwaukee-history/feelin-low-flyin-high-part-ii/#/questions
ONCE MORE UNTO THE MILWAUKEE CITY FLAG CONTEST
This time in 2016. Five finalists in the "People's Flag of Milwaukee" contest led by designer Steve Kodis.
Just noticed I've mispelled Milwaukee for much of this thread. Will I fix my prior errors? Like the city and their flag, no, I will not.Anyways, a winner of the People's flag of Milwaukee contest has been stuck in committee. It's a GOOD FLAG.
https://shepherdexpress.com/news/alders-blast-people-s-flag-of-milwaukee-as-unoriginal-and-ra/#/questions
US cities don't have a monopoly on ugly flag design. For example, here is the official flag of Bow Island, Alberta, featuring the town's mascot, Pinto MacBean
BAD FLAGS, California edition
Merced
Placentia
Beverly Hills
Inglewood
San Francisco just missed the cut for the California BAD FLAGS but the issue is covered very well in this ted talk
GOOD FLAGS, California edition
Oakland
Redding
Paradise
Santa Barbara
MOST IMPROVED FLAG, California edition
Anneheim (before on the left, after on the right)
Sacremento just missed the cut for MOST IMPROVED California flag because the newer flag still has "THE CITY OF SACREMENTO" written on it SMDH
The old one (left) was much worse though
GOOD FLAGS, Texas cities edition
Laredo (also the original flag of the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840)
Denison
San Antonio
Corpus Christi
BAD FLAGS, Texas cities edition
Plano (why put the P at the end? just baffling)
Frisco
Murphy
Harker Heights
Here we must dwell on the tragic flag tale of Cedar Park, TX.
The original (left) was bad, they held a contest in 2016, and the winner (right) melded elements from the Amsterdam flag remixed as barbed wire!
This WOULD have been most improved TX flag...
Unfortunately, the new flag design faced immediate backlash and the design process was re-opened
https://communityimpact.com/austin/leander-cedar-park/city-county/2017/01/13/cedar-park-reopens-city-flag-design-process/
Fort Worth's flag history also deserves mention for the spectacle of their original flag alone. I don't think a busier city flag has existed in the US.
There's a seal and 3 different mottos including "we're for smoke" and a pollution clouded city profile.
The next iteration of Forth Worth's flag (left) in 1968 was questionable but a vast improvement. The current version (right) makes a good case for MOST IMPROVED FLAG. They have to include "Fort Worth" on it otherwise it just looks like the UT logo
The MOST IMPROVED FLAG in TX goes to Sunnyvale. One resident through tireless work got their new design put to a popular vote (via utility bill)
The votes came in OVERWHELMINGLY for the old design.... but the people were OVERRULED!
Unrelated to anything, but I think the flag for Nairobi, Kenya (left) is just really nice. Kenya's flag itself (right) is also good!
Update on the Pocatello ID flag that had been rated worst city flag in the NAVA poll. THEY CHANGED IT! Hopefully by now you don't need me to tell you which is the old BAD FLAG and which is the new GOOD FLAG...
https://twitter.com/schaudenfraud/status/1277671588553359360
By request (literally one), I will take a look at the caribbean flags. keepin it simple, here are the GOOD FLAGS
Cuba
Bahamas
Trinidad and Tobago (couldn't decide between this and Jamaica but you only get 4 pictures per tweet)
Barbados (I'm a sucker for tridents)
Not too many BAD FLAGS in the Caribbean but...Dominica
Grenada (inflames the senses)
Bermuda (rebel and cast off that furry from your flag)
Haiti (fascinating history but what is up with the tiny seal?)
By trollquest I'm looking at former Soviet republics. They didn't specify during Soviet or post Soviet flags so you're getting BOTHGOOD FLAGS SOVIET STYLE
Georgia
Ukraine
Byelorussia
Latvia
GOOD FLAGS POST SOVIET STYLE
Ukraine
Kyrgyzstan
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
From r/vexillology here's The Flags of the Post Soviet States in the Style of their Soviet Counterpartshttps://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/comments/cxawbb/flags_of_the_post_soviet_states_in_the_style_of/
Happy to learn there's a MARCH MADNESS OF FLAGS TWITTER ACCOUNThttps://twitter.com/FlagsMarch
Slamming that mobile alerts button!
The Canadian Cities, Provinces, Territories and First Nations Flag Tournament is LIVE and in the ELITE 8!
https://twitter.com/FlagsMarch/status/1278063299301642241
So far @FlagsMarch has crowned a champion for:Country Flag:
Barbados US Cities Flag:
St. Louis EU Cities Flag:
Stuttgart Russian Flag:
Yaroslavl
For the Canadian flag tourney I've got my money on an all underdog final between Haida and Sudbury with Haida taking the crown
Not gonna lie, doing 100 is a bit daunting... please find the flag of Hawaii below. People seem to like it and it's less polarizing among the vexillological community than I'd imagine
HALF WAY DONE BBY WOOOOOOO!Big apologies to my normal finance followers, but this is still gonna be a vexillology account for another 50 tweets!
Really unlocking this meme format...
Guam
The exception to the rules (no seals or words)
I don't know why exactly but it is a GOOD FLAG
beyond Guam, Oceania has plenty of GOOD FLAGS
Easter Island (unofficial as they're part of Chile)
Marshall Islands
Kiribati
American Samoa (shouldn't work but it does)
Johnston Atoll flag...... what you doing?
Flags are meant to be seen from either side, which is why letters/words are such bad flag design (beyond ruining the purpose of symbolism).
Oregon "fixed" this by having the only two sided state flag design in the US.
Oregon is the first GOOD AND BAD FLAG
Gonna mine a rich vein of filler content for a few tweets. That's right.... GOOD GERMAN MUNICIPALITY FLAGS
Kappeln (little busy but I'll allow it)
Wanderup
Fahrdorf
Süderbrarup
MOAR GOOD GERMAN MUNICPAL FLAGS
Tarp (is that the OVO owl? I say yes)
Stoltebüll
Kronsgaard
Rabenholz (this one rules)
The basket of flags is overweight Geltinger Bucht Subcounty
Back to the states with some more US City Flag GLOW UPS
First, just to show that NAVA (North American Vexillological Association) is changing lives, here is their report on the Mesa AZ flag. The PRETENDER flag ranked 146/150. NAVA wants to UPGRADE
https://nava.org/digital-library/design/case-studies/MesaArizonaCityFlagReport.pdf
These were the finalists of the Mesa AZ flag design competition and NAVA was kind enough to score them.
Any of them would score amongst the best US City flags. DO THE RIGHT THING MESA ARIZONA
Another bottom dweller from NAVA's 2004 survey (ranked 143/150) has been UPGRADED
"TV stations in Utah opined “When you acknowledge the Provo city flag, you might want to put your hand over your eyes instead of your heart.” NO MORE
PROVO UT, GOOD FLAG
Topeka KS said GOOD BYE to seals and poor flag design in 2019
In February 2020 Colombia SC struck yet another blow to seal on a bedsheet flag design. Old on the left, new on the right
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Ranked 142/150 in the NAVA survey but they are WORKING ON IT.
South Bend, Indiana celeberated their centennial in 1965 by unveiling a BAD FLAG. They celeberated their sesquicentennial by replacing it with a GOOD FLAG!
These were the South Bend flag finalists for those that were curious. The resulting flag was actually a composite of the finalists.
BONUS CAMEO from some mayor
What's that? ANOTHER bottom ranking city flag getting UPGRADED. This time we see the city flag of Montpelier Vermont ranked 141st out of 150 in the NAVA survey transformed into a GOOD FLAGYou can see all the Montpelier flag design finalists here:
https://montpelier-vt.org/954/Flag-contest-entries
Not an umitigated win (still features a lot of text but we got rid of the seal), but another formerly BOTTOM TIER FLAG (148th out of 150) UPGRADEDRapid City, South Dakota
OLD on LEFT
NEW on RIGHT
ummm, are there any good flags in New Jersey?!?
The state of New York and New Jersey have BAD FLAGS (sorry it's true), but for some reason the Port Authority of NY & NJ decided to take two state seals and mash them together on one flag.TWO BAD TASTES THAT TASTE BAD TOGETHER!! WHY
ht user submission from @Buffering666
I know it was considered a bad flag, but I just don't really hate the old Reno NV flag. The new one nor any of the finalists are a big improvement IMO ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
HAPPY CANADA DAYThe old flag from 1922-1965 (Canadian Red Ensign) got dramatically improved to one of the world's BEST FLAGS
Apparently Canada's "new" flag resulted from an extremely contentious process wikipedia calls the "GREAT CANADIAN FLAG DEBATE"
Filibusters were involved, a special committee, and several thousand citizen submitted designs were required. I think they made the right call
Here are some of my favorite alternative Canadian flag candidates from the time. The Perason Pennant
The one that looks likze a zoomed cartoon animal eyes
Light blue!
Beaver and leaves and green
Mozambique's flag just kept getting cooler and cooler from 1974-1983.
Yes, that is an AK-47
THREE QUARTERS DONE.
HOME STRETCH.
EXPECT DRAMATIC DECLINE IN POST QUALITY GOING FORWARD.
Unrelated, but here is the city flag for Concrete, Washington
I can't confirm whether or not Huntington WV ever had an official city flag, but whatever this is (left) got 2nd to last in NAVA's survey.
A contest was held in 2004 . To the right is the winner. It's got words AND a seal AND its still an UPGRADE!
CW Flags has a different flag for the city of Concrete, Washginton and I couldn't get this page to load correctly and reveal which is the correct flag.
Anyways, here's a slide from the city's Marketing Action Plan.
https://www.goskagit.com/news/concrete-selects-design-for-town-flag/article_b2635688-16c6-5ad2-af34-30dbe7f86a68.html
https://twitter.com/schaudenfraud/status/1278857085908742144
THAT'S RIGHT
Here are some under the radar GOOD FLAGS from US Cities
Nantucket MA
Roswell NM
Marshall AR (one of several cities that have claimed to be "Strawberry Capital of the World")
Baltimore MD (better than Maryland's flag IMO)
Under the radar BAD FLAGS from US cities
Tampa FL (the amount of effort it took to make something so bad is kinda impressive)
Mackinaw City MI
Baton Rouge LA
Detroit MI (just way too much going on here and a seal)
My sincerest apologies to the village of Mackinaw City, MI. The flag I posted is merely an official city "winter sign" required to be printed on a rectangle of nylon fabric.
Thanks to the intrepid reporting of CRW flags for uncovering the TRUTH
https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-mimkw.html
There is a place where cities know how to design GOOD FLAGS. That place is Japan. Over 1,000 municipalities and I'm struggling to find any BAD FLAGS
Almost all follow GOOD FLAG design principles.
This is why they have high speed rail and we don't
By the very high bar set, and by no means egregious, these are the BAD FLAGS of Japanese municipalities
Aira City (their old flags were much better!)
Ibusuki (another recentish flag from 2014)
Kariwa
Nasukarasuyama (cute!)
Hard to choose but here are my favorite of the many GOOD FLAGS among Japanese municipalities
Kyoto Prefecture flag
Shizuoka Prefecture (it's not only a map of the prefecture, it's Mt Fuji!)
Date City
Nonoichi (nice)
