*Guest Post*
A few years ago, I walked down Chicago’s DuSable Bridge on Michigan Avenue and noticed the Chicago flag flying across the bridge…
It looked really dope, and I figured this was just a great example of a big American city that had enough skyscrapers to justify having a flag. So I kept walking and taking pictures, stumbling into tourists and learning where they were from, why they traveled to Chicago, and whether they’ve tried deep dish pizza yet. I kept noticing something, though. I saw it everywhere, especially on tourists and in front of every major landmark and historic building. Everyone was buying and wearing souvenirs and clothes with the Chicago flag design proudly incorporated onto snow globes, t-shirts, hoodies, sandals, hats, toys, dog sweaters, shot glasses, and anything else you could imagine would appeal to tourists. It was flying inside busy beer gardens and painted on windows and streets, becoming Chicago’s official symbol (next to the Bean) that declared to everyone the city’s pride and sense of collective identity.
Anyway, look at these:
Aren’t these cool? I made them after realizing that the City of Lindsay doesn’t have an official flag. I’ve always wondered what our city flag would look like if we had one. I thought about what colors we would use, why we would’ve chosen those colors, the symbols we’d choose and why we’d identify with those symbols. Let me break it down:
- The green flag: Green just felt like a good choice for the side bands considering our orange and olive groves. Green is bold, but neutral. With a white center field and a trio of mountains, white could symbolize the snow in the Sierras, blue for the snowmelt water that nourishes the valley floor, and two blue squiggly lines for Lewis Creek and the Friant Kern Canal. The black outline of the mountains and the “L” symbolizes our city’s history as an olive exporter. Oh yeah, and red because it looks cool.
- The blue and red flag: This one is a little deeper – here we go. The blue and red bands would really symbolize the heavy American and Mexican history of Lindsay and of California, with blue on the left symbolizing our proud American heritage, flag, and All America City status announced in 1995. The red alludes to downtown’s Spanish tile roofs and the Mexican flag’s red right band while symbolizing Lindsay’s majority Mexican and Mexican-descended population.
Why should we care about city flags? Why does their design matter?
These are valid questions, especially concerning small cities like ours that don’t have a DuSable Bridge or a giant bean (although, we DO have the World’s Largest Olive). In fact, Here’s a Ted Talk by Roman Mars that answers these very questions.
Basically, humans need symbols. We’ve created, adopted, and waged war over symbols that unite tribes both for and against one another. We recognize fans of the same NFL team with symbols and colors while we launch entire holiday season campaigns selling and consuming the symbols that we need to feel safe, nostalgic, and connected with one another.
NAVA’s five principles of good flag design are simple, but effective. Their website is full of links to literature, case studies, and videos about good and bad flag design and why good flag design matters.
Let’s see if some iconic and lesser-known city flags follow these five principles… These are, in my opinion, examples of well-designed flags that are simple, recognizable, and are proudly flown by residents:
Flag of Monterey, California: 
Flag of Santa Barbara, California:
Flag of Tulsa, Oklahoma:
Next, these flags are good attempts, but just miss the mark in good design:
Flag of Fresno, California:
Flag of Los Angeles, California:
Flag of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
Now, let’s look at some bad flags. No shame to their cities, as these flags just don’t capture how dynamic, beautiful, and unique each city is:
Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
Bakersfield, California:
Merced, California:
I saved the best for last. These are flags of cities that actually changed their old flags for new ones that follow these five design principles:
Pocatello, Idaho:
Old flag –
New flag –
Salt Lake City:
Old flag –
New flag –
So, what would Lindsay’s city flag look like? Could we adopt something that would look really cool flying on the Mt. Whitney building downtown? Or at City Hall? Or along Elmwood Avenue from downtown to the windmill, and from the windmill to Ono City Park? It could happen, and tourists could one day buy useless souvenirs while wearing our symbols and spending their vacation dollars in our cool little city.
