Let's talk about Atlanta's flag! (Pitts: live, designs, trees)

[fourthwarden]

Link to the original sub-reddit post.

If you're a fan of the podcast 99% Invisible, then you can breeze through this paragraph. The host of that show, Roman Mars, has an obsession with flag design. I recently watched his TED Talk on the subject, and I walked away wondering what city life would be like if we had as much pride in our flag as Chicago or Amsterdam does.

So I did some Googling, because, first of all, I had no idea what Atlanta's flag looked like. Do you know? Here it is.

Apparently this is a very common design choice. Stick the state seal on a sheet and hoist it in the air. But of course from 100 feet away that thing is meaningless.

While searching, though, I found examples of people trying to create a better design. Here are a few variations on the same theme, updating and stylizing the clunky original.

I'm a fan! I also feel like Atlanta has so much more relevant history, though. Should there not be some recognition of the birthplace of so much of the civil rights movement in this country? At this point I find that to be more prominent than our burning date during the Civil War.

Mars makes the case at the end of his TED Talk that good flag design can be something to rally around, to promote unity and pride instead of letting sports teams or tourism boards define who we are. It's typical TED Talk faire to claim that your topic is massively important, but I believe him. I think it would be grand to have a symbol representing where I'm from.

What do y'all think? Do you care? What do you feel is important enough to put (or represent) on Atlanta's flag?

[fourthwarden]

And, here's my tasteless contribution.

[cabasse]

i actually like it. the phoenix is perfect and the white lines symbolize the interstates, right? the only thing i might consider changing is the color scheme - needs something to represent trees.

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

And, here's my tasteless contribution.

That is really cool; Could you make a version with a sky blue background instead of the red/black stripes?

[bryantm3]

fourthwarden, like this maybe

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by cabasse

i actually like it. the phoenix is perfect and the white lines symbolize the interstates, right? the only thing i might consider changing is the color scheme - needs something to represent trees.

Yeah, the lines and the circle were interstates hahaha. Figured, we moan so much about them, might as well let them be on the flag!

Originally Posted by bryantm3

That is really cool; Could you make a version with a sky blue background instead of the red/black stripes?

This one might be a bit tacky (or too complex) too...

I don't really like the Blue+yellow colors since SO MANY cities use that as their flag's color scheme. That's just a personal thing, though

[bryantm3]

yeah, the trees are a bit much. regardless i think your phoenix design would make a perfect replacement for the tacky-as-hell one on the city of atlanta seal

[AtlantaIsHot]

Generally speaking, the "busier" the flag, the more critics hate them. A simple design that's immediately striking is the best. Seals on flags generally get a thumbs down from critics. Most U.S. state flags are indistinguishable from each other at a distance. Words are also disliked on flags. Nobody can read it. Now I like Atlanta's flag, but I also like the ones presented above. The stylized phoenix and flame is really nice. It looks really good to me. It probably won't change though-people tend to think "busy" flags look sophisticated. It's hard to represent everything on a flag. You'll never effectively represent "city in a forest" well on a flag either.


My personal favorite city flag is Pittsburgh's. Beautiful and different. Gutsy to go with mostly black.
My personal favorite state flag is Maryland's. Very striking and immediately identifiable.


Critics rate highly Alaska's, Texas', Arizona's, and New Mexico's flags.

[fourthwarden]

Atlanta Flag Submissions


So, a few submitted designs. So far my favorite of those shown are the Rising Phoenix:



and the River and Star:




I submitted the tasteless contribution above, but minus the horizontal white line, so we'll see what they say.

[Cameron H]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

And, here's my tasteless contribution.

Awesome design, looks super fascist.