Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed | Roman Mars

5,094,100 views ・ 2015-05-14

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Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:13
I know what you're thinking:
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"Why does that guy get to sit down?"
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That's because this is radio.
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(Music)
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I tell radio stories about design,
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and I report on all kinds of stories:
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buildings and toothbrushes, mascots and wayfinding and fonts.
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My mission is to get people to engage with the design that they care about
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so they begin to pay attention to all forms of design.
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When you decode the world with design intent in mind,
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the world becomes kind of magical.
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Instead of seeing the broken things,
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you see all the little bits of genius
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that anonymous designers have sweated over to make our lives better.
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And that's essentially the definition of design:
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making life better and providing joy.
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And few things give me greater joy
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than a well-designed flag.
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(Laughter)
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Yeah!
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(Applause)
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Happy 50th anniversary on your flag, Canada.
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It is beautiful, gold standard.
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Love it.
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I'm kind of obsessed with flags.
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Sometimes I bring up the topic of flags,
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and people are like, "I don't care about flags,"
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and then we start talking about flags, and trust me,
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100 percent of people care about flags.
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There's just something about them that works on our emotions.
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My family wrapped my Christmas presents as flags this year,
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including the blue gift bag that's dressed up as the flag of Scotland.
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I put this picture online, and sure enough,
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within the first few minutes, someone left a comment that said,
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"You can take that Scottish Saltire and shove it up your ass."
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(Laughter)
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See, people are passionate about flags, you know?
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That's the way it is.
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What I love about flags
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is that once you understand the design of flags,
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what makes a good flag, what makes a bad flag,
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you can understand the design of almost anything.
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So what I'm going to do here is,
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I cracked open an episode of my radio show,
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"99% Invisible," and I'm going to reconstruct it here on stage,
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so when I press a button over here --
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Voice: S for Sound --
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Roman Mars: It's going to make a sound,
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and so whenever you hear a sound or a voice or a piece of music,
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it's because I pressed a button.
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Voice: Sound.
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RM: All right, got it? Here we go.
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Three, two.
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This is 99% Invisible. I'm Roman Mars.
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(Music)
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Narrator: The five basic principles of flag design.
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Roman Mars: According to the North American Vexillological Association.
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Vexillological.
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Ted Kaye: Vexillology is the study of flags.
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RM: It's that extra "lol" that makes it sound weird.
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Narrator: Number one, keep it simple.
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The flag should be so simple that a child can draw it from memory.
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RM: Before I moved to Chicago in 2005,
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I didn't even know cities had their own flags.
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TK: Most larger cities do have flags.
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RM: Well, I didn't know that, that's Ted Kaye, by the way.
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TK: Hello.
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RM: He's a flag expert, he's a totally awesome guy.
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TK: I'm Ted Kaye, I have edited a scholarly journal on flag studies,
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and I am currently involved with the Portland Flag Association
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and the North American Vexillological Association.
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RM: Ted literally wrote the book on flag design.
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Narrator: "Good Flag, Bad Flag."
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RM: It's more of a pamphlet, really, it's about 16 pages.
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TK: Yes, it's called "Good Flag, Bad Flag: How to Design a Great Flag."
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RM: And that first city flag I discovered in Chicago
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is a beaut:
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white field, two horizontal blue stripes,
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and four six-pointed red stars down the middle.
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(Sound)
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Narrator: Number two, use meaningful symbolism.
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TK: The blue stripes represent the water, the river and the lake.
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Narrator: The flag's images, colors or pattern
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should relate to what it symbolizes.
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TK: The red stars represent significant events in Chicago's history.
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RM: Namely, the founding of Fort Dearborn on the future site of Chicago,
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the Great Chicago Fire,
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the World Columbian Exposition, which everyone remembers
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because of the White City,
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and the Century of Progress Exposition, which no one remembers at all.
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Narrator: Number three, use two to three basic colors.
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TK: The basic rule for colors is to use two to three colors
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from the standard color set: red, white, blue, green, yellow and black.
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RM: The design of the Chicago flag has complete buy-in
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with an entire cross-section of the city.
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It is everywhere;
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every municipal building flies the flag.
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Whet Moser: There's probably at least one store on every block
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near where I work that sells some sort of Chicago flag paraphernalia.
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RM: That's Whet Moser from Chicago magazine.
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WM: Today, just for example, I went to get a haircut,
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and when I sat down in the barber's chair,
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there was a Chicago flag on the box that the barber kept all his tools in,
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and then in the mirror, there was a Chicago flag on the wall behind me.
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When I left, a guy passed me who had a Chicago flag badge on his backpack.
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RM: It's adaptable and remixable.
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The six-pointed stars in particular show up in all kinds of places.
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WM: The coffee I bought the other day had a Chicago star on it.
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RM: It's a distinct symbol of Chicago pride.
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TK: When a police officer or a firefighter dies in Chicago,
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often it's not the flag of the United States on his casket.
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It can be the flag of the city of Chicago.
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That's how deeply the flag has gotten into the civic imagery of Chicago.
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RM: And it isn't just that people love Chicago and therefore love the flag.
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I also think that people love Chicago more because the flag is so cool.
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TK: A positive feedback loop there between great symbolism and civic pride.
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RM: OK, so when I moved back to San Francisco in 2008,
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I researched its flag,
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because I had never seen it in the previous eight years I lived there.
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And I found it, I am sorry to say,
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sadly lacking.
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(Laughter)
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I know.
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It hurts me, too.
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(Laughter)
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TK: Well, let me start from the top.
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Narrator: Number one, keep it simple.
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TK: Keeping it simple.
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Narrator: The flag should be so simple that a child can draw it from memory.
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TK: It's a relatively complex flag.
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RM: OK, here we go, OK.
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The main component of the San Francisco flag is a phoenix
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representing the city rising from the ashes
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after the devastating fires of the 1850s.
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TK: A powerful symbol for San Francisco.
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RM: I still don't really dig the phoenix.
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Design-wise, it manages to both be too crude
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and have too many details at the same time,
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which if you were trying for that,
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you wouldn't be able to do it,
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and it just looks bad at a distance,
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but having deep meaning puts that element in the plus column.
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Behind the phoenix, the background is mostly white,
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and then it has a substantial gold border around it.
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TK: Which is a very attractive design element.
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RM: I think it's OK, but --
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(Laughter)
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here come the big no-nos of flag design.
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Narrator: Number four, no lettering or seals.
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Never use writing of any kind.
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RM: Underneath the phoenix, there's a motto on a ribbon
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that translates to "Gold in peace, iron in war,"
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plus -- and this is the big problem --
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it says San Francisco across the bottom.
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TK: If you need to write the name of what you're representing on your flag,
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your symbolism has failed.
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(Laughter)
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(Applause)
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RM: The United States flag doesn't say "USA" across the front.
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In fact, country flags, they tend to behave.
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Like, hats off to South Africa and Turkey and Israel
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and Somalia and Japan and Gambia.
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There's a bunch of really great country flags,
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but they obey good design principles because the stakes are high.
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They're on the international stage.
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But city, state and regional flags are another story.
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(Laughter)
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There is a scourge of bad flags --
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(Laughter)
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and they must be stopped.
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(Laughter)
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(Applause)
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That is the truth and that is the dare.
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The first step is to recognize that we have a problem.
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(Laughter)
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A lot of people tend to think that good design
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is just a matter of taste,
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and quite honestly, sometimes it is, actually,
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but sometimes it isn't, all right?
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(Laughter)
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Here's the full list of NAVA flag design principles.
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Narrator: The five basic principles of flag design.
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Narrator: Number one. TK: Keep it simple.
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Narrator: Number two. TK: Use meaningful symbolism.
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Narrator: Number three. TK: Use two to three basic colors.
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Narrator: Number four. TK: No lettering or seals.
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Narrator: Never use writing of any kind.
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TK: Because you can't read that at a distance.
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Narrator: Number five. TK: And be distinctive.
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RM: All the best flags tend to stick to these principles.
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And like I said before, most country flags are OK.
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But here's the thing:
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if you showed this list of principles to any designer of almost anything,
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they would say these principles -- simplicity, deep meaning,
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having few colors or being thoughtful about colors,
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uniqueness, don't have writing you can't read --
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all those principles apply to them, too.
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But sadly, good design principles are rarely invoked in US city flags.
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Our biggest problem seems to be that fourth one.
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We just can't stop ourselves from putting our names on our flags,
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or little municipal seals with tiny writing on them.
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Here's the thing about municipal seals:
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They were designed to be on pieces of paper
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where you can read them,
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not on flags 100 feet away flapping in the breeze.
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So here's a bunch of flags again.
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Vexillologists call these SOBs:
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Seals on a bedsheet --
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(Laughter)
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and if you can't tell what city they go to,
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yeah, that's exactly the problem,
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except for Anaheim, apparently, they fixed it.
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(Laughter)
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These flags are everywhere in the US.
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The European equivalent of the municipal seal
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is the city coat of arms ...
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and this is where we can learn a lesson for how to do things right.
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So this is the city coat of arms of Amsterdam.
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Now, if this were a United States city,
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the flag would probably look like this.
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You know, yeah.
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(Laughter)
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But instead, the flag of Amsterdam
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looks like this.
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Rather than plopping the whole coat of arms
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on a solid background and writing "Amsterdam" below it,
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they just take the key elements of the escutcheon, the shield,
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and they turn it into the most badass city flag in the world.
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(Laughter)
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(Applause)
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And because it's so badass,
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those flags and crosses are found throughout Amsterdam,
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just like Chicago, they're used.
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Even though seal-on-a-bedsheet flags are particularly painful
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and offensive to me,
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nothing can quite prepare you
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for one of the biggest train wrecks in vexillological history.
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(Laughter)
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Are you ready?
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It's the flag of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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(Laughter)
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I mean, it's distinctive,
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I'll give them that.
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Steve Kodis: It was adopted in 1955.
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RM: The city ran a contest
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and gathered a bunch of submissions with all kinds of designs.
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SK: And an alderman by the name of Fred Steffan
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cobbled together parts of the submissions to make what is now the Milwaukee flag.
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RM: It's a kitchen sink flag.
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There's a gigantic gear representing industry,
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there's a ship recognizing the port,
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a giant stalk of wheat
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paying homage to the brewing industry.
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It's a hot mess,
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and Steve Kodis, a graphic designer from Milwaukee, wants to change it.
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SK: It's really awful.
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It's a misstep on the city's behalf,
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to say the least.
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RM: But what puts the Milwaukee flag over the top,
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almost to the point of self-parody,
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is on it is a picture of the Civil War battle flag of the Milwaukee regiment.
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SK: So that's the final element in it
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that just makes it that much more ridiculous,
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that there is a flag design within the Milwaukee flag.
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RM: On the flag. Yeah. Yeah.
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(Laughter)
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Yeah.
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(Music)
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Now, Milwaukee is a fantastic city.
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I've been there, I love it.
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The most depressing part of this flag, though,
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is that there have been two major redesign contests.
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The last one was held in 2001.
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105 entries were received.
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TK: But in the end, the members of the Milwaukee Arts Board
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decided that none of the new entries were worthy of flying over the city.
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RM: They couldn't agree to change that thing!
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(Laughter)
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That's discouraging enough to make you think
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that good design and democracy just simply do not go together.
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(Laughter)
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But Steve Kotas is going to try one more time
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to redesign the Milwaukee flag.
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SK: I believe Milwaukee is a great city.
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Every great city deserves a great flag.
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RM: Steve isn't ready to reveal his design yet.
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One of the things about proposing one of these things
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is you have to get people on board,
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and then you reveal your design.
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But here's the trick:
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If you want to design a great flag,
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a kick-ass flag like Chicago's or DC's, which also has a great flag,
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start by drawing a one-by-one-and-a-half-inch rectangle
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on a piece of paper.
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Your design has to fit within that tiny rectangle.
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Here's why.
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TK: A three-by-five-foot flag on a pole 100 feet away
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looks about the same size as a one-by-one-and-a-half-inch rectangle
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seen about 15 inches from your eye.
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You'd be surprised by how compelling and simple the design can be
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when you hold yourself to that limitation.
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RM: Meanwhile, back in San Francisco.
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Is there anything we can do?
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TK: I like to say that in every bad flag there's a good flag trying to get out.
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The way to make San Francisco's flag a good flag
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is to take the motto off because you can't read that at a distance.
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Take the name off,
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and the border might even be made thicker, so it's more a part of the flag.
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And I would simply take the phoenix
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and make it a great big element in the middle of the flag.
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RM: But the current phoenix, that's got to go.
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TK: I would simplify or stylize the phoenix.
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Depict a big, wide-winged bird
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coming out of flames.
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Emphasize those flames.
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RM: So this San Francisco flag was designed by Frank Chimero
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based on Ted Kaye's suggestions.
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I don't know what he would do if we was completely unfettered
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and didn't follow those guidelines.
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Fans of my radio show and podcast, heard me complain about bad flags.
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They've sent me other suggested designs.
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This one's by Neil Mussett.
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Both are so much better.
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(Laughter)
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And I think if they were adopted,
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I would see them around the city.
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In my crusade to make flags of the world more beautiful,
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many listeners have taken it upon themselves
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to redesign their flags and look into the feasibility
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of getting them officially adopted.
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(Music)
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If you see your city flag and like it,
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fly it,
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even if it violates a design rule or two.
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I don't care.
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But if you don't see your city flag,
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maybe it doesn't exist, but maybe it does,
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and it just sucks,
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and I dare you to join the effort to try to change that.
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As we move more and more into cities,
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the city flag will become not just a symbol of that city as a place,
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but also, it could become a symbol of how that city considers design itself,
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especially today, as the populace is becoming more design-aware.
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And I think design awareness is at an all-time high.
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A well-designed flag could be seen as an indicator of how a city
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considers all of its design systems:
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its public transit,
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its parks, its signage.
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It might seem frivolous, but it's not.
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TK: Often when city leaders say,
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"We have more important things to do than worry about a city flag,"
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my response is,
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"If you had a great city flag,
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you would have a banner for people to rally under
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to face those more important things."
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(Music)
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RM: I've seen firsthand what a good city flag can do
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in the case of Chicago.
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The marriage of good design and civic pride
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is something that we need in all places.
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The best part about municipal flags is that we own them.
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They are an open-source,
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publicly owned design language of the community.
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When they are done well,
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they are remixable, adaptable, and they are powerful.
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We could control the branding and graphical imagery
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of our cities with a good flag,
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but instead, by having bad flags we don't use,
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we cede that territory to sports teams
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and chambers of commerce and tourism boards.
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Sports teams can leave and break our hearts.
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And besides, some of us don't really care about sports.
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And tourism campaigns can just be cheesy.
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But a great city flag
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is something that represents a city to its people
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and its people to the world at large.
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And when that flag is a beautiful thing,
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that connection is a beautiful thing.
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So maybe all the city flags can be as inspiring as Hong Kong
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or Portland or Trondheim,
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and we can do away with all the bad flags
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like San Francisco, Milwaukee, Cedar Rapids,
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and finally, when we're all done,
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we can do something about Pocatello, Idaho,
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considered by the North American Vexillological Association
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as the worst city flag in North America.
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[Proud to be Pocatello]
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(Laughter)
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(Applause)
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Yeah.
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(Applause)
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That thing has a trademark symbol on it, people.
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(Laughter)
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That hurts me just to look at.
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(Laughter)
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Thank you so much for listening.
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(Applause)
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[Music by: Melodium (@melodiumbox) and Keegan DeWitt (@keegandewitt)]
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About this website

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