New York, we need to talk. You’re an incredible city. You’re a commercial, cultural, and artistic hub of the world with a rich history and plenty of stories to tell. As one of the world’s greatest cities, there is, however, something severely lacking. What I’m referring to is none other than the municipal flag of New York City.
I care deeply about flags. Those of us who do call ourselves vexillologists, a word for anyone who has an interest in the meaning and purpose behind flags and their imagery. Flags are more than just colorful banners, they serve the symbolic purpose of uniting a common people together under a shared banner. They’re iconic. Flags are something deeply rooted in identity and pride. The early day of American independence were mark with the yellow, snake headed banner scrawled with the motto of “Don’t Tread on Me,” and today the Rainbow flag of today’s gay rights movement are immediately related to its global cause. If you don’t believe me in how important flags are, take the recent uproar over the battle standard of the Confederacy flown from the state building of South Carolina. Everyone can agree that flags mean something, and that what the stand for can evoke strong, deep, emotional responses. Which is why I think New York City’s flag is in desperate need of a redesign.
To first understand what makes the New York City flag so hideous and why it burns my eyes so, one needs to understand the basics of good flag design. The North American Vexillological Association has defined five rules for good flag design. From the NAVA website:
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Keep it simple. “Simple” is the key word. It should be simple enough for a child to draw and easy to identify at a distance.
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Use meaningful symbolism in the colors and imagery.
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Use two to three simple colors. This rule speaks for itself.
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No letter or seals. These can’t easily be drawn and are usually too hard to make out.
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De distinctive, but be relatable. Make sure the flag is unique, but it is okay to show similarities to another flag if both groups share some sort of common history or heritage.
To its favor, New York’s municipal flag meets many of these rules. The best starting point are the three bold colors that make up the flag. This is its main advantage. Today, many of New York City’s sports teams feature blue or orange in their colors: the Mets, Knicks, Giants, Rangers, and Islanders all feature blue, orange or both in their uniforms. The most important aspect of the flag’s colors are that they are imitations of the Prince’s Flag, the national flag of the Netherlands when New York was originally settled by the Dutch under the name of New Amsterdam in 1625. This brings us to rule number five, as these colors link New York City’s to its Dutch heritage.
Where New York City’s flag falters is in rules number two and four. Mainly the fact that New York City’s flag features a huge seal right in the center of the flag. From a distance the seal looks like a mass of squiggles, and more importantly it’s too difficult to draw or replicate. The images on the seal are supposed to be a Native American and Dutch settler standing beside a windmill and bald eagle. It’s intended to be a reminder of the city’s early history as a center for Dutch industry before ultimately becoming an American city after the war for independence, but this ultimately falls flat because it is overshadowed by the tricolors of orange, white and blue and just comes off as bland and uninspired. The seal needs to go.
What’s much more meaningful are the five blue stars that arch across the center of the flag, meant to symbolize the five boroughs of New York. They’re simple, yet meaningful. They’re small, but poignant. They’re a symbol of the unity and wholeness of the city and stick out in people’s minds far more that any overdone seal would. Let’s be honest though, if any people on the planet see themselves as stars it’s New Yorkers.
It may be seen as a nonissue, that changing New York’s flag is trivial or that no one cares enough about it and never notices it, but I think that if the flag of New York became less of an eyesore to the other flag lovers in the world then maybe we would all see it flying a little more often to remind us of just how great our city really is.