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Towered said:
It most certainly is not a joke, though I would definitely describe the original as such.
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The original bears comparison to many state flags, i.e. the arms on a navy background.

The new one has an anywhere/anything generic feel to it. Could be the State of Utah but also United Honey Company, Rocky Mountain Technical College, Colorado Yurt Rentals, etc.

Of course, ultimately, any flag can be critiqued.
 
More US states beginning flag change initiatives to eliminate their current garbage designs: Minnesota, North Carolina, Illinois, and Maine.
 
The UT Vexillogists may enjoy this from The Economist (July 1 2023)

Jun 29th 2023

Have you ever met a vexed vexillologist? This is someone who frets when flags are badly designed. Sadly, too many flags flutter to deceive: they are cluttered with imagery, a mess of colours and all too easily forgettable. Yet flags matter. Witness Ukraine’s blue-and-yellow banner, which now serves as a potent symbol around the world (not to mention on this newspaper’s covers). A fine flag can be something that citizens feel proud to pledge allegiance to, as well as an excellent marketing tool. Canada’s red maple leaf, for example, has advertised the country on countless backpacks across the world.
A bad banner has an obvious solution: change it. That is what several American states and cities have been doing, or at least contemplating. In March, Utah approved a new standard with a bold beehive to replace its fussier old flag. Maine may ask voters to decide in November whether it should switch from its current, over-intricate design to a different one with a plain pine tree and a blue star, a reinterpretation of an older banner, which is already proving popular. The design is not yet settled, so perhaps a flag with a lobster could pinch the honours at the last minute.

Many people in Minnesota may not even realise they have a state flag—which is lucky. The state representative who has led a campaign to replace the current one has described it as “a cluttered genocidal mess”. Its imagery includes three dates from the 1800s, a French motto and a Native American riding away in the background while, in the foreground, a farmer tills the land. A new design is due to replace it next May.

Fortunately, the world has centuries of experience that can help guide better flag design. This has led to a few well-established rules. First, keep it simple. A good test is whether a child can draw it from memory. Japan’s red circle in a white rectangle passes the test with, er, flying colours. So does New Mexico’s design (pictured), another red-sun symbol, against a yellow background; it is a thing of simple beauty.

Second, use meaningful symbolism: think Israel’s Star of David, the Soviet hammer-and-sickle or America’s 50 stars, representing all its states, and 13 stripes, evoking the original colonies. (Mozambique, displaying an ak-47 assault rifle, perhaps went too far.) Third, limit the palette to just a few basic colours. True, as South Africa’s black-gold-green-white-red-blue emblem shows, it is possible to break this rule successfully, but even the rainbow Pride flag, in its most familiar version, cut two colours from its original eight, because hot pink and cool turquoise made it hard to manufacture. The fact that banners are often viewed from the back helps explain a fourth sensible rule: avoid lettering.

Last but certainly not least: be distinctive. You will then avoid the situation of Indonesia and Monaco, whose flags look the same, as do Romania’s and Chad’s. Nepal’s jagged double-pennon, by contrast, is delightfully unique—the only national flag with an irregular shape. Similarly, Jamaica’s is the only one without red, white or blue. Switzerland and the Vatican stand out as the only countries with flags that are square.

Sometimes proposals for new flags fail. Badges of identity arouse strong feelings. New Zealanders rejected a switch in a referendum in 2016. Traditionalists can feel attached to old emblems. But from Maine to Milwaukee, plenty of places—call them flaggards—have dreadful, old-fashioned banners that are ripe for change. In 2004 Pocatello, Idaho, was reckoned in a survey of vexillologists to have the worst city flag in America. It was changed in 2017, and in a survey last year the new flag ranked 11th in the country. Come on, flaggards, do the Pocatello. ■
 
Latest significant change south of the border: Minnesota has finally adopted a new state flag.

From this piece of shit:
1703098532066.png


To this:
1703098571627.png
 
Towered said:
Latest significant change south of the border: Minnesota has finally adopted a new state flag.

From this piece of shit:
View attachment 528773

To this:
View attachment 528774
Click to expand...
I am not sure what this actually represents, but I do understand that the conservative elements of the state consider the new flag to represent the conquest of the sate by Somali….based on similarities of the two flags. Just another day in America.
 
A shot in the dark would be that the star represents the North star, a prominent icon in Minnesota. The blues are probably the lakes and the snow.

Looked into it: The dark blue shape is a simplified icon of the states physical shape, the light blue is lake. Star is indeed the North star.
 
picard102 said:
A shot in the dark would be that the star represents the North star, a prominent icon in Minnesota. The blues are probably the lakes and the snow.

Looked into it: The dark blue shape is a simplified icon of the states physical shape, the light blue is lake. Star is indeed the North star.
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I looked it up and you are right - the star is the north star. The two shades of blue represent the land mass of the state and the water bordering the state. Interesting. Not really stirring my drink all that much, but then the flag of Canada is much similar in conception, and that works just fine.
 
Minnesota’s new flag is good, if not great. It’s simple, memorable, and unique – all good hallmarks of an effective flag. I wish the North Star had a different design, but that’s my only complaint.
 
ShonTron said:
Minnesota’s new flag is good, if not great. It’s simple, memorable, and unique – all good hallmarks of an effective flag. I wish the North Star had a different design, but that’s my only complaint.
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Number 1 rule of flag design, everyone has an opinion but no one is right. Your beautiful design might look like a dog's breakfast to me, or vice versa.

I like the new Minnesota design because it could represent absolutely anything - US state, Russian Oblast, SE Asian sultanate, old style cigarette packets ('enjoy the smooth taste of North Star menthols...'), a ferry company, any educational establishment, IT company, PR firm, a brand of sand paper, cat litter, cell phone case, ice cream...anything at all. (Well, except for the Minnesota North Stars -RIP).

Mods: should we have a separate thread on different flags, we seemed to have flogged Ontario long ago.
 
Lennox970 said:
Number 1 rule of flag design, everyone has an opinion but no one is right. Your beautiful design might look like a dog's breakfast to me, or vice versa.

I like the new Minnesota design because it could represent absolutely anything - US state, Russian Oblast, SE Asian sultanate, old style cigarette packets ('enjoy the smooth taste of North Star menthols...'), a ferry company, any educational establishment, IT company, PR firm, a brand of sand paper, cat litter, cell phone case, ice cream...anything at all. (Well, except for the Minnesota North Stars -RIP).

Mods: should we have a separate thread on different flags, we seemed to have flogged Ontario long ago.
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Flogged the flag?

Maybe Minnesota is subliminally saying they want to join Cuba.

1703349196764.png
 
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