A suggested redesign of Washington's flag

Submitted by AnOwlishSham t3_11atgbt in Washington

Washington state's flag, like many other US state flags, places the state's seal on a plain background:

Flag of Washington state

The problem is that flags employing this seal-on-a-plain-field pattern often look very similar to each other, as the intricacies of a seal are difficult to make out on a flapping flag (seals are designed to be viewed close up on documents); moreover those intricacies make the flag expensive to manufacture.

I have attempted a redesign, using as a starting point George Washington's coat of arms:

The coat of arms of George Washington

Now I couldn't use that design as it is, as the flag of Washington DC has already used that directly. So to differentiate it while still keeping recognisably close to the original coat of arms, I have rotated the stars and bars and changed their colors to the green and gold of the state's current flag:

My suggested redesign of Washington state's flag

Thoughts?

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Comments

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MagicWalrusO_o t1_j9u0xsa wrote

It looks fine, but George Washington has basically nothing to do with the state, and Washington DC's flag is already based on its coat of arms. I would agree that WA's flag sucks, but any update is not going to have anything to do with this.

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coolgherm t1_j9ucwnj wrote

Ya I can speak for the entire state of Washington, unironically, that no one gives a fuck about George Washington.

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RysloVerik t1_j9wypm9 wrote

Bullshit, the man was 6’ 20” and fucked the shit out of bears.

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Bird_Herder t1_j9x3ug0 wrote

I heard that motherfucker had, like, thirty goddamn dicks.

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deafballboy t1_j9w987q wrote

We should retroactively name it after George Washington, the founder of Centralia.

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Quiet-Context_ t1_j9wohj5 wrote

Or edit the wikipage and start this rumor. I'm assuming there's a wikipage for the WA flag, if not, add it to the state's wikipage.

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AnOwlishSham OP t1_j9u2b0b wrote

Thanks for the feedback. Being from somewhat out of state, I lack the inside knowledge on whether folks feel a strong connection to the person the state is named for.

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MagicWalrusO_o t1_j9u2vk5 wrote

No worries! It was named by Congress at statehood, but Washington never got within 2,000 miles of the state. If you're looking for inspiration, I would look at:

the Cascadia flag

Mt Rainier/Tahoma

Pacific Northwest art

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AnOwlishSham OP t1_j9u3s7g wrote

Thanks. I was starting from the basis of keeping to the current flag's intention of representing the person, but doing so less literally than a portrait of him. But perhaps a redesign needs to go beyond that idea, as you suggest.

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rosesandpiglets t1_j9una0e wrote

No one here gives much of a shit about Washington’s family crest. We care that he shrugged off his British roots and founded a nation that eventually grew to encompass the beautiful land we now know.

We want a salmon or our big ass mountain that is 3 times the height of Ben Nevis on our flag.

Washington’s family crest would somehow be an even worse representation of what this great state means.

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holmgangCore t1_j9xtfmv wrote

I’d rather name our state after George Clinton.

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CountDoppelbock t1_j9z164e wrote

Our state motto can be changed to “WE GOT THE FUNK”

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holmgangCore t1_ja3ysjr wrote

We could even have a state “sweet funky bass riff” along with that motto, state animal, state tree, & state etc. The annual state rave would be so dope!

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xXJustDanielleXx t1_j9u5klz wrote

This is the best I’ve seen: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f6/37/c4/f637c43595d06a82a707c43bcfb1aa28.jpg

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jgnp t1_j9u8oqc wrote

This needs to happen already.

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AnOwlishSham OP t1_j9ugc1i wrote

I didn't know about that one. It looks good. What momentum does it have?

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xXJustDanielleXx t1_j9uhero wrote

Lots. More than a flag by someone who knows nothing about the state Lolol

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AnOwlishSham OP t1_j9uiqzs wrote

I wish it well

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rtp_oak t1_j9um7xy wrote

It has a ton of opposition too. I actually bought that flag during the Kickstarter campaign. I posted it on Reddit and it got a LOT of hate and the most common sentiment was, "our current flag is fine/better."

I think the flag change (which NEEDS to happen) is an uphill battle and that hill is Tahoma.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/comments/6ewaem/washington_state_flag_redesign/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

That's the original designer prior to his Kickstarter campaign.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/comments/y4chmq/proposed_design_to_replace_washington_state_flag/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Here's my post. I just realized I posted it to the vexillology sub not the Washington. So I shouldn't have read into the critique as much if they aren't actually Washingtonians.

(PS I am a fellow transplant. Welcome to the region! If you're interested in flag redesigns check out Maine's current flag and popular choice to replace it!)

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rosesandpiglets t1_j9unr1o wrote

Preach.

Personally I think we should add some gold to represent our bread basket in the east, but I get how people would wanna stick with the more restricted color scheme for aesthetics

Edit: I guess the light blue is the skies if E WA, so ok.

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rtp_oak t1_j9v501k wrote

Yeah. I was enlightened to see the new flag design isn't perfect (if that's even possible). But I think if anything is an excellent step forward to getting rid of the seal on a bed spread.

I'd love to see some gold on the flag. Why not?

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s7ab_m3 t1_j9vsgwz wrote

Picked it up at the Kickstarter too! Flying it on my house as we speak. I remember there being a lot of hate for it too, but I like it so meh, whatever.

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Toffor t1_j9wlish wrote

I bought this from the kickstarter and fly it daily. I love it!

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RingoBars t1_j9v1358 wrote

Wow. That is a freakin winner! Damn that’s dope. Thanks for sharing!

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woofwooffighton t1_j9tzqsd wrote

I'm all for a redesign however the ones you've offered don't do anything for me. They give Halo team badge vibes, which aren't terrible in and of themselves but not a state flag.

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AnOwlishSham OP t1_j9u2usp wrote

Is that because the stars and bars don't say George Washington to you, or because you don't feel there's a strong connection between him and the state, beyond lending his name?

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curiousfog5 t1_j9u427w wrote

The latter for me, we got Washington because Columbia was already taken for the nation's Capitol.

I'd like to see something referencing our geography over our namesake.

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woofwooffighton t1_j9x9eki wrote

I don't give AF about George. I actually hate his face on the flag. The "stars and bars" as you say it is just boring

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[deleted] t1_j9u5zww wrote

[deleted]

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AnOwlishSham OP t1_j9uf8yr wrote

>I'd be curious to see what r/vexillology's take would be

I posted the design there first and it got a favorable response. But that didn't tell whether the people of WA would connect with it.

>Do the stars/stripes have any other meaning? Or are we cool with a rotated and recolored coat of arms as our state flag? It's a little lazy, imo.

I don't what meaning, if any, the stars and stripes had for the Washington family, but as far as my design is concerned they are solely to signify Washington the person. It's a fairly standard approach in heraldry/vexillology for a place or institution to incorporate or adapt the arms of someone connected with it. The bigger question of course is whether signifying their namesake is something that the people of WA still want their flag to do.

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PuzzleheadedEssay198 t1_j9v9e8g wrote

There is ONE connection between George and the state:

Apples.

WA is known for it’s apples, but they were introduced to the area by the wife of Ft. Vancouver’s commander (iirc it was COL Barnes before he was sent back east). She lamented that the soldiers didn’t have enough fruit to eat, and sent letters to her friends asking for seeds. Among them were apple seeds from George Washington’s orchard- but by that point The Oregon Country had already been split into the Oregon and Washington territories.

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Norwester77 t1_j9vu77d wrote

I’m afraid—aside from George Washington not actually having much of anything to do with the state—the design is a bit too military-looking for me: like something on the shoulder of a general’s uniform.

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hyrailer t1_j9u0ktb wrote

As long as there are no apples, it's good

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Plonsky2 t1_j9uck9t wrote

I'm not worked up by it enough to want to change it. We have greater issues here.

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Rocketgirl8097 t1_j9uyruf wrote

The current flag is at least unique because it's green. But I would vote for leaving it alone since things like that cost a bunch of money to implement, e.g. buying new flags for every school and governmental agency in the state, plus all the bureaucracy to create it. We could use that money elsewhere.

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Checkoutmybigbrain t1_j9vtmjh wrote

To even think this state would be pro George Washington shows you know less than nothing about this state lol

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BarnabyWoods t1_j9w3l13 wrote

To me, a coat of arms echoes everything about European royalty that the American revolution was intended to reject. I'd rather see a flag that incorporates the state's physical wonders: mountains, trees, water. My favorite state flag is Alaska's, which is just Ursa Major and Polaris.

But hats off to you for taking a stab at anything that would replace our bland currrent flag.

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AnOwlishSham OP t1_j9whukf wrote

>To me, a coat of arms echoes everything about European royalty that the American revolution was intended to reject.

May I first just challenge what is a common American conception of coats of arms. These were never the exclusive property of royalty. In many parts of Europe they weren't even exclusive to nobility; for example, each member of a medieval Dutch town council or the equivalent of a chamber of commerce would be expected to have their own coat of arms by which they were identified. And some of the best coats of arms come out of Switzerland, somewhere that has been without royalty for longer than the US! :-)

>I'd rather see a flag that incorporates the state's physical wonders: mountains, trees, water.

That is completely fair enough. That message has been coming across from other commenters too.

>But hats off to you for taking a stab at anything that would replace our bland currrent flag.

Thank you. It was a fun exercise, if nothing else.

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j-raydiate t1_j9xmvjp wrote

Looks too similar to DC, and green and yellow look like some ugly Green Bay Packers flag. I like the green- that should stay since it represents Washington well. But, make it unique to the Cascadia region.

Also, I hate that the state is named after Washington. As if every state in the union doesn't have a county named Washington let alone the capital being Washington DC.

We need a new name in addition to a new flag imo.

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Dumbnysos t1_j9x4s96 wrote

It's better but that's really not saying much

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coquigrl t1_j9vco3b wrote

I'm just waiting for our state to get renamed with a local tribal name. Did George Washington ever even set foot on this land? Geez!

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