Australia’s official flag is ho-hum, but you already have an incredible flag you could use instead
Way better! Finally got rid of that union jack. This is how it should be.
I think that the Australian and New Zealand ones are okay from a technical standpoint.
We have a lot of really bad state flags in the US. A lot of them originally involved slapping the state seal (not optimized for flag use, usually more-detailed) on usually some shade of blue.
That being said, a bunch of them have been revised. Utah ("The Beehive State") did a 2024 revision, which I think is a pretty strong improvement (and follows the "originally just the state-seal-on-blue" pattern):
to
And honestly, I think that most of those warrant a change more than most national flags.
However, if I were going to make changes to national flags...hmm. Well, there are a whole bunch of countries that have extremely similar flags. Nobody wants to back down on their flag, but honestly, the present state of affairs just kind of sucks from a functional standpoint, seeing as the purpose of flags is to let one easily identify something as being associated with a country. It'd be nice if they'd flip a coin or something and have one of the countries pick something more-distinctive.
One of the most-egregious is the flag of Chad:
And the flag of Romania:
There are a bunch more that look very similar at a distance or at small sizes or if one is being flown upside-down. I won't list them all here, but it'd be awesome if those would get sorted out.
Also, while the tricolor, as with the above flags, is associated with republicanism, and thus a lot of countries use it, and technically, it's nice (simple, easy to identify, no text), there are similar alternatives that would help make flags a lot more distinguishable. Take the flag of Czechia, for example:
Still three colors, but looks pretty different from most other national flags. You don't get into the "tricolor with very similar colors" problem.
Bravo on all the effort in that. Utah’s updated flag looks great. Another example of crazy close flags is Poland and Monaco along with like 5 other countries.
I really like the flag of Greenland.
Lazer Kiwi or nothing!
Nepal. I'm all for non-rectangular flags, but couldn't they have chosen a different aspect ratio than
I’d like to see Ireland use the green field with harp flag. I get the symbolism of the tricolor but it’d be nice to move past the Catholics vs Protestants and leave religion out of it. Maybe, if re-unification happens.
As someone that was born in Australia but doesn't love identifying as one I think Harold Thomas got it absolutely bang on! The Australian Indigenous flag should be the National Australian flag. Black night sky, big yellow sun, and iron rich red dirt. The current Australian flag fkn sucks.
Just note that specific flag is that of the Australian Aborigines and I believe does not include the Torres Strait Islanders, so it does not encompass the entirety of the Australian Indigenous peoples.
Still a very cool flag though, I think having a mix of symbolism from it as well as other elements would be good to create a truly Aussie flag! Some green and gold in there maybe, possibly a boomerang (featured in many flag proposals and generally looks super cool), and the red sand would be an interesting combination.
great post
Let's make a tierlist sbout how urgent it is for them to change:
S:
The old fashioned, imperial russian flag was beautiful:
But even better is with a crest:
Which can be simplified for a stylish modern design (as i bekieve all credts should be when possible)
Alternatively, a bear could look good on their flag:
A:
B:
F:
Petition for you to add flag emoji to each country mention, e.g. "🇵🇱 Poland", for those of us (me!) who are vexillologically challenged and don't remember any flags.
Edit: an attempt, based on gboard's emoji search functionality and with zero verification:
great post
Let's make a tierlist sbout how urgent it is for them to change:
S:
- 🇵🇱Poland's flag is supposedly derived from a white bird against a setting sun. To me it would make sense to include that imagery on the flag, or a historical coat of arms.
- I think places like 🇸🇾Syria, 🇪🇬Egypt, 🇱🇾Libya, 🇮🇶Iraq need to agree on a different colour scheme for themselves. At the moment they're confusingly similar
A:
- 🇮🇱Israel (changing flag after a hopeful regime change would be prudent because it's like a symbol of genocide now.)
B:
- 🇱🇺Luxembourg (too similar to 🇳🇱Netherlands),
- 🇨🇳China (i find china's flag really dull even if it is iconic. They surely want to invoke their historical longevity rather than just Communism. Stars represent the key chinese regions, which seems like a good feature - the red does not.)
F:
- I don't think i'd change it, but 🇨🇦Canada seems as/more close to britain than 🇦🇺Australia so it makes more sense to give a little 🇬🇧Union Jack in the top left corner.
Note: some flags (like 🇸🇾Syria) were changed recently enough that the emoji could look different depending on your operating system and which app or browser you're using for Lemmy. Gboard shows me the new flag (green on top, 3 red stars), but Voyager/Android 16 shows the old flag (red on top, 2 green stars). It's unavoidable when Unicode is used to encode things that can change, like flags. But it's better than nothing!
The only way around it is to embed pictures of flags, but that takes more effort. And data.
Syria flag apparently changed without me knowing. I will sleep well tonight. All it took was deposing Bashar Al Assad
Happy to accidentally be of service :)
A correction on the PRC's flag: the 4 smaller stars each represent one of the classes in New Democracy:
The fifth, largest star, is for the CPC itself, which unites and guides the 4 classes, itself dominated by the proletariat.
The old, five stripes flag is the one that represented the 5 major ethnic groups of China, which is often confused as the reasoning for China's current 5 stars.
@FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world I believe this reply ^ was intended for you
Oof, ty.
Canada seems as/more close to britain than Australia so it makes more sense to give a little Union Jack in the top left corner.
What is this blasphemy
Seriously, our flag is like the best thing Canada has going for it.
Although as much as I loathe little corner Union Jacks on flags, I have to admit I'd probably get a kick from the reaction of the entire province of Québec if it were to happen.
Great points! I think Russia should change their flag close to the imperial one! Looks awesome and quite individual.
Israel (changing flag after a hopeful regime change would be prudent because it’s like a symbol of genocide now.)
I actually like Israel's flag. It's simple, it's bright, and it's instantly recognizable. It's unique and doesn't follow a trend, it's doesn't have clashing colors, and the symbolism is neither absent or overloaded. It's a really good flag. I think it's the second best one in the Middle East after Lebanon's flag. I think they should keep it.
This is the most common Polish flag I've seen, with the Eagle:
Pretty good IMO
The Union Jack itself only represents 3 of the 4 countries in the UK. And since the missing one, Wales, has a dragon on their flag, it seems like an easy fix that will make the country as a whole cooler
Can I say I'd change them all by getting rid of the concept altogether?
Shall we do away with name too? All identity?
I'd be ok with just getting rid of nationalism... Nothing wrong with identity, but nationalism fosters an us vs them mentality that fucks over people in most of the world.
It is always a little strange for me to see the flag of Mozambique. I don't really know anything about the country, but the flag with its AK47 in there has the vibe of a terrorist organization.
Chamge the US flag to something nonsensicle, just to fuck with them, since their flags are everywhere.
Also, there should be more (mythical) creatures on flags. Imagine the german flag with a wolpertinger!
All of the flags that are just stripes. It's too easy to get them mixed up with similar-looking striped flags, especially if there are others with the same colors. Obviously people from that country will know which flag they're looking at, but people from other countries can easily get confused. It kind of detracts from the power of the flag if other people don't know what it represents or have to search it up every time they see it.
Flags should be immediately distinctive and memorable, IMO. Like, I love how Canada's flag has a Maple leaf. No one else has a maple leaf, so people can remember that one.
There's a lot of flags that annoy me and I would like to see changed, but I think these are the ones that I would change without a second thought:
Russia
Current: I find their current flag to be offensive to the eyes. The bright blue and red clash with each other, and the white bar at the top makes it looks like it's upside down. It gives off a very uncomfortable and depressing vibe.
Suggestion: I would change it to the old black, yellow, and white flag that Imperial Russia used. I think it's a very beautiful and elegant flag with a unique color combination that harmonizes well together.
Iran
Current: It takes the classical Iranian tricolors and gives them these disgusting squiggles to the green and red blocks that are supposed to be "Allahu Akbar" on repeat in the Kufic script. They also add this eyesore of an islamic emblem in the middle that supposed to be a bunch of swords and a crescent spelling out "allah" in Arabic. I don't know a single Iranian who likes this flag.
Suggestion: I would change it to the old lion and sun flag. Not only does it look badass, but this flag actually carries the history of Iran. It's the historical flag, it's the flag that people identify with, and it's a flag that encompasses all Iranians, not just the muslims (which are barely a majority in the country).
Iraq
Current: The flag of my home country is just stupid. It's a tricolor used by previous Iraqi flags with 3 stars in the middle. Saddam Hussein later added the words "Allahu Akbar" in Arabic between the stars. The new Iraqi government ran with it, but then later decided to remove the Saddam Hussein elements by removing the stars he didn't add and keep the "Allahu Akbar that he did add". It pissed off a lot of people because it's a deceitful attempt by islamists to pretend that Iraq is an islamic state.
Suggestion: Go back to the Qasim flag. This was a flag that was used in Iraq after the revolution to overthrow the monarchy. It used the pan-arab tricolors to represent the Arabs, a yellow circle that represented the Kurdish sun, and a red star that symbolized the star of Ishtar which represented the Assyrians in the country and the country's rich history. It's simply a superior flag, though I would do away with the pan Arab colors in favor of something that symbolizes Iraq.
China
Current: I will forever hold the opinion that communist flags are hideous. China is an ancient civilization that has a rich history and culture, and you're telling that they can't find anything to symbolize their nation outside of a foreign influenced communist flag? Bullshit.
Suggestion: Bring back the Qing dynasty flag. It's iconic, it's indigenous, and it represents China's deep heritage way better than a bland red flag with stars. Besides, it has a cool dragon on it, how can anybody hate that?
Belarus
Current: Is this not one of the ugliest flags in the world? The colors clash with each other, the blocks are not balanced, and the pattern on the side is just repulsive. Not only that but this flag is a stripped down version of the Soviet Imposed flag, which most Belarussians view as a symbol of Russian imperialism. To make matters worse the current flag was designed and imposed by Lukashenko, the brutal dictator of Belarus, in 1995. Belarussians view this gross flag as symbol of Lukashenko's tyranny and an extension of Russia's imperialism.
Suggestion: It's time to replace the current atrocity with the real flag of Belarus. Belarus literally means 'White Rus' as in the historical term for the ancient Slavic Rus who were never conquered by the Tartars, and this flag has a lot of white to represent that freedom and red for the sacrificing that it took to defend it. I specifically like the variation that has the coat of arms of Lithuania on it since a good portion of the historical Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth encompassed modern Belarus.
Some feedback:
As for Russia, I think some elements of the imperial flag should be used, but not its entirety, since it represents the monarchy who historically weren't all too kind to their people for most of their reign. Perhaps a new flag, with a France-like vertical tricolour, a mixture of the imperial colours (yellow, maybe black) and the modern colours (red, maybe blue) could be formed to represent remembering Russia's long past while also showing that they are stepping forward into the future.
I do think bringing the lion and sun flag would be great! It's a lion holding a blade with the sun rising from its back, how cool is that? The image hasn't loaded yet, but I do need to note that the flag should be the one without the crown, as that represents the authoritarian Shah. The crownless flag was actually adopted when the Shah was deposed for a democracy, but then the CIA had to muck everything up and depose Mossadegh to restore the U.S.-friendly Shah, and later you had the 1979 Islamic revolution and all that.
The Qasim flag does look really cool! No qualms about that one, I think it's simply better than the current flag.
As for the Chinese flag, I do think that the current flag is a little boring, but it's quite recognisable. However (speaking as somebody with Chinese ancestry), red is a lucky colour in Chinese culture, although the PRC officially defines the red on the flag to symbolise the communist struggle. I think a majorly red flag would be suitable for China, and additionally, the Qing flag represents the dynasty ruled by the Manchus rather than the majority Han Chinese, so I'm sure some people (particularly the older folk) would be upset by that. I personally enjoy the "five peoples" flag of the Beiyang republic, with five stripes representing the five major people groups of China, but since that specific iteration of China was plagued by corruption and all that, it's not a popular option.
In my opinion, I think a majorly red flag would be good, but maybe not the central star with the four stars surrounding it (it represents the people surrounding the party). Personally, I would go for a yellow/gold Chinese dragon in the centre going around in a circle (symbolising how long China has existed, the "foreverness" of Chinese identity), a star in the middle if communism sticks around, and maybe some lions on either side as well, since those are also very important in China? Actually, maybe it could be lions on one side (representing the spirit of the Chinese people) and a flower / maybe some leaves / another plant (representing the kind and respectful culture of the Chinese people). I think that would be neat!
In the case of Belarus, I think the white red white would look pretty neat! Recognisable and has some historical background to it. I feel it's a little bland though, maybe adding a third colour or some of the patterns would do it good?
I’d take out the 13 stripes from the US flag and just use the naval jack.
In general I think any flag that is using seals, crests, or text should probably have a redesign, not necessarily to remove the icons, but to simplify them. (US state flags are the worst offenders here.)
Belize has a flag that looks like it could be the flag of a midwestern state.
The flag of Cyprus is just an outline of the island which, I feel, relies too much on cartography for its symbol. What if you’d never seen a map?
Enjoy!
For the NZ flag I'd probably go back to the united tribes flag. It was the first flag for NZ. It's still recognized by our government, but it's not the primary flag
It does look pretty neat! I don't like the empty three corners though, I feel like it isn't very space efficient.
I like the Maori flag more with the black and red and the fun swirl. Maybe they could do something like that?
murican flag should be the pedobear
All of them.
I would add the country's initials to every national flag. Since so many flags are really similar, it gets confusing to remember which flag belongs to which country.
Initials would be taken from the ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country codes format.
So you'd be forcing countries that don't use the Latin alphabet to use the Latin script? I'm sure that will go over well
Poland and Indonesia; Bahrain and Qatar; and Chad and Romania need to do something. The Bahrain/Qatar one isn't the worst, but it is hard to recall which is which sometimes.
A lot of African countries- green red yellow and a star maybe? Just not a lot of variety and no real character.
Tricolors for others are fine but I wonder what else they could do, ie. Netherlands, etc etc.
Somalia, easily.
Union Jack countries could differentiate more.
Lot of south American countries are similar too.. Maybe a bit more variety there as well.
I'm Australian and our flag is awesome, if I had to change it i would replace the union jack with the aboriginal flag and put new Zealand down by the side of the southern Cross
You’d take Scotland out, but leave Northern Ireland?
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