Some Helpful, if Unsolicited,
Proposals for Other New State Flag Designs

Here on this page are:

• Oregon
• Montana
• Virginia
• Wyoming

With other states most likely to be added soon.

Words (and lots of them), and a dense and complex seal design. But that's not all. You'll notice I specified that this is the front of Oregon's flag. That's because Oregon is the only state that has a different design for the back of their flag: a golden beaver.

Blue and gold are Oregon's official colors, and are taken from the current flag, though I have used a darker blue and a brighter gold. The bird is a stylized depiction of Oregon's state bird, the western meadowlark.

Plus, Virginia's seal was designed, as I understand it, by a committee chaired by my hero, George Mason, and the symbolism and motto -- Thus always to tyrants! -- is a coolly libertarian one. Finally, the flag was adopted back in 1861, which means it precedes most, if not all, of the other seal-on-bedsheets designs, and so at least showed, at the time, a bit of originality.

Still, principles are principles and bad design is bad design. So here are four ideas I came up with as alternatives:

All four designs feature the St. George's Cross, representing England, which, of course, settled Virginia and governed it until 1776. The blue and grey colors recall that Virginia was the principal battlefield in the War Between the States, as well as the place where the post-war era began, following Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Also, grey and blue are the colors of Virginia state-police cars, while blue and white are the primary colors on the current flag.

The two bottom designs also have white borders, which recall the similar border on the flag of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. I recognize that this might be too much Confederate symbolism for some people, but I simply offer it as an option. I just want to be a blessing.

I recognize, too, that this entire design might be too backward-looking for politicians and citizens focusing on the alleged dynamism and drive of "the New Dominion." But these are my designs and I'm stickin' to 'em ... at least until I come up with some others.

A Bunch of Ideas for Wyoming

Wyoming is a great state. I always enjoy the time I spend there, and not just because my lovely bride's parents live there. But still, just as with Virginia, I can't help but think about ways the state flag can be improved (do you ever have thoughts like that? my sympathies if you do).

In fairness, the flag of Wyoming is not one of the twenty-five state-seal-on-blue-bedsheet designs I posted on the earlier page. Here it is (image, as before, by Mario Fabretto from the FOTW Flags of the World website):

I do give the people of Wyoming, or at least their flag designer,  credit for some degree of originality. But why do they need to take a basically sound design and mess it up by putting the state seal on the bison?

As you might expect, therefore, here is my first alternative for a new flag of Wyoming:

There is absolutely nothing about the basic design of the Wyoming flag that is improved by adding the state seal to it.

One thing that would make Wyoming's flag even more distinctive, though, would be to step outside the usual red-white-blue pallet of so many American flags, and into a color nobody else is using. And frankly, if there's a color I associate with Wyoming, it's brown ... not only because so much of Wyoming's vegetation is that color, but also (I hasten to add) because the official colors of the University of Wyoming are brown and gold.

Here, therefore, are four additional proposals:

If, by the way, you're not convinced brown works on a flag (and I admit it's unusual, though not unprecedented), I invite you to check out the flags of several Japanese prefectures, in which brown is not at all uncommon.