Previously, we shared Roman Mar’s TED presentation on Flag Design.

We’ve added the TED talk here also.

Good Flag Design

In Roman’s presentation he talks about his obsession with flags. And, along the way he showcases some great designs and some lousy ones. Plus he shares five principles of great flag design from Ted Kaye’s pamphlet Good Flag, Bad Flag – How to design a great flag.

1. Keep it simple – a child can draw it from memory.
2. Use meaningful symbolism.
3. Use 2-3 basic colours.
4. No lettering or seals – Never use writing of any kind – if you need to write the name of what you are displaying your symbolism has failed.
5. Be distinctive.

• Image: Flags of the World from Wikipedia
• Also, some hilarious examples of flag design for New Zealand

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Five Principles of Good Design

Now, you might be thinking… Flags? I don’t care about flags… Hold that thought for just a moment…

The five principles for good flag design are also five classic principles for the design of almost anything. So the next time you’re designing almost anything visual then consider these five design principles.

These are great design principles for any visual design.

And, also I love the example of being able to read your flag or your design at small scale – an inch by and inch and a half. Again, this is highly useful advice for the design of almost anything visual.

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In our next post we’ll discuss why you need a flag for your business. Yes, I’m serious about this! And, I’ll share the one I’ve created for my business.