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Nevada's Flag: Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder?

© Kathleen M. Brune

Nevada's flag was recently deemed as one of the ugliest by a respected organization specializing in the study and creation of flags. So, who made this decision--and what does it mean to Nevadans?

So, who decided?

The study of flags is called vexillology (derived from the Latin vexillum, meaning "flag"). I had never considered studying a flag before, and never before realized that there was even a name for this occupation, until I read about the findings of the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) in my local newspaper.

NAVA ran a survey on their website requesting votes from both members and non-members. 400 folks from 20 countries cast more than 29,000 votes by separately rating, on a scale from 0 through 10, different design qualities of 72 flags. Flags included in the survey were from every state and territory of the United States, and all provinces of Canada.

Basic Principles of a Good Flag

"A flag should be the simplest possible design consistent with bearing a unique, easily distinguished identity...those with complex detail in their composition defeat the purpose of a flag."
Voter survey comment in letters to NAVA.

So what were the key findings of NAVA's survey? That there are five basic principles of a "good" flag.

First of all, simplicity seems to be a key factor. Is the design of the flag simple enough that a child could draw the flag from memory?

Second, the flag's symbols, colors, images and patterns should be meaningful to the community or group represented by the flag.

Third, the colors used should be limited to just a few. A riot of color loses any meaning the individual colors may stand for.

Fourth, there should not be any lettering, or the use of an official seal on the flag. Words should not be necessary if the design of the flag is such that all meaning within the design of the flag is properly represented by color or symbol.

Lastly, a flag should be as individualistic as the group it represents. While it is fine to use a symbol or other similarity to another flag in order to show a connection between communities, no flag should be a copy of another.

To determine for yourself whether a flag would be considered well-designed based on these principles, also ask yourself if viewing the flag automatically conjures the community it symbolizes.

Good Flag, Bad Flag

The top three flags were found to be New Mexico, Texas and Quebec. Each of these flags were so close in the rankings that even one vote could have swayed the final tallies.

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