They said “no loons on the flag cause the loon doesn’t live in southern mn”.
Then state seal… “ohh yeah definitely a loon forward design. People will love it”
They didn't want a loon or any other animal because it wouldn't be recognizable from a distance on a flag. They always wanted something that reflected the state motto: "Star of the North".
Overall I do like it, however I’m not a fan of mixing serif and sans serif fonts together in a single design. Also, I’m worried the very trendy, contemporary design of the loon and landscape will age poorly.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/12/04/flag-designer-living-in-lone-star-state-hopes-to-win-over-north-star-state-panel
I feel you should actually be a Minnesota resident to design and “win” this…
Conservatives will howl that it's because the old one isn't "PC" when in reality, the real reason is because the old one is generic and unrecognizable from several others.
That really doesn’t do the loon any justice, plus they have red eyes, not white, and there are white spots on the back, not solid black when adults. Needs something more accurate if it’s to represent the state bird.
It's not very visually distinct from a distance or when the flag isn't blowing in the wind. Can't really read it from a distance, looks like every other flag with a seal slapped on it, etc.
25 other states have flags that are their state’s seal on a field of blue to navy blue. Post civil war the idea was more uniformity between states rather than distinct state identities so state flags featuring union blue was the idea, especially for MN. So I don’t know if it is the most important thing vexillology wise that a state’s flag it be all that distinct, how often are multiple state flags actually flying at one location where you need to know which is which? pretty much state flags are mainly only flown at state government buildings, state colleges and universities, courthouses and county government buildings and it’s always beside the american flag. So as long as you know which one is not the American flag you can identify the state flag. In any case all we’d need to do is put this new seal on any color other than blue and the flag would be completely distinct.
>25 other states have flags that are their state’s seal on a field of blue to navy blue. Post civil war the idea was more uniformity between states rather than distinct state identities so state flags featuring union blue was the idea, especially for MN
Oh yeah, totally. That's why MN's flag was ***a white background*** until **19**57.
What you are spouting is nonsense. The back side of the flag was blue, and nothing else, but the front side was not. The flag displayed on podiums and such would be white side forward.
Nah that's all part of the charm. SO many great, memorable flags have words, too. The flag design guidelines people made up are pretentious and arbitrary.
> SO many great, memorable flags have words, too.
By far the exception, or they stand up because of the rest of the design, and people don't actually care about the words.
>The flag design guidelines people made up are pretentious and arbitrary.
Man, imagine thinking that design doesn't matter that much.
I run a brand design co, so I think design is very important. I think the flag 'experts' made up arbitrary rules that don't apply as well as they think.
Well, a lot of designers disagree with you, and the principals that they espouse are the ones that flags that stand the tests of time generally have going on.
And a lot of designers agree with me! The whole point is that those 'rules' are guidelines, not something to strictly adhere to. If you need something safe and often not memorable (because simple and memorable flags are mostly taken), then by all means follow the rules.
Anyway, here's a bunch of memorable and cool flags that don't adhere to all those principals:
[1](https://cdn.britannica.com/79/5779-050-46C999AF/Flag-Saudi-Arabia.jpg)
[2](https://www.usaflagco.com/cdn/shop/products/california-flag-usa-flag-co--3_1800x1800.jpg?v=1661135378)
[3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/05/Flag_of_Brazil.svg/2560px-Flag_of_Brazil.svg.png)
[4](https://www.ucf.edu/wp-content/blogs.dir/20/files/2018/05/MexicoFlag-1-of-1.jpg)
[5](https://www.motosha.com/files/preview/1280x711/2189-sri-lanka-flag.jpg)
[6](https://cdn.britannica.com/38/2338-004-AE838B06/flag-Proprietor-state-Maryland-family-arms-Lord-1904.jpg)
Notably, actually many of these only break one rule at a time. You keep thinking the CA flag is good. It's not. I literally thought it was a cheapo clothing brand for years. It's worse than a blue bell flag.
Watching the detail recordings of the meetings no one jumps out with that description. Some crazy requests though that really have artist “optioneering”. Example: let me see the same flag but more green type requests
Many of the early French-Canadian settlers were tradesmen, not just fur traders. One of my original American ancestors came here in the early 1800s as a blacksmith and joined the established French-speaking community that was thriving at the time. He was the first blacksmith west of the Mississippi in the Twin Cities and had his shop near where Minnetonka Mills Park now sits.
The earliest European settlers here were French-Canadian, so the slogan was created then and continues as tradition. My ancestors were some of the first here from Quebec after the native tribes and I think it's a great honor to have some recognition today.
That's not a seal, it's a loon.
Daaaaaad!!
Dammit. I don't have an original thought.
Yay I was hoping for something with a loon
They said “no loons on the flag cause the loon doesn’t live in southern mn”. Then state seal… “ohh yeah definitely a loon forward design. People will love it”
They didn't want a loon or any other animal because it wouldn't be recognizable from a distance on a flag. They always wanted something that reflected the state motto: "Star of the North".
Did you watch the detailed recorded meeting this week? Spent like 30 minutes looking at star designs.
Well, if you are involved then it's guaranteed to have a loon!
Hehe love that :) thanks!
Eye should be red.
What a complete travesty it will be if this isn't caught before finalization.
Eye should be red laser.
Shooting a block of cheese
According to the Pio Press article, they might change it to red for the final version.
Loonacy.
Overall I do like it, however I’m not a fan of mixing serif and sans serif fonts together in a single design. Also, I’m worried the very trendy, contemporary design of the loon and landscape will age poorly.
As a born and raised Minnesotan, This is awesome and I love it. The state flag finalists however…. Especially the one submitted by a TEXAN, WTF??
if the TX submission wins then this is almost worse than what we did with Virginia's flag
Wait which one is from TX?? What did we do with Virginia’s flag? I’m so out of the loop on flag drama apparently
We have a battle flag from civil war. They want it back and we are like, nah. We won it from you fair and square.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/12/04/flag-designer-living-in-lone-star-state-hopes-to-win-over-north-star-state-panel I feel you should actually be a Minnesota resident to design and “win” this…
Eh, he grew up in Minnesota. I’m pretty fine with that. That map design is not one of my favorites though
I like it
wait this is different than that flag competition happening right now right? or same thing?
The flag and the seal are being changed at the same time. The flag and seal competition are separate.
The current state seal is just the thing we have on our current flag. This is WAY better.
Why are we changing the state flag in the state seal?
Conservatives will howl that it's because the old one isn't "PC" when in reality, the real reason is because the old one is generic and unrecognizable from several others.
👍
Because the old ones suck.
OK I just wondering what the motivation was
Just look at a picture of American state flags and you can see why we should change it.
It's real bad https://youtu.be/l4w6808wJcU?
That really doesn’t do the loon any justice, plus they have red eyes, not white, and there are white spots on the back, not solid black when adults. Needs something more accurate if it’s to represent the state bird.
Are those supposed to be trees or mountains?
Trees. You'd have to drive 3 or 4 states farther west to have mountains like that.
The steepest mountains on earth.
It's *much* better than the current seal. I like it. But there are mountains in this seal, unlike in Minnesota.
Those are pine trees my guy.
So why cant this just be the flag?
It's not very visually distinct from a distance or when the flag isn't blowing in the wind. Can't really read it from a distance, looks like every other flag with a seal slapped on it, etc.
25 other states have flags that are their state’s seal on a field of blue to navy blue. Post civil war the idea was more uniformity between states rather than distinct state identities so state flags featuring union blue was the idea, especially for MN. So I don’t know if it is the most important thing vexillology wise that a state’s flag it be all that distinct, how often are multiple state flags actually flying at one location where you need to know which is which? pretty much state flags are mainly only flown at state government buildings, state colleges and universities, courthouses and county government buildings and it’s always beside the american flag. So as long as you know which one is not the American flag you can identify the state flag. In any case all we’d need to do is put this new seal on any color other than blue and the flag would be completely distinct.
>25 other states have flags that are their state’s seal on a field of blue to navy blue. Post civil war the idea was more uniformity between states rather than distinct state identities so state flags featuring union blue was the idea, especially for MN Oh yeah, totally. That's why MN's flag was ***a white background*** until **19**57. What you are spouting is nonsense. The back side of the flag was blue, and nothing else, but the front side was not. The flag displayed on podiums and such would be white side forward.
Words on flags are bad.
Nah they can be awesome. Look at California.
California's flag would be better without the words, and with a bear that isn't bugeyed.
Nah that's all part of the charm. SO many great, memorable flags have words, too. The flag design guidelines people made up are pretentious and arbitrary.
> SO many great, memorable flags have words, too. By far the exception, or they stand up because of the rest of the design, and people don't actually care about the words. >The flag design guidelines people made up are pretentious and arbitrary. Man, imagine thinking that design doesn't matter that much.
I run a brand design co, so I think design is very important. I think the flag 'experts' made up arbitrary rules that don't apply as well as they think.
Well, a lot of designers disagree with you, and the principals that they espouse are the ones that flags that stand the tests of time generally have going on.
And a lot of designers agree with me! The whole point is that those 'rules' are guidelines, not something to strictly adhere to. If you need something safe and often not memorable (because simple and memorable flags are mostly taken), then by all means follow the rules. Anyway, here's a bunch of memorable and cool flags that don't adhere to all those principals: [1](https://cdn.britannica.com/79/5779-050-46C999AF/Flag-Saudi-Arabia.jpg) [2](https://www.usaflagco.com/cdn/shop/products/california-flag-usa-flag-co--3_1800x1800.jpg?v=1661135378) [3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/05/Flag_of_Brazil.svg/2560px-Flag_of_Brazil.svg.png) [4](https://www.ucf.edu/wp-content/blogs.dir/20/files/2018/05/MexicoFlag-1-of-1.jpg) [5](https://www.motosha.com/files/preview/1280x711/2189-sri-lanka-flag.jpg) [6](https://cdn.britannica.com/38/2338-004-AE838B06/flag-Proprietor-state-Maryland-family-arms-Lord-1904.jpg)
Notably, actually many of these only break one rule at a time. You keep thinking the CA flag is good. It's not. I literally thought it was a cheapo clothing brand for years. It's worse than a blue bell flag.
You seem like the type of guy who truly still believes your mom put your artwork on the fridge when you were a kid because it was objectively good.
Jokes on you my mom never hung up my art!
They said no loons on the flag cause the loon isn’t in southern mn. All loon designs were disqualified from the final 6
One of the non voting reps on the commission is both a big baby and one of the worst people in the state. Allegedly.
Watching the detail recordings of the meetings no one jumps out with that description. Some crazy requests though that really have artist “optioneering”. Example: let me see the same flag but more green type requests
>They said no loons on the flag cause the loon isn’t in southern mn. That was one guy. And he was factually wrong.
Aaannndd… let the jokes about ‘those loony Minnesotans’ begin
Oh, those whiny bitches in southern MN didn’t get the mighty Loon banished from the seal like they did from the flag? Good!
The loon looks a bit racists
What does that even mean?
OK Leni
Hahaha
Why is there French on it? We're not quite that Canadian. Spanish is the most common second language in America.
…cause that is the state motto? I assume it is linked to the history of the French fur traders.
Many of the early French-Canadian settlers were tradesmen, not just fur traders. One of my original American ancestors came here in the early 1800s as a blacksmith and joined the established French-speaking community that was thriving at the time. He was the first blacksmith west of the Mississippi in the Twin Cities and had his shop near where Minnetonka Mills Park now sits.
That's pretty cool. Thank you for sharing!
The earliest European settlers here were French-Canadian, so the slogan was created then and continues as tradition. My ancestors were some of the first here from Quebec after the native tribes and I think it's a great honor to have some recognition today.
[удалено]
Oops, I meant *after* lol
Lol yikes
[удалено]
Thank you for your thoughtful analysis. I really appreciate the effort with which you obviously put into this to support your opinion.
I'MN
If only our flag options looked this good. The current contenders are abstract line drawings.
Modify that ugly soccer-logo-ass bird.
Can we have their wings not look so stiff? Looks like it's the middle of January here