The Rules of Flag Design

Ted Kaye as a part of the North American Vexillological Association has developed a booklet that describes the rules for designing flags. The five rules are summarized below but there is much more complete information available on the NAVA web site in there "Good Flag Bad Flag" section.

The rules of flag design are dependant on understnding that a flag’s purpose is to represent a place, organization, or person and it is generally on a rectangular piece of cloth. It needs to be seen at a distance. It is often moving. It needs to be able to be reproduced in quantity and in many sizes. The 5 principles of good flag design were developed to accomplish those purposes.

THE 5 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF FLAG DESIGN:

1. A flag should be so simple that a child can draw it from memory.
2. A flag should use symbolism that is meaningful.
3. A flag should only use 2–3 basic colors that contrast well and come from the standard color set.
4. A flag should never use lettering or state seals because they appear reversed on one side of the flag.
5. A flag should be distinctive but can use similarities to show connections to our history.

Minnesota's flag falls short when compared to each of these rules (except #2). It's design leaves much to be desired.