Flags of the World

[6079SmithW]

My favorite US state flags are Maryland's, South Carolina's, and Hawaii's. I think I like Hawaii's best.

There are other places in the world outside the US, you know.

Umm, yes I do know that. I hope you don't think I'm one of "those" americans. In that post I was just specifically stating which US state flags I like. I did post the Bavarian flag (I know its not a country) because that's my heritage.

There are lots of cool flags and I would have a hard time choosing favorites.

 

[Pegaritaville]

Canada's is my favorite- a clean design yet instantly recognizable.

But I do kind of like Uganda's as well. Colorful stripes and a rooster to boot.

Qatar's has to be one of the ugliest. It looks like someone cut a couple of pieces of cloth with pinking shears and sewed them together.

 

[RoJoHen]

The Illinois eagle looks like it's vomiting while inhaling a joint through its nose, I don't think that's a match for a bear.

Yeah, I think Illinois needs to update their flag...to this:

 

[captcalhoun]

i like the Canadian, American, UK, German and Scandanavian flags. and South Africa's.

Libya is a big fat FAIL for boringness.

similarly, the pre-1970 Omani flag was a boring plain red...

 

[6079SmithW]

I think Kiribati's flag is pretty dang cool.

I vote this best flag.

 

[Vulcan Princess]

Here's a site where someone with too much time on his hands decided to grade all (most?) of the world's flags. It's a little irreverent, but it's pretty funny.

I really like Israel's flag. It's simple, doesn't have any garish colors, and it's instantly recognizable. Japan gets an honorable mention for the same reason.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Especially by the standards of US state flags, as well, where the average seems to be really, really terrible. So many are just that awful blue background with some sort of crest or writing in the middle. Writing on a flag is just a fail.

Hey, California's flag has writing but it kicks ass. It's got a friggin' bear on it. Steven Colbert put our flag on notice.

See, it would be a good flag if it didn't have the writing. Flags are all about symbolism, and writing the name of the place they're supposed to represent is like saying they don't expect people to get it.

I would agree with you under most circumstances, but "California Republic" is not actually saying the name of the state, but rather referring to the name of the brief revolt by Californians during the Mexican-American War that preceded nearly immediate annexation by the US and later statehood. So it's sort of a historical reminder and similar to the "Don't Tread on Me" on the Gadsden Flag and thus symbolic in that respect.

 

[6079SmithW]

^^ That guy really has something against stars, doesn't he? I also enjoyed the "colonial nonsense" criteria for bad flags.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I think Libya's flag is kinda gutsy

Actually, more serious, all the former Soviet Republic "stan" countries have pretty cool flags.

 

[Emher]

An awesome rendition of an awesome flag:

Fuck yeah

 

[iguana_tonante]

There are other places in the world outside the US, you know.

Umm, yes I do know that. I hope you don't think I'm one of "those" americans. In that post I was just specifically stating which US state flags I like.

Nah, I was just being silly and I could not resist a joke.

Here's a site where someone with too much time on his hands decided to grade all (most?) of the world's flags. It's a little irreverent, but it's pretty funny.

While I don't agree with all his judgements, I mostly agree with his methodology and criteria:
No writing, no maps, use pictures sparingly (and only stylized), avoid boring tricolours and horribly clashing colours.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

With none of those, what can you have?

 

[eastman23]

Well, firstly, I'm a huge fan of our own flag.

Within Canada, I think British Columbia has a neat flag, as does New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.

I find BC's and New Brunswick's flags too busy. Newfoundland's is just... blah. Personally, I like Nunavut and Nova Scotia. And the Governor General's standard. I'm starting to dislike Manitoba's flag though. It's nice and all, but it's nearly identical to Ontario and I just think that we should go for something more unique.

 

[Skywalker]

My favorite flags belong to the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, and New Zealand (though I really like this alternate idea, too).

Oh, and I think Quebec's flag is pretty sweet, too.

 

[Switch]

I don't even know what the flag of my own state looks like let alone the flags of other Australian states.

 

[6079SmithW]

There are other places in the world outside the US, you know.

Umm, yes I do know that. I hope you don't think I'm one of "those" americans. In that post I was just specifically stating which US state flags I like.

Nah, I was just being silly and I could not resist a joke.

Oh, OK. Sorry, sometimes I get oversensitive.

Here's Italy :

 

[Count Zero]

I know what the states' flags look like but they're not that great. Bremen's gets some points for being really loud, colourwise, and Lower Saxony's would be cool if they only had the horse located in the middle on red background, basically like the old flag of the Kurfürstentum Braunschweig-Lüneburg (Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg). Most have cool coats of arms, though.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I think Kiribati's flag is pretty dang cool.

I vote this best flag.

Little known fact: Sunspots are caused by the giant golden space seagull taking a dump on the Sun while it's briefly vulnerable during sunrise and sunset.

 

[O'Dib]

Mozambique. Who can beat an AK-47 on a flag?

 

[iguana_tonante]

Here's Italy :

Sometimes I cannot escape the feeling it should have a pizza in the middle of that.


Since we are talking about regional flags, I present you with some Italian regional flags:

The nicest (Tuscany)

The worst (Marche):

And probably the weirdest (Emilia-Romagna):

(the triangular shape is actually a stylized map of the region)


The (horrible) modern designs are justified because Regions are pretty much a modern invention for Italy (around 1860): historical flags in Italy usually belong to singular Cities, and some of them are quite beautiful, if only for sentimental reasons.