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50 Days, 50 States, Day 16: Kansas

Current Flag:

Flag of Kansas.svg

This flag is another state seal on blue field, but it was somehow made worse by adding “KANSAS” in big letters at the bottom. Only symbolism that can be viewed is the sunflower (Kansas is the “Sunflower State”), but the seal has symbolism as well. However, I don’t think that counts, because that symbolism can’t really be seen when the flag is being flown.

My Redesign:

My flag features a blue field, but there is actually symbolism. The sunflower represents Kansas as the Sunflower State, and the 34 stars represent it as the 34th State.

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50 Days, 50 States; Day 15: Iowa

Current flag:

Flag of Iowa.svg

This flag doesn’t seem to represent much, but I love the colors and the motto. It is a Canadian Pale (new term I learned today) featuring the colors blue, white and orange.

My Redesign:

I kept the triband, I thought it looked nice. The two stars represent the two parts of the motto on the original flag, and the middle star represents the State of Iowa.

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50 Days, 50 States; Day 14: Indiana

Current Flag:

Flag of Indiana.svg

I think this flag has good meaning, but it’s too complicated. The big star represents Indiana, the 13 small stars in a ring represent the 13 original states, and the 5 other stars represent the 5 states admitted to the Union between the colonies and Indiana.

My Redesign:

I basically took out all the complicated stuff that wasn’t needed. The rays, stars, and text are all gone. I also made it a triband.

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50 Days, 50 States; Day 13: Illinois

Current Flag:

At least this isn’t a state seal on a blue field…It’s a state seal on a white field. Not much symbolism here.

Unofficial Centennial Flag:

I actually like this flag. It’s from 1918. The blue and white don’t seem to symbolize anything, but the 10 stars on top and on the bottom symbolize the 10 northern and southern states at the time, and the star in the middle represents Illinois.

My Redesign:

I decided to adapt the centennial flag. I took out the other stars, whose symbolism is obsolete, and inverted the colors, then centered the star.

My Other Redesign:

This is the first time I’ve redesigned a flag twice. The triangle is the shape formed by the small stars on the centennial flag, the green is a color on the current flag, it represents the olive branch from that flag, and the big star represents Illinois.

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50 Days, 50 States; Day 12: Idaho

Current Flag:

Flag of Idaho.svg

Ugh. This flag hurts my eyes. Classic state flag. The seal is too flashy, and to top it off, the proportions are just scary: 26:33. (However, the US is 10:19, which is not as bad, but still.) According to Wikipedia, “The seal depicts a miner and a woman representing equality, liberty, and justice. The symbols on the seal represent some of Idaho’s natural resources: mines, forests, farmland, and wildlife.”

My Redesign:

I’m actually very proud of this flag. The purple is a substitute for the lady on the seal. (Purple represents justice in heraldry). The gem in the middle represents Idaho as “The Gem State.”

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50 Days, 50 States; Day 11: Hawaii

Current Flag:

Flag of Hawaii

This is actually okay. The Union Jack represents Hawaii’s historical relationship to the UK, and the stripes don’t seem to represent anything.

Unofficial Current Flag:

us-hi}km.gif (691×432)

This is called the Kanaka Maoli flag. It’s the old flag that predates the above flag. The symbol in the middle is called a kahili, it’s part of the Royal Standard of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

My Redesign:

This took me a while. I kept elements of the original flag and the unofficial one. I squared the Union Jack so that it would represent the first flag of the US, which had a square Union Jack, and the historical relations between Hawaii and Britain.

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50 Days, 50 States; Day 10: Georgia

Current Flag:

Flag of Georgia (U.S. state).svg

Ecch…this is literally the Stars and Bars (Confederate Flag) with an annoying seal on it. What the hell, Georgia? At least it doesn’t feature an actual Confederate flag, which their flags featured from 1956-2003. The 13 stars represent an excuse to glorify the Confederacy Georgia’s status as one of the original 13 colonies. I do like the motto, though.

My Redesign:

I kept the original triband. The stars represent the motto, which has 3 parts: “Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation.” The blue represents the US, which Georgia is obviously a part of, and it was also in the original flag.

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50 Days, 50 States; Day 9: Florida

Current Flag:

Flag of Florida

This is a little bit of a knock-off of the Alabaman flag. It is the same design, just charged with the state seal. There is no symbolism in it that is non-Confederacy, other than the Seminole woman on the seal.

My Redesign:

Flag of New Spain

I thought that the Cross of Burgundy would represent Florida perfectly. The cross is mainly Spanish, but it has elements of St. Andrew’s Cross, a British symbol, as Florida was both a British and Spanish colony. I used approximately the same colors.

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50 Days, 50 States; Day 8: Delaware

Current Flag: 

Image

Ugh. Another state seal flag. At least the colors are nice. Doesn’t seem to have a lot of symbolism. 

My Redesign: 

Image

The blue and buff represent the state, as they are the state colors, and the single star symbolises “The First State.” Sorry for the lack of symbolism. I couldn’t find anything that was super symbolic.

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50 States, 50 Days; Day 7: Connecticut

Current Flag: 

Image

I don’t know what to do with this flag. It has a complicated seal and doesn’t seem to have that much symbolism. It looks like half the state flags. However, Connecticut seems to not have any official state colors. 

My Redesign: 

Image

I included the grapevine, and the three stripes represent the three original colonies that made up Connecticut. I also included the blue lines, because they looked cool.