Submission: Beautiful Beige
Following on from “Our Southern Swanny”, I’ve submitted another design into the mix. Here’s the description from the official site:
Beautiful Beige
With the overwhelming number of ferns and black flags representing our rugby heritage submitted, lets not forget that wonderful era of beige that New Zealand witnessed in the early 1980s.
We’re a diverse nation who play many sports, not just rugby. Some of us don’t even play sport. Although that surprises many, the non-sport-playing folk still live in our fair land. Some might not know of the cricket connection, however they can celebrate that this flag is not black with a fern on it.
As the official Beige Brigade say, “It’s about passion not fashion”. Lets not get caught up with this seasons flag trends. Celebrate our sporting and questionable fashion success in a colour other than black. Not only will this flag fly proudly on the grass banks of cricket grounds, this design (inspired from those classic one day stripes) will position us as the only nation with a beige flag.
The beige uniform was originally worn by the New Zealand cricket team in the 1980s.
— Discuss on flagpost.nz » View original submission on flag.govt.nz »
You can find out more information about the Beige Brigade on Wikipedia.
Submission: Our Southern Swanny
As many of my loyal readers have been prompting me to submit something into the mix, I present my first submission. Finally. Here’s the description from the official site:
Our Southern Swanny
Inspired by ‘Our United Tarpaulin’ from Kris Sowersby, ‘Our Southern Swanny’ is a staple of New Zealand fashion we proudly wear, regardless of the occasion. With its distinct pattern still found at fieldays, local pubs, and on the sidelines of school sports grounds, this uniquely kiwi icon historically “became the choice of pioneering New Zealanders the length and breadth of the country”.
Like ‘Our United Tarpaulin’, those who’ve already joined the Swanndri army can grab a stick and fly their ‘flag’ proudly with a little DIY. Originally made from 100% pure New Zealand wool this hardy and waterproof shirt is ideal for flying in a raging southerly or gentle nor’wester.
The ‘swanny’ was originally designed by William Broome, a Taranaki tailor.
— Discuss on flagpost.nz » View original submission on flag.govt.nz »
You can find out more information about the New Zealand Swanndri on Wikipedia.
UPDATE: After submitting this concept I realised there’s another side to this design, in that the production of Swanndri was outsourced to China in 2005, no longer qualifying for ”Kiwi-made status”. Let’s hope the new flag is made in New Zealand…
Alongside the launch of standfor.co.nz, the flag.govt.nz site received an update with more information about the flag consideration project. As well as officially calling for entries, design guidelines covering a range of topics such as intellectual property, suggested flag ratios, common principles, and minimum submission standards were published.
Common Principles
In the guidelines document are 8 “common principles”. They’re a great starting point for the criteria in judging the success of a flag, of which I’ll write more about later. For now, here are the principles from the guidelines below:
- The design should be simple, uncluttered and balanced.
- It should be designed to be flown, and viewed from either side.
- It should look as “timeless” as possible. Avoid using features in the design that will cause the flag to become dated or obsolete. Imagine the flag in a historic setting and in a very modern setting to check whether it would work in both.
- In terms of colour, using fewer colours will keep the design simple and bold.
- Contrast is important – use light colours on dark, and vice-versa. So a white cross on red is a good contrast, but a blue cross on red would be a poor contrast. This is a very useful guideline, especially for choosing the colour of any symbols and their background.
- If the use of non-contrasting colours is unavoidable, make use of outline colours.
- Any animals or birds would traditionally face the flagpole, so that the animal faces in the same direction as the flag bearer.
- The top left hand corner of the flag is typically the place of honour in a flag. This reflects the fact that the opposite end of the flag wears out first, and is the section that is least visible when the flag is not fully unfurled.
Point number 7. is an interesting principle to include and a positive sign of the detail expected of the panel in judging a flags qualities. If for example a submission of a flag with a kiwi bird was submitted facing away from the flagpole, that would be one reason for it not to be considered.
A couple of other points in the guidelines document provide advice as to what won’t be considered:
- Offensive or divisive designs – Flags should be a symbol of pride and unify the community they represent. For this reason, flags that are offensive to an individual or community, or that are divisive, will not be considered.
- Flag designs that include words, photos or complex objects will not be considered.
- Flag designs that incorporate the image of a person will not be considered.
— https://www.govt.nz/assets/documents/flags/flag-design-guidelines.pdf
Submission Process
Submissions will be accepted from the 4th of May till the 16th of July 2015. Each submission requires your name (and the name of the designer if that is not you), your ethnicity, and citizenship status (all mandatory fields). Fortunately, you get a few extra characters than a tweet to describe your design. 200 words to be precise.
If you want to dive straight in and submit your design you can now do so, however before you get overly excited and press “submit” I would strongly encourage you to read the terms and conditions closely. Thankfully they’re not overwhelming long, but they’ll no doubt be controversial.
