When I first went to Amsterdam, it took me a while to realize that this is their flag when I saw it on all sorts of things. I honestly thought it was some sort of label at first. So cool.
This is my favorite TED talk ever. You can see the crowd go from totally checked out at the start to 100% onboard the flag design train by the end with the standing ovation.
I love flags and designed what I thought was a good flag in New Horizons. I then watched this the day after. And I immediately spent all afternoon designing a new one following the rules Roman laid out.
Except the union jack marries those elements together into a cohesive design. Then again, the Union is probably going to split up soon, so that may quickly become a non issue.
@@FuturisticFusilier As a Scot, leaving the Union could not be further from my idea of disaster. Disaster is what England is driving us towards. Leaving the UK is the equivalent of jumping out of the car while it's moving...yeah, it's going to hurt, but at least we wont be in the car with those right wing morons as they drive their country off a cliff.
@mike sixx so your saying that racism isn't a bad thing (it is), but then your saying that groups that people are racist to are bad for being racist? sounds hypocritical @ me
I am actually designing a series of nearly 150 flags as part of a project for my senior year at high school. as the loval vexillologist i have taken it upon myself to make a flag to represent every graduating student for us to fly on graduation day
+Juil indeed so, there area lot of ted talks that are hard to listen to because the speaker laughs awkwardly, or breathes out of their nose right into the mic, either way the what goes into the microphone is very important
+Juil But this talk needs pictures. Any talk about visual design needs pictures. Radio shows need stories that allow the listeners to design their own visuals in their minds. (Try listening to a cheap monster movie without the video. It's better that way.)
+Aerroon Wow, an idea about design and developing things which are engaging and designing things with "intent". You have failed to see the point of this video.
I don't know why, but everytime it shows up in my recommended, I have to watch it again. It's been like 10-12 times now. I'm just happy that Pocatello has a great looking flag now! Top country grade flag to say the least.
I googled "Pocatello" and Google immediately asked me if I was looking for "Pocatello *flag*". I'm guessing this TED talk is the only reason anyone googles Pocatello
Deserved. Seeing a city as some kind of homogene mass with one shared view on design is so primitive.. You could have the worst flag and be good at design in many other points, and you always will have differnt projets designed by different people, so to measure a city after their flag is just plane stupid.
@@meranger92 The point is if you can apply principles of good, non-frivolous, design at a basic level, then there's more chance to adopt that mentality when it comes to larger projects. Symbols have been incredibly powerful since the dawn of time. The fact you would describe someone invited to a TED talk as having primitive views makes your point seem laughable.
As a resident of a not too far away town, I can tell you They’ve tried to change the San Francisco flag many times recently... but in a significantly more... colourful, way.
Fun fact: In 2017, Pocatello Idaho changed their flag. And, let's be honest, they chose an incredibly good flag: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocatello,_Idaho#/media/File%3AFlag_of_Pocatello%2C_Idaho.svg
Yesterday I watched an 11 minute video about aluminum cans. Today, an 18 minute video about flags. And I gotta say, the world of design is amazing, and there are genius behind everything we take for granted in our lives.
The Anaheim city council actually mentioned that this video was one of the things that brought about the idea to change it. They also cited the creation of the new Angel Stadium and the need for something _not-awful_ to fly on the flagpoles in front. Since then, the city has installed the flag in at least 20 public places (as opposed to zero places before) and the old one's been pretty much forgotten. It's 3 horizontal bars of dark blue, light blue, dark blue, and ring of 6 white stars centered to represent the 6 city districts. Nothing inspired or innovative but it's so much better than the old one.
A late late reply but my god that is a well-designed flag. I know nothing about Anaheim but I assume it's a city that sits on either side of a river based on that design language.
@@kwombok yeah, i sah that too just now when looking it up. The old/current one is horrible. Why on eartht did they not keep that "new" design. I like it
@@AlexM-WI The official reason given for changing the flag back seems to be "it is traditional". Now - we might argue that it also is traditional to go number 2 in an outhouse without running water and changing your undies once a week, which feels to me about as attractive as this flag, but in the end it's their decision.
My dad found this talk years ago, proceeded to have the entire family sit down and watch it, and now it is one of the things that we insist new people we meet see at least once.
@@pascalstiemer There are better ways to design these flags with the same good symbolism, also, I realized that the Liberian county flags are not the worst flags in the word, the worst flag is Brown County Nebraska's flag
*"Keep it simple. The flag should be so simple that a child could draw it from memory"* Did you hear that? Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming?
+Cory Y Civic pride is the literal heart of successful civilization. This video is all about the element of design, the third letter in TED. It's presented with humor and also novelty thanks to the unique radio style talk, traditional slides, light background music and voice clips of other people to keep which all together keeps the talk light but still stimulating. Easily one of the top ten TED talks I've seen so no wonder it held your attention. Good taste.
I really admire his presence. He is not trying at all to be heard, to be funny, to sound smart. He elegantly talked about a interesting topic. Am I the only one who really wants to have the mental clarity he has.
I live in southern California and am from St. Louis city. My employer hung flags of the US and all the customers/business partners from the shop ceiling. I suggested the St. Louis flag because it is my hometown and it is really cool. He wasn't impressed till our lead saw it and agreed with me. It now hangs alongside flags from the US, China, Austraila, and the US Marine Corp flag representing a coworker who served in it and many more. I was so proud to be the person who installed the flag from my home. It has become the subject of question and curiosity from visitors and investors who are unfamiliar with it. Every one who sees it has stated what a terrific flag it is. AND it meets all of the flag design criteria in the video.
I agree. I live in the Metro-East (Belleville, to be specific) and while my town's flag isn't as cool as the St. Louis flag, I feel better about it after having seem some of the unfortunate examples in this video.
I'm a St. Louisan who absolutely loves the flag, but it's not quite perfect. A lack of detailed specification leads to significant differences between produced versions. Wavy lines will be different widths or have varying amounts of waves, and the fleur-de-lis varies greatly as well. I'd like to see an effort into hammering out the details so we get a more uniform look. Still cool we're being represented out there - thank you!
my dad was a chicago cop from 1966-1998. when he passed away in 1998, his casket was draped with the Chicago flag at his funeral--a gift from the city.
As a former resident of Amsterdam: yes, the flag is cool. Immediately recognisable, too. And if you look at the country that Amsterdam is the capital of, the Netherlands, that has a pretty great flag, too. It's the oldest revolutionary flag in the world, and although it started as orange-white-blue, it quickly became red-white-blue. I like to think that those colours inspired many other (revolutionary) flags. It's simple as well: three horizontal stripes, equal in size, featuring primary colours (and white). You just don't see it a lot in the Netherlands, only one single flag on government buildings, because the Dutch aren't that keen on waving flags about.
Personally, I prefer the orange, white, and blue of the Prince's flag. The red, white, and blue might have been original when the Dutch adopted it, but so many countries have adopted flags with those colours and in similar patterns that it is easy to mix them up if you aren't familiar with them. Not a lot of flags use orange, so the Prince's flag is immediately recognizable. Unfortunately, the Prince's flag was hijacked by Dutch Nazis in the 1930s, so flying it in the modern age brings with it certain baggage.
The reason it got changed from orange to red is because the orange was not visible when at sea. Considering the flag was designed during the time of naval exploration and combat it made sense to change it to red.
Sit tf down. If the Dutch aren't so keen on their flag why did they enforce it on apartheid states. Stfu and stop sounding like a revolutionary country when others had to have revolution and independence from your nation.
He looks kind of intimidated by the big show and audience, but he killed it, with one of the most mundane subjects in the world this is one of the best TED talks and I've seen it many times. Props to the guy
*Here's Pocatello's new flag, if anyone is curious:* en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocatello,_Idaho#/media/File:New_Pocatello,_Idaho_flag_2017.png *I think it's a good improvement.*
+Moment2Forever ONe guy emphasized this constantly on Tatoo ink, for these same exact reasons. Simple, clean line work, NO backgrounds and colors that cut through.
the Austrian flag was "designed" after a battle, when "Herzog Leopolds" white surcoat was completely drenched in blood. When he removed his belt, the cloth beneath remained unstained, revealing the combination of red-white-red. Thats how you design in austria XD
@@ulliulli that's just a theory, not a fact. there are several origin theories about the flags colors, none is confirmed. Some say the black comes from the color of gunpowder, gold for the flame of firing and red for the blood spilled. There is no official statement of why the colors were chosen. It's quite possible that nobody knows anymore.
@@notjustforme that isn't even a theory. just a myth that arose much much later. Leopold babenberg dynasty used golden eagles on blue to represent themselves. Flags of duchys or Counties weren't really used at all. There was no Austrians in the middle ages.
French flag: red and blue are the colors of parisian peaple, and white is the color of french monarchy. Which mean the king (in the center) have to be controlled by the people (on his right and on his left) ^^ We don't have kings anymore, but the flag's still the same.
@@aymericd.6126 This is an explanation, but the reality might be more complicated. I read that we made our flag using the colours of the American flag, whom we helped with their revolution. I don't think the current flag existed in 1789. It was shown during the second revolution.
Pocatello changed their flag. It's great now! Milwaukee changed their flag. It's just gorgeous! San Francisco, the richest urban area in the US, did not change their flag. Go figure.
Unfortunately, Milwaukee didn’t change their flag. Enough people in the government got offended enough that anyone would suggest that they have awful taste in aesthetics that they blocked the new design.
@@killergoose7643 "Alderwoman Chantia Lewis said it would not be fair to allow "15 people change the entire flag for 600,000 people" What a ridiculous statement. The new People's flag looks great. I hope if enough people start flying it, they'll give in and make it the official flag.
Well, if the phenomenon that was Emperor Norton is any indication, folks should just start using one of the good redesigns and it'll become the real deal.
The San Francisco flag is so bad and so rarely used, my mom grew up in San Francisco and loved the city and never even knew it HAD its own flag. Incidentally, I live in the state with the best-designed flag: New Mexico. That flag is goddamn EVERYWHERE, and people LOVE IT. That red zia on a yellow background is on everything: keychains, mugs, shirts, magnets, shot glasses, license plates, hats, you name it.
Shrimp Bisque I live near SF and I never knew it had a flag. Same thing is true with the California flag. It’s everywhere. I do quite like the New Mexico flag too, but being colourblind I don’t care for the yellow.
Similarly good flag we're all proud of and have everywhere here in Colorado. Three of the four corner states have fantastic flags. Too bad Utah brings down the curve there.
I saw the Pocatello flag and was like "No... why Idaho... why must you do this?" But then I looked it up and they have a new flag, that looks hecka cool. Good Job Idaho.
@@Malevolent_Q it seriously is, you can see it on their website. www.pocatello.us/732/Pocatello-Flag they even embeded a TEDx talk about changing it because of this video.
@@Xerlash The new design is definitely way better, but it's also, like, totally Captain Marvel. And can we talk about how someone still insisted on shoehorning an entire actual landscape drawing into their already poorly-letterspaced and unreadable wordmark/logo? Yikes.
This is a beautiful thing that man has done here Everyone there walked in knowing nothing about flags and caring even less, and by the end they were so invested and aware of design principles that they (and I) were able to hear flag jokes or see bad flags and genuinely laugh Usually it takes a lot to make a person invested in something enough that they can relate to the comedy based off of it but he pulls it off beautifully Genuinely one of if not my favorite TED talks of all time
@@notyourdad361 It's definitely not perfect, but it is simplistic and memorable. I've never seen the Amsterdam flag before but I can say for sure anytime I see that flag I will recognize it as the flag of Amsterdam.
@@notyourdad361 I go to festivals around the world with my friends. And instead of taking the Dutch flag. We take the flag of Amsterdam. I think it's a badass flag and it's all around Amsterdam. (And you would be surprised how many people ask you if you got drugs 😂)
Oh my god. When I was younger this was my mother's favorite TED Talk. I've been listening to 99% Invisible for a few years. Just connected the dots now. Damn.
Well, it actually has 4 colors - but I think we can overlook that one issue. I also thought that the old flag was a good example of "insider every bad flag there is a good flag to come out" - if they just kept the two mountains with whatever those cuts were to represent - immediately recognizable. You can argue about color schemes then and similar, but that symbol would have been great as well. But yeah, good on them to change it to something you can actually fly in your garden happily.
+GeoAl09 Some of those city flag "logos" seem to be remnants of "mon", family or clan emblems or symbols going hundreds of years back. The Mitsubishi logo is a stylized version of such a symbol.
Like many of you, I didn't care about flags at all and once Milwaukee appeared I was like "NOOOOOO". And now I'm googling vexilology and I want to do something about this. TED talks are the greatest things and yet sometimes it ruins me
Not all flags that don't follow these guidelines are bad though, take the Welsh flag, how is a highly detailed dragon simple and easy to draw? But everyone in Wales is proud of our flag, and you all know why. Dragons are cool.
To be completely honest, the Welsh flag is the most badass flag ever. I was compelled to purchase one when someone was selling flags at a Renaissance Fair(not the best kind of concept for a celebration). From the US and there aren't that many great flags in my area, except the Phoenix city flag
Meatballs for life I know! I come from Mexico and everybody loves the flag, it is so detailed that when I was little instead of drawing the eagle in the middle all of us (children) drew just a brown dot. haha
The flag of Washington State is green with the "seal of Washington" in the middle (which basically just literally says "The seal of the State of Washington 1889" on it with a picture of George Washington) The seal consists of the colors yellow, black, white, blue, and tan. Tan for the skin color, and they even blend it with black to create some shadowing. It's complex, it uses too many colors (and tan isn't even a basic color) it has a seal, and it's not really distinctive or related either, since George Washington is an important part of *American* history, and not that of the state itself. If you consider George Washington "meaningful symbolism" then I guess *maybe* this passes for rule 2, but all that George Washington really "symbolizes" is that the state was named after him. And that's a *state* flag, not even a city flag.
I think he meant the Washington, DC flag. It really is a great design. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Flag_of_the_District_of_Columbia.svg/255px-Flag_of_the_District_of_Columbia.svg.png
Fantastic to see the flag of my hometown of Trondheim noted as a example of good design! (lower right of the three mentioned near the end). Makes me proud :)
@Adrián I enjoyed the talk, but yeah----he pretty much roasted flags for 20 minutes. He did talk about the elements of good design to explain WHY he was roasting flags, but he definitely roasted them.
@@eddiejc1 i think he was showing bad flags and making fun of them because some people would've found it a boring talk otherwise, it added a bit of fun
HandjesBreda I think it is a very funny show that humanizes "geeks". I did not watch it until it was in syndication, because I thought that's all it was too. I was wrong. Especially as two of the "geeks" (actually 3 by now), get the hot girls, accomplish great things, and have happy lives. As a former (an to an extent current geek) I find nothing wrong with humor based on the true social awkwardness of many geeks, even though (as is normal with comedy) it is exaggerated for comedic effect. And such an episode could be great by expanding Sheldon's appreciation of flags, by exposing him to the artistic nature of them above and beyond the rote facts that he has displayed. It would tie in well with the arc of the character as they have begun to humanize Sheldon more and more.
HandjesBreda Stop being an over-sensitive, judgment dipshit. It is a very funny show that paints geeks in a very positive light, which is probably why so many famous geeks have made appearances on the show, like George Smoot, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawking, and Lawrence Krauss.
HandjesBreda I think the same of you, but apparently, my opinion is in line with the aforementioned great scientists who have been on the show. I much prefer to be in their company than yours.
The old rules of heraldry are a great source for good flag design too. Avoid metal on metal (silver/gold), colour on colour, keep charges on a field simple, drawn clearly. Lines of division kept clean. Once we got to the 19th century, it all went to pot, and took flags down with it.
For those interested in modern flag design: check out the Japanese municipal flags. Most of them are actually designed with the Kanji that makes up the name of the district in mind.
Our state flag here in California breaks a lot of (almost all of) these design rules and yet, in my opinion, it somehow still works. You see our bear and star everywhere across the state! Taking it a step further. Here in Riverside our flag is more of a mess but the mission bell is still plastered everywhere.
the bear and star are very distinctive - if you got rid of the words, people would probably still recognise it… so get rid of the words!!! get rid of the grass too enlarge the bear (why is it specified it has to be only 1/3 the length of the flag? that's too small!) simplify the bear if you want, but first and foremost, get rid of the words!
In Riverside (which I live), they recently changed their flag. Their flag is now on a navy background with a gold-colored mission bell on the left, a golden-colored wave on the right edge, and ocean-blue-colored wave next to the golden-colored wave. The flag is now much better than the old one.
They say the process by which the new flag was chosen was not democratic enough. You know, like the democratic processes that yielded the current flag, or the subsequent contests where every entry was determined to be not good enough.
When he started talking about city flags, I thought for sure he was going to call out Provo, Utah, with its WordArt-looking design. Then he showed some of his examples and I realized that Provo doesn't even crack the top 10 bad designs. Wow.
I live in the suburbs of Chicago and we spent a solid 2 weeks learning about the Chicago flag and what it stands for and had a test on it. We literally have never talked about the Illinois flag.
Charles Foster Kane it's even better when you walk through the prostitute street in Amsterdam smoking weed. Because yes, these things are legal in the Nederlands
+Cubik I live in Portland, OR and I think its flag is great and one of the best in the country, but Denver, CO's flag is just wow. Phoenix, AZ's flag is also amazing.
I saw an article a few years back where someone redesigned all 50 state flags to match around a common design theme. They were all red, white, and blue, and featured unique ties to their states.
www.bresslergroup.com/blog/united-we-stand/ this might be what you’re talking about? this guy made some great designs and explained his thought process well too
I have zero idea why this came up on my 'recommended videos' list but I genuinely care about flags. And I'm glad to all heavens that my modest South American municipal flag does adhere to a simple, 3-color and very unique design, I thought of it and knew it by heart the moment he started talking about city flags. I'm proud of it.
Living and growing up in Chicago I was in the opposite position to Roman. I thought all cities had their flag everywhere but I guess I was wrong. I’m now actually even more proud of our flag after watching this.
This worked, people took notice and let their officials know, now Anaheim and Pocatello both have new flags that look great, Reno adopted a really nice looking one, and Milwaukee has a potential design that might eventually get adopted, but they're stuck in limbo cause some people said the competition didn't have enough judges and wasn't inclusive enough.
The reason why european cities have flags that work so well is that the flags usually came first, and were then adopted to be part of the coat of arms in some way, while in the US, no evolution of flags ever took place.
Not really, in almost every city or even town, the flag is a simplification of the coat of arms. The coat of arms is usually derived from the heraldry of the lords that were in control during the Ancien Régime. For example the town I live (Duffel) has a coat of arms derived from the 3 lordships that divided the town before 1795. The flag is a simplification of this. The neighbouring town of kontich belonged to only one lordship so has a very simple coat of arms and flag. Since both towns had one lord in common, the flags are very similar. Since many towns nearby had some lords in common, many of their flags share design elements.
The weapons came first: At the battle of Hastings (1066, Bayeux Tapestry) you can see little decoration on shields. When pot helms became necessary, you could no longer see each others faces, and heraldic weapons became important to recognise friend from foe. City banners and weapons are normally derived from their oldest distinguished lord. In case of Amsterdam that was Jan Persijn who was lord of the Heerlijkheid Amsterdam in 1280. In 1783 Bowles showed a naval flag of red-white-black with the entire city weapon on it. This flag is relatively new.
most european cities have lived through the middle ages as well what means that they had to have a good flag in order to represent something. imagine riding into battle on your horse with that milwaukee flag. You'd be the laughing stock and soldier morale would be super low.
Macc Tiger Well, all he'd have to do is cut 2 triangles of the side of it and boom *FIXED YOUR FLAG, YOU'RE WELCOME* _Shows every flag but in the shape of the Nepalese flag._
I'm an illustrator (not for flags), and I keep coming back for 9:04 when helping people with their designs, whatever it may be - websites, characters, logos, etc. The points are so simple and salient, even (or rather, especially) non-artists get a profound understanding of "actually, yeah, it does look better that way" when we use a more simplified palette or take out confusingly misplaced detail in a project. Same with the stamp size test (13:25); there's no simpler way to "tactfully nudge" somebody into reconsidering their iconography than showing them how their image dissolves into obscurity when it's scaled down. (within reason, of course. I understand that you can make anything unrecognizable by reducing it to a handful of pixels, the point is more along the lines of "it'll look nice on the marquee, but what about your business cards?") Maybe it's superfluous to comment on a five year old video, but I just want to put into writing how thankful I am to Mr. Mars and his colleagues for putting such a profound thought into such easy to understand words.
this ted talk is one of the best. I have seen this one at least ten times. and it's so sublime in how it has build up it's progress and the information it has given. just cheer perfection.
i live in spain, in a region called Catalonia, city of Reus. my flag is white, with a red rose (seen from above) on the middle. it has changed quite a bit until 1998. the original was a crest it had 6 roses and a cerulean band, it's from 1349. it's one of the first cities of the region to have a crest for its own (instead of having the lord's crest) the story and the mithology behind it is lovely.
I was born and live in Chicago and he is right that we take our flag very serious. Our flag is a symbol of our history and diversity. With all the sports teams we support along with the different neighborhoods and culture it unifies our city into one united great metropolis. I fly my Chicago flag :)
This video represents many of the things I love. A great presentation; the care behind the text and the audio cues, flawless. A great presenter, with a great voice and who really cares about what he is saying. Great sense of humor, he is funny even when he is calling some city´s flag "that thing".
Yeah, I question the initial premise, that teaching people about design improves their lives. Teach someone about typographical kerning, and it ruins everything. EVERYTHING.
@@vegetablearian_ absolutely, I'm a south African youth and the flag is muscle memory, the colors, shape and design is so vivid and memorable all of us can draw it
I'd say it's pretty easy, just need to memorize the colors from left to right. Also .... does the American flag start with a red or white stripe? (so you get my point....)
dude came with his own background music
Hey, nice name.
Lol
Wtf?😂
Epic
As a human being, it is your right to choose an acceptable entrance. Reminds me of my birth.
good lad
Amsterdam's flag look like it could be an album cover to a punk band
I was thinking the exact same thing
You got a point
Or a banner of a very big redlight district...
@@axelpatrickb.pingol3228 not too far from the truth right now XD
When I first went to Amsterdam, it took me a while to realize that this is their flag when I saw it on all sorts of things. I honestly thought it was some sort of label at first. So cool.
I live in Milwaukee, and I knew he would bring up the flag, I knew it.
Hey fellow Milwaukienite
+Hannah Wallace Not Milwaukean?
During the video I was like wait for it and when he brought it up I died of laughter
11:15 he just looks so done
I just looked up Milwaukee's city flag so sorry
This is my favorite TED talk ever. You can see the crowd go from totally checked out at the start to 100% onboard the flag design train by the end with the standing ovation.
Seriously. They wouldn't have been laughing at Milwaukee's flag at the beginning of the talk.
Roman Mars and his 99% Invisible podcast are very captivating
the san fransisco flag looks like it was made in MS paint.
According to the talk, a good flag SHOULD be easily painted by MS paint.
So does the California flag lol.
@@alaychem The SanFran flag looks like it was difficultily painted by MS paint.
Then you've never seen Liberias flags
Yep. Text in WordArt. Drawings by MS ClipArt.
"A flag should be so simple a child can draw it from memory" Yeaaah Japan!
Bangladesh too hahaha 🇧🇩
as I remember my childhood memories with flags I am gonna tell you that circles are not simple.
🇩🇪🇨🇿🇪🇪🇬🇳🇭🇺🇮🇩🇮🇪🇮🇨🇮🇹🇳🇬🇵🇪🇵🇱🇷🇴🇷🇺🇸🇱🇺🇦🇾🇪
simplicity at its best
South Korea and Canada- best flags...though I still can't draw that maple leaf to save my life. 🇨🇦🇰🇷
Four years later and I use this to design a flag in Animal Crossing...
The power of Ted Talks, everyone...
That’s a cool idea actually! Might change mine.
I love flags and designed what I thought was a good flag in New Horizons. I then watched this the day after. And I immediately spent all afternoon designing a new one following the rules Roman laid out.
I love animal crossing c:
"There shouldn't be no flag inside another flag"
*coughs in British*
Except the union jack marries those elements together into a cohesive design.
Then again, the Union is probably going to split up soon, so that may quickly become a non issue.
Well, 2020 is the year of disaster, so anything goes.
+Col-o-nel Mustard yay brexit..
I think you mean Australian or new zealand
@@FuturisticFusilier As a Scot, leaving the Union could not be further from my idea of disaster. Disaster is what England is driving us towards. Leaving the UK is the equivalent of jumping out of the car while it's moving...yeah, it's going to hurt, but at least we wont be in the car with those right wing morons as they drive their country off a cliff.
That San Fran flag redesign with the yellow-black background is so satisfying to look at.
I was expecting something...more colorful
Juan Manuel Penaloza no...
Falufale what...
They did try to pass a more colourful one recently.
My city’s flag is a history lesson all on its own! ^_^
Yeah, but the phoenix look too much like screaming chicken on an old Trans Am
Who puts a trademark symbol on their flag??!
@mike sixx And there it is, never takes long to find racism on youtube.
@mike sixx pathetic child lol
I love when people say Judaism is a race
@mike sixx so your saying that racism isn't a bad thing (it is), but then your saying that groups that people are racist to are bad for being racist? sounds hypocritical
@ me
Americans.
Roman Mars - His parents named him so that He wouldn't be confused with the Greek Mars, called ares
Nautical Creations lmao
Don't mix him up with Greek Ares.
You just cracked this greek echelon here, 30 seconds to naming
I am actually designing a series of nearly 150 flags as part of a project for my senior year at high school. as the loval vexillologist i have taken it upon myself to make a flag to represent every graduating student for us to fly on graduation day
Is there someplace I could follow your work? I'm a graphic designer too.
I have a facebook page. Nate K Tucker
+Nathan Tucker I found your personal profile, but not an actual page to find your work. I'm interested in liking it and following along your project.
thepurpleflute i have a photo album called Flags of Gordon Lee.
That's so cool!
He turned such a seemingly mundane topic into something so engaging, the guy's talented.
+George Rosebush It's his voice and passion combined with this exceptional presentation that engages a lot!
I found his voice distracting to be honest. Most of the time he sounds like he's going to start crying.
+George Rosebush I was thinking the same! Talented guy.
+George Rosebush I was thinking the same! Talented guy.
+George Rosebush I was thinking the same! Talented guy.
I have played Fallout New Vegas so much that the California flag looks wrong without the second head on the bear.
dangerouslytalented I’m right there with you man aha
i have a shirt with an ncr flag on it and few have noticed the difference
Yes! It just dosnt look right without the other head
Tbh... I actually saw the NCR flag first and kinda thought that that was the real California flag for about 3 years...
Since I am from europe I saw the NCR flag waaaay before the real life equivalent - and this missing head still looks really wrong!
Imagine if the US flag had "UNITED STATES" printed on it
Frankly, I'm amazed it doesn't. lol
@@leewaters5949 If it had been created after 1960 it probably would have had, at least, "U.S.A." in a field at the bottom.
Or In God We Trust
It does sound like something USA would do.
DON'T TREAD ON ME
Very cool to see a radio host perform on stage.
Shows you just how important the voice is in any kind of presentation.
This guys voice is amazing
+Juil indeed so, there area lot of ted talks that are hard to listen to because the speaker laughs awkwardly, or breathes out of their nose right into the mic, either way the what goes into the microphone is very important
+Juil you should go see david sedaris or Ira glass
+Tom Cotter Ugh Ira Glass' voice is really annoying.
+Juil But this talk needs pictures. Any talk about visual design needs pictures. Radio shows need stories that allow the listeners to design their own visuals in their minds. (Try listening to a cheap monster movie without the video. It's better that way.)
Yes, I did just watch an 18 minute Ted Talk about flags. Now I'm also extremely disappointed with the state of Florida.
Chandler Farmer my poor poor state of Florida...
Only NOW you're disappointed with the state of Florida?! You're trying to tell me it was THEIR FLAG that broke the camel's back for you??
I am ashamed that I live in a state with such an awful flag
Maybe they could just replace that seal with a yellow circle.
I don't get it? Florida has a solid traditional state flag design that meets all the guidelines.
For those of you who think professional speakers don't get nervous, watch his hand at 4:50.
Yeah, even the best get that adrenaline rush and it messes with your hands and your voice
He's basically DJ-ing his TED talk.
He did an amazing job.
As an amateur public speaker, this makes me feel better about myself
@Bountiful Baboon wow lolwut?
Hong Kong's flag is the gold standard to me, you could recognize that flower anywhere and from nearly any distance due to it's simplicity
But it is hard to draw :') (for me at least)
yeah i think its pretty recognizablr
laughs in nordic flags
@KristianVal 笑笑
Macau also has a wonderful flag (the stars are kinda intricate but i love it)
Very unusual presentation style, but I like it. Surprisingly interesting talk, I never thought of flags as interesting before watching this
+Aerroon Wow, an idea about design and developing things which are engaging and designing things with "intent". You have failed to see the point of this video.
+Aerroon
This video does present an idea. That idea being how to create a good design. This isn't a performance, it just has a unique presentation.
This was actually riveting.
Totally agree I didn't even know my city had a flag til this presentation
listen to 99% invisible podcast. he talks about so many cool things and it all in this style
I don't know why, but everytime it shows up in my recommended, I have to watch it again. It's been like 10-12 times now. I'm just happy that Pocatello has a great looking flag now! Top country grade flag to say the least.
I can relate to this. Great combination of voice, fun, content, melancholic music
Just looked up their new flag. It's much better! Good for them.
655⁶⁷
I googled "Pocatello" and Google immediately asked me if I was looking for "Pocatello *flag*". I'm guessing this TED talk is the only reason anyone googles Pocatello
15:42 "But also it could become a symbol of how that city considers design itself"
*One, singular clap*
Deserved. Seeing a city as some kind of homogene mass with one shared view on design is so primitive..
You could have the worst flag and be good at design in many other points, and you always will have differnt projets designed by different people, so to measure a city after their flag is just plane stupid.
@@meranger92 The point is if you can apply principles of good, non-frivolous, design at a basic level, then there's more chance to adopt that mentality when it comes to larger projects. Symbols have been incredibly powerful since the dawn of time. The fact you would describe someone invited to a TED talk as having primitive views makes your point seem laughable.
🤣
Dude I paused at 15:41 to look at comments and your timestamp was so close lol
A literal 👏
So my obsession with flags has a name.
and it has an extra "lol"
Vexolophilia?
@@roseFog_ lol
Profile picture checks out
Steve.
"Roman Mars" sounds like an amazing alternate history premise.
FourthDerivative read Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Good stuff that I'll cover it for you.
Leo Chillrud oh my god it's literally roman mars
Also illium by dan Simmons...actually that’s Greek mars but still a cool book.
roamin' romans roamin on mars
Romain' Romans roaming Mars with Roman Mars
That second revised San Francisco flag design, with the Phoenix in the middle of black and gold, is gorgeous. Please make that happen!
Agreed. It's reminiscent of a Medieval battle standard.
you could sell the phoenix in the middle as a pin
i second this it looked amazing
As a resident of a not too far away town, I can tell you They’ve tried to change the San Francisco flag many times recently... but in a significantly more... colourful, way.
The only problem is that there's another city you'd more closely associate with a Phoenix (cough)
Fun fact:
In 2017, Pocatello Idaho changed their flag. And, let's be honest, they chose an incredibly good flag:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocatello,_Idaho#/media/File%3AFlag_of_Pocatello%2C_Idaho.svg
Also a fun fact: The (partial, but significant) reason they did that was this video bringing infamy to their flag
wow, it's really cute.
In fact, Roman Mars (the guy in this video) was given a seat on the council to replace it
LOVE IT
It looks SO GOOD now!
Yesterday I watched an 11 minute video about aluminum cans. Today, an 18 minute video about flags. And I gotta say, the world of design is amazing, and there are genius behind everything we take for granted in our lives.
I love the internet because somehow I know the exact can video your talking about
Me seeing the thumbnail: why would Steve Jobs speak about flags?
He’s a flaggot
Same😂😂😂
In the space of 20 minutes ive gone from thinking "Omg, what a nerd", to "Good lord that flag is disgusting". What have I become...
that is what a good 15 minute talk can do to you
A better person who despises flags rather than people
A rare gift for a radio presenter to be more captivating to listen to while looking at them. Congratulations, Roman Mars, you are 100% inspirational
This guy is really likable.
+BlueStone Charismatic
+Blue_ So are you. Keep doing you.
Marc Evans c:
+Blue_ and never makes a bad or unpopular point- rather plays a recording of himself, or someone else saying it! also uses music very well!
+Blue_ I thought he was getting emotional half the time which engaged me.
The Anaheim city council actually mentioned that this video was one of the things that brought about the idea to change it. They also cited the creation of the new Angel Stadium and the need for something _not-awful_ to fly on the flagpoles in front. Since then, the city has installed the flag in at least 20 public places (as opposed to zero places before) and the old one's been pretty much forgotten.
It's 3 horizontal bars of dark blue, light blue, dark blue, and ring of 6 white stars centered to represent the 6 city districts. Nothing inspired or innovative but it's so much better than the old one.
A late late reply but my god that is a well-designed flag.
I know nothing about Anaheim but I assume it's a city that sits on either side of a river based on that design language.
@@ConradLarsonGaming they only adopted it from 2018 to 2019 and then went BACK to the old flag T_T there's no hope for us
@@kwombok yeah, i sah that too just now when looking it up. The old/current one is horrible. Why on eartht did they not keep that "new" design. I like it
@@AlexM-WI The official reason given for changing the flag back seems to be "it is traditional". Now - we might argue that it also is traditional to go number 2 in an outhouse without running water and changing your undies once a week, which feels to me about as attractive as this flag, but in the end it's their decision.
My dad found this talk years ago, proceeded to have the entire family sit down and watch it, and now it is one of the things that we insist new people we meet see at least once.
Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed
Liberian Counties: *Hold my MS Paint*
Oh sweet lord they’re so bad I love them
If anyone of you really thinks that these are bad, then you haven't listened to the Ted Talk at all.
@@pascalstiemer There are better ways to design these flags with the same good symbolism,
also, I realized that the Liberian county flags are not the worst flags in the word, the worst flag is Brown County Nebraska's flag
@@nycuba7478 That flag is so terrible that it's crossed over to beautiful
For starters, cities don’t need flags. Nobody cares.
If this is the original or main location, why isn't it called the "TEDquarters"?
Izumi Chenmeiru That's, good
You're a fucking genius
You may leave now
It's distinctive, I'll give you that
Beautiful. 10/10.
*"Keep it simple. The flag should be so simple that a child could draw it from memory"*
Did you hear that? Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming?
Looking at San Franciscos flag that seems to be exactly what happend.
Seems like someone studied their geography lesson
@@basedgaming1826 ah, I'll go take a look then
(Sees my home state flag listed in the comment) What's wrong with my flag?
(Looks it up)
Now I know why I haven't seen it until now.
Illinois flag is cool
Cant believe i actually care about flags now. wtf
+vaansolidor Damn, me too!!!
Yup.. I 100% care about flags, now. I never thought I'd see the day...lol
He did his job beautifully
I didn't expect this to hold my attention but it did, good talk!
Cory Y Yeah! :)
Cory Y You should listen to him. Podcast: 99% invisible.
+Cory Y Same here! At the start I was thinking... flags? serious... But there is indeed a lot more behind it. Great talk indeed!
+Cory Y Civic pride is the literal heart of successful civilization. This video is all about the element of design, the third letter in TED. It's presented with humor and also novelty thanks to the unique radio style talk, traditional slides, light background music and voice clips of other people to keep which all together keeps the talk light but still stimulating. Easily one of the top ten TED talks I've seen so no wonder it held your attention. Good taste.
for real! he should do s talk on how to make any topic interesting. I was so invested I freaked when I saw that last flag
I'm from Pocatello Idaho. Every friggin' citizen of that beautiful town desperately needs to watch this video.
+Ike Evans What?? But aren't you PROUD???? ;)
ShmupShmupPewPew Pocatello is a gorgeous town with world class mountain biking and skiing. I am not proud of that stupid flag.
+Ike Evans lmao that flag looks like it's off an 80's sweater or smthn
Aidan Attema Oh no. It's worse than that!
+Ike Evans I am from Amsterdam and you have my deepest sympathies.
I really admire his presence. He is not trying at all to be heard, to be funny, to sound smart. He elegantly talked about a interesting topic.
Am I the only one who really wants to have the mental clarity he has.
Id go one step further and say he made an obscure topic incredibly interesting.
This guy sounds like CGP Grey... who also likes flags... hmm...
Good to know I wasn't the only one who thought of that!
You should hear what Grey said about this vid.
@@conanichigawa Where did he say this?
WHAT DID HE SAY
@@conanichigawa WHAT DID HE SAY?!
I live in southern California and am from St. Louis city. My employer hung flags of the US and all the customers/business partners from the shop ceiling. I suggested the St. Louis flag because it is my hometown and it is really cool. He wasn't impressed till our lead saw it and agreed with me. It now hangs alongside flags from the US, China, Austraila, and the US Marine Corp flag representing a coworker who served in it and many more. I was so proud to be the person who installed the flag from my home. It has become the subject of question and curiosity from visitors and investors who are unfamiliar with it. Every one who sees it has stated what a terrific flag it is. AND it meets all of the flag design criteria in the video.
Yes, the St. Louis flag is awesom!
I agree. I live in the Metro-East (Belleville, to be specific) and while my town's flag isn't as cool as the St. Louis flag, I feel better about it after having seem some of the unfortunate examples in this video.
porcelaintree Hey, I live in Belleville too, except it's a different one, because I'm in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. :D
I'm a St. Louisan who absolutely loves the flag, but it's not quite perfect. A lack of detailed specification leads to significant differences between produced versions. Wavy lines will be different widths or have varying amounts of waves, and the fleur-de-lis varies greatly as well. I'd like to see an effort into hammering out the details so we get a more uniform look. Still cool we're being represented out there - thank you!
my dad was a chicago cop from 1966-1998. when he passed away in 1998, his casket was draped with the Chicago flag at his funeral--a gift from the city.
That’s great. I bet Chicago was very proud that it was the city in which he was a cop.
As a former resident of Amsterdam: yes, the flag is cool. Immediately recognisable, too. And if you look at the country that Amsterdam is the capital of, the Netherlands, that has a pretty great flag, too. It's the oldest revolutionary flag in the world, and although it started as orange-white-blue, it quickly became red-white-blue. I like to think that those colours inspired many other (revolutionary) flags. It's simple as well: three horizontal stripes, equal in size, featuring primary colours (and white). You just don't see it a lot in the Netherlands, only one single flag on government buildings, because the Dutch aren't that keen on waving flags about.
Personally, I prefer the orange, white, and blue of the Prince's flag. The red, white, and blue might have been original when the Dutch adopted it, but so many countries have adopted flags with those colours and in similar patterns that it is easy to mix them up if you aren't familiar with them. Not a lot of flags use orange, so the Prince's flag is immediately recognizable.
Unfortunately, the Prince's flag was hijacked by Dutch Nazis in the 1930s, so flying it in the modern age brings with it certain baggage.
The reason it got changed from orange to red is because the orange was not visible when at sea. Considering the flag was designed during the time of naval exploration and combat it made sense to change it to red.
@@HelloImErik That is not the reason. The red variant was flown on the trade ships and is older than the orange version. Stop telling lies.
Sit tf down. If the Dutch aren't so keen on their flag why did they enforce it on apartheid states. Stfu and stop sounding like a revolutionary country when others had to have revolution and independence from your nation.
And when you're in distress, your flag becomes the flag of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
He looks kind of intimidated by the big show and audience, but he killed it, with one of the most mundane subjects in the world this is one of the best TED talks and I've seen it many times. Props to the guy
Never thought someone could interest me flags. Can't believe I watched the whole thing.
the podcasts are pretty cool too.
Have you watched Fun With Flags by Sh. Cooper
100% of people are interested in flags apparently.
HomegrownTyrone Same
*Here's Pocatello's new flag, if anyone is curious:*
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocatello,_Idaho#/media/File:New_Pocatello,_Idaho_flag_2017.png
*I think it's a good improvement.*
It's a compass rose.
Omg it's so much better
That's actually really great
The Wikipedia article says Roman Mars himself helped design it.
But it’s not really recognizable.
This is probably one of the best if not the best delivered TED talk I've seen
if only people applied these rules to tattoos, my god
+Moment2Forever
Think we tried that in the 90s and early 2000s with all the tribal tattoos... no idea why anyone would want that back :P
+Moment2Forever But we need more people with lower back tattoo's of the Egyptian Ankh Symbol. So they can prove how enlighten they are.
+fredguy2 Gosh, don't be so... Ankh-sty... ...
+Moment2Forever ONe guy emphasized this constantly on Tatoo ink, for these same exact reasons. Simple, clean line work, NO backgrounds and colors that cut through.
+eldsprutandedrake
I'd argue they break the meaningful design rule.
the Austrian flag was "designed" after a battle, when "Herzog Leopolds" white surcoat was completely drenched in blood. When he removed his belt, the cloth beneath remained unstained, revealing the combination of red-white-red. Thats how you design in austria XD
German flag, Colors where taken from the uniform of the Lützow Free Corps: black fabric, red facings, golden buttons.
@@ulliulli that's just a theory, not a fact. there are several origin theories about the flags colors, none is confirmed. Some say the black comes from the color of gunpowder, gold for the flame of firing and red for the blood spilled. There is no official statement of why the colors were chosen. It's quite possible that nobody knows anymore.
@@notjustforme that isn't even a theory. just a myth that arose much much later. Leopold babenberg dynasty used golden eagles on blue to represent themselves. Flags of duchys or Counties weren't really used at all. There was no Austrians in the middle ages.
French flag: red and blue are the colors of parisian peaple, and white is the color of french monarchy.
Which mean the king (in the center) have to be controlled by the people (on his right and on his left) ^^
We don't have kings anymore, but the flag's still the same.
@@aymericd.6126 This is an explanation, but the reality might be more complicated. I read that we made our flag using the colours of the American flag, whom we helped with their revolution. I don't think the current flag existed in 1789. It was shown during the second revolution.
Pocatello changed their flag. It's great now!
Milwaukee changed their flag. It's just gorgeous!
San Francisco, the richest urban area in the US, did not change their flag. Go figure.
Milwaukee did not change their flag. There is indeed a new "People's flag" but it isn't the city's official flag.
Unfortunately, Milwaukee didn’t change their flag. Enough people in the government got offended enough that anyone would suggest that they have awful taste in aesthetics that they blocked the new design.
@@killergoose7643 "Alderwoman Chantia Lewis said it would not be fair to allow "15 people change the entire flag for 600,000 people" What a ridiculous statement. The new People's flag looks great. I hope if enough people start flying it, they'll give in and make it the official flag.
@@arthurboucher4341 And the Milwaukee "people's flag" looks like a smoggy sunset.
Well, if the phenomenon that was Emperor Norton is any indication, folks should just start using one of the good redesigns and it'll become the real deal.
Thanks in great part to this video, I ran a redesign contest for Salem Oregon and after years and years, we have a new flag!
This has to be one of my favorite more recent Ted talks. Not only interesting but I absolutely love the presentation style. Magnificent
The San Francisco flag is so bad and so rarely used, my mom grew up in San Francisco and loved the city and never even knew it HAD its own flag.
Incidentally, I live in the state with the best-designed flag: New Mexico. That flag is goddamn EVERYWHERE, and people LOVE IT. That red zia on a yellow background is on everything: keychains, mugs, shirts, magnets, shot glasses, license plates, hats, you name it.
Shrimp Bisque I live near SF and I never knew it had a flag.
Same thing is true with the California flag. It’s everywhere. I do quite like the New Mexico flag too, but being colourblind I don’t care for the yellow.
Hello, fellow New Mexican! Our state is a shithole, but it does have an amazing flag.
Similarly good flag we're all proud of and have everywhere here in Colorado. Three of the four corner states have fantastic flags. Too bad Utah brings down the curve there.
New Mexico? Try Texas. Lone Star. And it IS everywhere.
@@RoxRock4ever Arizona's flag is indeed beautiful
I saw the Pocatello flag and was like "No... why Idaho... why must you do this?"
But then I looked it up and they have a new flag, that looks hecka cool. Good Job Idaho.
Legit this vid is why it changed
@@Malevolent_Q it seriously is, you can see it on their website. www.pocatello.us/732/Pocatello-Flag
they even embeded a TEDx talk about changing it because of this video.
New flag is definitely far superior.
Jesus, it looks really good, thanks for the info.
@@Xerlash The new design is definitely way better, but it's also, like, totally Captain Marvel. And can we talk about how someone still insisted on shoehorning an entire actual landscape drawing into their already poorly-letterspaced and unreadable wordmark/logo? Yikes.
This is a beautiful thing that man has done here
Everyone there walked in knowing nothing about flags and caring even less, and by the end they were so invested and aware of design principles that they (and I) were able to hear flag jokes or see bad flags and genuinely laugh
Usually it takes a lot to make a person invested in something enough that they can relate to the comedy based off of it but he pulls it off beautifully
Genuinely one of if not my favorite TED talks of all time
[Lives in Amsterdam]
"... The most _badass_ city flag in the world."
Amsterdams en trots! :')
Its just his opinion. It looks bad, there are others that look way better. Amsterdam flag has weird colors and bad design.
Robka It has good symbolism and is something that I can actually remember forever. It is unique and simplistic at the same time.
I see the Amsterdam flag more often in Boston than I do the Boston flag
@@notyourdad361 It's definitely not perfect, but it is simplistic and memorable. I've never seen the Amsterdam flag before but I can say for sure anytime I see that flag I will recognize it as the flag of Amsterdam.
@@notyourdad361 I go to festivals around the world with my friends. And instead of taking the Dutch flag. We take the flag of Amsterdam. I think it's a badass flag and it's all around Amsterdam. (And you would be surprised how many people ask you if you got drugs 😂)
Native Pocatello resident here, I'm proud to say the new flag looks great!
Oh my god. When I was younger this was my mother's favorite TED Talk. I've been listening to 99% Invisible for a few years. Just connected the dots now. Damn.
Cool, huh? I agree!
The Pocatello flag is now (as of 2017) incredible. It follows all the rules and is just striking.
Well, it actually has 4 colors - but I think we can overlook that one issue.
I also thought that the old flag was a good example of "insider every bad flag there is a good flag to come out" - if they just kept the two mountains with whatever those cuts were to represent - immediately recognizable. You can argue about color schemes then and similar, but that symbol would have been great as well.
But yeah, good on them to change it to something you can actually fly in your garden happily.
Everyone needs to look up Japanese city flags and prefecture flags! They are the most amazing flag designs of all.
+GeoAl09 Whoa, you are totally right. They are almost mesmerizing to look at, yet..."simple enough a child could draw them."
+GeoAl09 I think they were based off the ruling clans of Japan when each one was independent. I can totally see why people would rally behind those.
+GeoAl09
Wooooah.
+GeoAl09
Yuck, they look like car logos.
+GeoAl09 Some of those city flag "logos" seem to be remnants of "mon", family or clan emblems or symbols going hundreds of years back. The Mitsubishi logo is a stylized version of such a symbol.
Like many of you, I didn't care about flags at all and once Milwaukee appeared I was like "NOOOOOO". And now I'm googling vexilology and I want to do something about this.
TED talks are the greatest things and yet sometimes it ruins me
Not all flags that don't follow these guidelines are bad though, take the Welsh flag, how is a highly detailed dragon simple and easy to draw? But everyone in Wales is proud of our flag, and you all know why.
Dragons are cool.
To be completely honest, the Welsh flag is the most badass flag ever. I was compelled to purchase one when someone was selling flags at a Renaissance Fair(not the best kind of concept for a celebration). From the US and there aren't that many great flags in my area, except the Phoenix city flag
If yoy love dragons, then you would certainly like the bhutanese flag. It's even more detailed
They still can't figure out how to put it in the uk flag
Meatballs for life I know! I come from Mexico and everybody loves the flag, it is so detailed that when I was little instead of drawing the eagle in the middle all of us (children) drew just a brown dot. haha
i like the flag of Hamburg. imagine a castle with the flag of hamburg flying over it under siege by the welsh. would be badass imo
I’ve seen this ted talk so many times and it’s still one of my favorites, if not my favorite over all
The flag of Washington State is green with the "seal of Washington" in the middle (which basically just literally says "The seal of the State of Washington 1889" on it with a picture of George Washington)
The seal consists of the colors yellow, black, white, blue, and tan. Tan for the skin color, and they even blend it with black to create some shadowing.
It's complex, it uses too many colors (and tan isn't even a basic color) it has a seal, and it's not really distinctive or related either, since George Washington is an important part of *American* history, and not that of the state itself.
If you consider George Washington "meaningful symbolism" then I guess *maybe* this passes for rule 2, but all that George Washington really "symbolizes" is that the state was named after him.
And that's a *state* flag, not even a city flag.
IKR, i live in kirkland, and it SUCKS. kirkland doesn't even have a flag
I had to do a bunch of digging to find the Everett flag, and it's pretty bare and ugly. Looks more like a logo than a flag.
I googled the Seattle flag and got wildly varying results, some of which included Seahawks football team symbol instead
And although the symbol of the space needle surrounded by interwoven waves was gorgeous I doubt it is widely used
I think he meant the Washington, DC flag. It really is a great design.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Flag_of_the_District_of_Columbia.svg/255px-Flag_of_the_District_of_Columbia.svg.png
Fantastic to see the flag of my hometown of Trondheim noted as a example of good design! (lower right of the three mentioned near the end). Makes me proud :)
Ja!
Was literally looking up what our city flag was to remind myself, just before he said that Trondheim has a great flag. Proud to be a Trondhjemmer!
One of my favourite places to visit :)
it was nice to see israel's as well
PurpleLizard 23 not really
no one:
this guy: "welcome to my ted talk I'm gonna be roasting flags for 20 minutes"
@Adrián I enjoyed the talk, but yeah----he pretty much roasted flags for 20 minutes. He did talk about the elements of good design to explain WHY he was roasting flags, but he definitely roasted them.
@@eddiejc1 i think he was showing bad flags and making fun of them because some people would've found it a boring talk otherwise, it added a bit of fun
So then it wasn't no one that said that, was it?
Stop overusing this terrible "joke"
Yiay 276
The Milwaukee flag is the most midwest thing i've ever seen "Lets just have all of 'em and go get a beer"
You should get a guest spot on the final season of "The Big Bang Theory"! The final guest on Sheldon Cooper's "Fun With Flags".
+Pat Doyle Yes, let's have a guy that is genuinely interested in flags show up in an unfunny show that does nothing but make fun of "geeks".
HandjesBreda
I think it is a very funny show that humanizes "geeks". I did not watch it until it was in syndication, because I thought that's all it was too. I was wrong. Especially as two of the "geeks" (actually 3 by now), get the hot girls, accomplish great things, and have happy lives.
As a former (an to an extent current geek) I find nothing wrong with humor based on the true social awkwardness of many geeks, even though (as is normal with comedy) it is exaggerated for comedic effect.
And such an episode could be great by expanding Sheldon's appreciation of flags, by exposing him to the artistic nature of them above and beyond the rote facts that he has displayed. It would tie in well with the arc of the character as they have begun to humanize Sheldon more and more.
HandjesBreda
Stop being an over-sensitive, judgment dipshit. It is a very funny show that paints geeks in a very positive light, which is probably why so many famous geeks have made appearances on the show, like George Smoot, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawking, and Lawrence Krauss.
+Pat Doyle You are very delusional and/or have no taste whatsoever.
HandjesBreda
I think the same of you, but apparently, my opinion is in line with the aforementioned great scientists who have been on the show.
I much prefer to be in their company than yours.
The old rules of heraldry are a great source for good flag design too. Avoid metal on metal (silver/gold), colour on colour, keep charges on a field simple, drawn clearly. Lines of division kept clean. Once we got to the 19th century, it all went to pot, and took flags down with it.
Browntau I think heraldry ought to be tonight in schools. You can really learn a lot about the real depths of design, simplicity, and symbolism.
For those interested in modern flag design: check out the Japanese municipal flags. Most of them are actually designed with the Kanji that makes up the name of the district in mind.
They are cool. Leave it to the Japanese to perfect something.
These look like epic sports logos!!!
they also have really good prefecture flags.
知らなかった！勉強になるなぁ〜
Our state flag here in California breaks a lot of (almost all of) these design rules and yet, in my opinion, it somehow still works. You see our bear and star everywhere across the state!
Taking it a step further. Here in Riverside our flag is more of a mess but the mission bell is still plastered everywhere.
You probably know this, but I find it really interesting that the species of bear on the Californian flag is actually extinct.
the bear and star are very distinctive - if you got rid of the words, people would probably still recognise it… so get rid of the words!!!
get rid of the grass too
enlarge the bear (why is it specified it has to be only 1/3 the length of the flag? that's too small!)
simplify the bear if you want, but first and foremost, get rid of the words!
In Riverside (which I live), they recently changed their flag. Their flag is now on a navy background with a gold-colored mission bell on the left, a golden-colored wave on the right edge, and ocean-blue-colored wave next to the golden-colored wave. The flag is now much better than the old one.
The new milwaukee flag is gorgeous
didn't realize the video was so old and had to check it out, but you're absolutely right
it is. i own a couple things with the flag and i live in texas
They say the process by which the new flag was chosen was not democratic enough. You know, like the democratic processes that yielded the current flag, or the subsequent contests where every entry was determined to be not good enough.
Pocatello also has a new flag which is quite nice.
This video is actually responsible for the redesigns of the Milwaukee and Pocatello flags, because it brought so much attention to them
When he started talking about city flags, I thought for sure he was going to call out Provo, Utah, with its WordArt-looking design. Then he showed some of his examples and I realized that Provo doesn't even crack the top 10 bad designs. Wow.
I live in the suburbs of Chicago and we spent a solid 2 weeks learning about the Chicago flag and what it stands for and had a test on it. We literally have never talked about the Illinois flag.
This guys podcast is legitimately the best podcast ever. I found it because of this talk about three years ago and I’m so hooked
Yes! The Amsterdam flag is awesome!
It does remind me a little of the symbol from "The Great Dictator..." ;)
I like how it has triple-Xs on it ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
it looks like it belongs on a bottle of booze
Charles Foster Kane it's even better when you walk through the prostitute street in Amsterdam smoking weed. Because yes, these things are legal in the Nederlands
I wish I could disagree, but I can't. Green-white-green is also nice though ;D
Wait his name is Roman Mars?
That's a cool name.
No. Just because he says something, doesn't make it true. It's his stage name. Like Nicki Minaj or Eminem or any other public figure.
@@ivanabcdefg9375 oh, thanks for playing along
@@ivanabcdefg9375 pretty sure that is his name, his kids are called Mazlo Mars and Carver Mars
@@njones420 his brother is bruno mars
Sounds like WWE wrestler or fighting game character
This makes me all the more thankful that Denver has a great city flag!
+Cubik are you from colorado?
***** Yeah, what gave it away? Haha
Cubik your amazing youtube avatar
***** Thanks!
+Cubik I live in Portland, OR and I think its flag is great and one of the best in the country, but Denver, CO's flag is just wow. Phoenix, AZ's flag is also amazing.
I saw an article a few years back where someone redesigned all 50 state flags to match around a common design theme.
They were all red, white, and blue, and featured unique ties to their states.
www.bresslergroup.com/blog/united-we-stand/ this might be what you’re talking about? this guy made some great designs and explained his thought process well too
Oooh that's a cool idea. Let's show our connectedness!
Touch the Maryland flag and there will be a riot
@@jennifersingh1834 That ugly crap looks like it's warning you there's an obstacle on a NASCAR course
I have zero idea why this came up on my 'recommended videos' list but I genuinely care about flags. And I'm glad to all heavens that my modest South American municipal flag does adhere to a simple, 3-color and very unique design, I thought of it and knew it by heart the moment he started talking about city flags. I'm proud of it.
Where is it?
Living and growing up in Chicago I was in the opposite position to Roman. I thought all cities had their flag everywhere but I guess I was wrong. I’m now actually even more proud of our flag after watching this.
how can a talk about flags be this interesting and funny? wow. I'm impressed
This worked, people took notice and let their officials know, now Anaheim and Pocatello both have new flags that look great, Reno adopted a really nice looking one, and Milwaukee has a potential design that might eventually get adopted, but they're stuck in limbo cause some people said the competition didn't have enough judges and wasn't inclusive enough.
The reason why european cities have flags that work so well is that the flags usually came first, and were then adopted to be part of the coat of arms in some way, while in the US, no evolution of flags ever took place.
Not really, in almost every city or even town, the flag is a simplification of the coat of arms. The coat of arms is usually derived from the heraldry of the lords that were in control during the Ancien Régime. For example the town I live (Duffel) has a coat of arms derived from the 3 lordships that divided the town before 1795. The flag is a simplification of this.
The neighbouring town of kontich belonged to only one lordship so has a very simple coat of arms and flag.
Since both towns had one lord in common, the flags are very similar. Since many towns nearby had some lords in common, many of their flags share design elements.
The weapons came first: At the battle of Hastings (1066, Bayeux Tapestry) you can see little decoration on shields. When pot helms became necessary, you could no longer see each others faces, and heraldic weapons became important to recognise friend from foe. City banners and weapons are normally derived from their oldest distinguished lord. In case of Amsterdam that was Jan Persijn who was lord of the Heerlijkheid Amsterdam in 1280. In 1783 Bowles showed a naval flag of red-white-black with the entire city weapon on it. This flag is relatively new.
most european cities have lived through the middle ages as well what means that they had to have a good flag in order to represent something. imagine riding into battle on your horse with that milwaukee flag. You'd be the laughing stock and soldier morale would be super low.
@@Carebear_Pooh Well, if you ride into battle with the Milwaukee flag, if youre lucky your enemies all die of laughter
Exactly, the development of the flag of my city took place near a thousand years ago. And my city is tiny (50k population).
Fun fact the Pocatello flag changed in 2017 and looks a whole lot better now
The old one looked more like a logo of business software publisher from the 80s.
yeah the new one looks so much better
Thank god for that
Yeah they watched the TED talk and realized they had to change it.
www.boisestatepublicradio.org/post/east-idaho-city-ditches-worst-flag-north-america#stream/0
You should get Jacksfilms to fix them
Macc Tiger Well, all he'd have to do is cut 2 triangles of the side of it and boom *FIXED YOUR FLAG, YOU'RE WELCOME* _Shows every flag but in the shape of the Nepalese flag._
Joking or serious?
problem solved
ME ME BIG FLAGCHANGER
*NO he will just ruin it even more by making it look exactly like the flag of another country or make it over "detailed".*
I'm an illustrator (not for flags), and I keep coming back for 9:04 when helping people with their designs, whatever it may be - websites, characters, logos, etc. The points are so simple and salient, even (or rather, especially) non-artists get a profound understanding of "actually, yeah, it does look better that way" when we use a more simplified palette or take out confusingly misplaced detail in a project. Same with the stamp size test (13:25); there's no simpler way to "tactfully nudge" somebody into reconsidering their iconography than showing them how their image dissolves into obscurity when it's scaled down. (within reason, of course. I understand that you can make anything unrecognizable by reducing it to a handful of pixels, the point is more along the lines of "it'll look nice on the marquee, but what about your business cards?")
Maybe it's superfluous to comment on a five year old video, but I just want to put into writing how thankful I am to Mr. Mars and his colleagues for putting such a profound thought into such easy to understand words.
When is Ted himself actually gonna come on the show?
Jefferson Airplane Seriously! I keep clicking videos hoping they’ll finally be the one that Ted is revealed.
He's serving several life sentences in prison for a serial bombing campaign
@@ayle1312 sources indicate he maybe behind WW2, and the Cuban revolution.
@M Σ G Λ that would be a disaster for the human race
We all aren't worthy to see the almighty Ted himself
News update: Pocatello has a new flag and it's actually pretty good
The speaker helped! www.kpvi.com/news/pocatello-begins-city-flag-redesign/article_3fa56b68-01e5-11e6-86c1-c3e52faaad10.html
U call it good? It lookes like a grade schooler's piece of work who gave up to apathy
@@Malevolent_Q You've clearly misunderstood the entire Ted talk, the whole point is that it CAN be reconstructed by a grade-schooler.
@@ThickUP Well my point is that living in Pocatello, my opinion of the new flag is that it still looks like it could have been done better
@@Malevolent_Q You guys voted for it.
this ted talk is one of the best. I have seen this one at least ten times. and it's so sublime in how it has build up it's progress and the information it has given. just cheer perfection.
"The final element in it that just makes it more ridiculous is that there is a flag, within a flag"
Cries in Afrikaans
i live in spain, in a region called Catalonia, city of Reus. my flag is white, with a red rose (seen from above) on the middle. it has changed quite a bit until 1998. the original was a crest it had 6 roses and a cerulean band, it's from 1349. it's one of the first cities of the region to have a crest for its own (instead of having the lord's crest)
the story and the mithology behind it is lovely.
You can see in his eyes that he is so passionate about his craft :'D
Rame Nitsuga You can hear it in his voice as well
I was born and live in Chicago and he is right that we take our flag very serious. Our flag is a symbol of our history and diversity. With all the sports teams we support along with the different neighborhoods and culture it unifies our city into one united great metropolis. I fly my Chicago flag :)
Long live
This video represents many of the things I love. A great presentation; the care behind the text and the audio cues, flawless. A great presenter, with a great voice and who really cares about what he is saying. Great sense of humor, he is funny even when he is calling some city´s flag "that thing".
Yeah, I question the initial premise, that teaching people about design improves their lives. Teach someone about typographical kerning, and it ruins everything. EVERYTHING.
because you always see poor spacing in text?
TBF are there not already a bunch of videos on YT about kerning?
-kerning- keming
xkcd reference?
You monster.
Awesome Ted Talk! I really love the radio style of this talk (with also this relaxing music) :)
You should listen to the podcast he does because it's just exactly like this. In case you missed it "99% invisible"
Antonio Latte Nice, thanks for the recommendation :)
Antonio Latte Nice! Will definitely check this out.
Antonio Latte As a fan of podcasts...I couldn´t be happier for this finding!
So awesome, I love 99% Invisible and what Roman does, it's amazing he got invited to TED. Nothing bad about any of this! :)
scrubby4130 i did not know this podcast do you have a link for me?
ashley beaumont lmgtfy.com/?q=99%25+invisible
ashley beaumont It's here: 99percentinvisible.org/
Great podcast, Roman is awesome. :)
I love him too!
‘A flag should be so simple a child could draw it from memory’
*South Africans looking awkward*
I love the South African flag, but yeah, I wouldn't know what color goes where.
Narata I know my flag🇿🇦🇮🇱
I bet South African children can draw it from memory though. The US and UK flags are fairly complicated too.
@@vegetablearian_ absolutely, I'm a south African youth and the flag is muscle memory, the colors, shape and design is so vivid and memorable all of us can draw it
I'd say it's pretty easy, just need to memorize the colors from left to right. Also .... does the American flag start with a red or white stripe? (so you get my point....)