Living in Miami, I knew I had some kind of idea of what our city flag looked like. Of course, I was sure I had seen it many times, I just couldn’t remember it. It wasn’t until the Miami New Times posted an article of a local resident pushing for a redesign, that I really took a closer look at the elements, layout and colors of the flag.
I decided to join in and provide just a couple of fun concepts for submission. It was very interesting to do research and learn more about vexillology (study of flag design.)
Below are a few concepts and construction. Thanks to (www.newflag.miami) calling for Miami flag redesign (because, well, see for yourself) I encourage you to visit the site, checkout this Medium post by Ernie Hsiung, and also watch Roman Mars’ Ted Talks on better flag design. We may also have to redesign the City of Miami seal, amiright?
Also, yes, the first concept is more satirical than anything else. I have a few more pretty neat redesigns below with some extra rationale.
Suns & Stripes
Using that delicious Deco color palette that comes to mind when thinking of Miami, this flag layout has a few important key features that represent the core of Miami.
The Stripes – Representing the 13 districts that make up Miami-Dade.
The Sun – It’s almost as part of a daily greeting, “Hello from sunny Miami!”
The Sky – The beautiful Miami sky, whether in the Bay or far in the West, there’s nothing like it in any other big city. Encompassed in an obtuse triangle, mirroring the people that live in this great city that don’t necessarily fit a certain mold.
Pardon Our Dust
If you live in Miami, you already know, our beautiful, Miami skyline has been inundated with the site of these contraptions in the sky, just look up. So why not put a crane on it. Let’s throw our hands up in the air in utter hopelessness and make the official flag have a dang crane.
Inspired by (local) satirical “news” blog The Plantain, using a minimal palette of 4-5 colors that reflect a bit more of what Miami feels like. Instead of green and orange, lets do a majestic crane, peeking over a Miami sunset.
Sun and stripes.
yes!