u/RottenAli

A version 2 derivation of a fessy design I've long considered to be close to ideal. This one is a little bit more conventional in layout but with 5 peaked waves for the 5 letters of "IDAHO". Now we have a lower green third to stand for the desire for a Greater Idaho. A middle 1/6th to stand for her rolling gem laden snow covered hills in winter. And an upper dark purple with white 6 pointed star to stand for famous Star Garnet gemstone.

This is the design by Philip Tibbetts. It was posted to the FANDOM wikia site back in June 2017 by user JackiusMaximus and added by Leonardo Piccioni de Almeida.

From Philip: "Rationale: The star emblem in the centre of the design and garnet colour of the field represent the six-legged star garnets that are unique to the state, as well as being the official state gem. The use of this as an emblem also plays on the supposed origin of the state's name being 'gem of the mountains'."

Its gained a certain following over the years. Quite independently it's been printed and flown in the state as a better state flag. Twice when our Facebook site has run Idaho contests it's won them, all be it in a north/south orientation. This is the real daddy however with that provenance about being used in Idaho already. Additionally Philip sometimes has flown it on his own flag pole.

Azure, a semi of thirty bezants.

State dance is the polka, thus we take that and expand the notion = polka-dots, and hold the blue sheet defacing with the 30 holes in American Cheese Gold.

Really short of granular data (people taking part) but never-the-less this chart is the result of that work. At the top I list Minnesota's new seal. 13 people expressed a view about it, where as the seal of Puerto Rico is at the bottom of the listings since only two of us wished to consider it's quality. In each section I've an order listing from good to bad. Three zones in each. Less than 20% support is the fail zone - these 6 states could do with a replacement state seal. (ND, IA, NV, WI, WV and NM) Only two are on state flags - West Virginia and Wisconsin so that follows. Between 20% and 33% support is a transitional zone and 21 states could do better. (MA and IL are in that group) Those that had had a supported value of 33% or more could be said to fine. Little need to change or replace any of them.
It would be good to repeat this exercise with more people and having a deeper set of learning examples being described up-front. Anyway - what can you do in a week with a spare time project?
Slides included - MN = most responded, PR = least responded, LA = best result, ND = worst result. Plus a quick over view of the sheet colors chosen for this study.

Proposal for Bismarck, ND. A little like the current flag and a little like the flag of Sioux Falls SD. Takes a little bit of the exterior stone carving of the bell tower of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Bismarck.
Access to a good water course and ground water aqua-fa is vital in the farming trade and the gentle wave forms reflect that North Dakota is very reliant on these resources. It's been a focus of previous state flag redesigns for North Dakota that the state is blessed with amazing sunsets and sunrises. That fierceness is echoed in the red sky and bright sun.

Nothing radical, Changed the red and blue shades for Denver Broncos Orange and dark blue (the mid blue is jarring) Added more white and changed up the pole points. The yellow sun is a little crazy on a night sky - Just like Palau reference the moon with a yellow circle, I'll reword that this would be the moon. At a mile high - the city is that bit closer...

Washington revision. Mount Rainier was originally going to be the feature of the seal/flag. Much as George Washington was the first President and won the nation it's independence, he never traveled west of the Missouri River. Better to have the national capital named for him than a state out west he had zero connection with. Removing Farmer George from the flag and renaming the state with another "W" (maybe West Cascadia) name would be more appropriate. Here the lazy wave between white and green makes that "W" shape. Oriental blue from the rear of the seal becomes the sky behind the mountain (sic. dormant volcano). A single statehood star locates the state in a NW mappy sense.

Part of the Late Kevin Harrington's 2000 study of the flags of Michigan - Raven vol 8 page 84.

All 3 shades are now standard Pantone colors PMS303C, PMS308C and PMS465C. More use of white that draws two capital letter "L"s since Lincoln does have two "L"s. The middle upper stroke is also now an "I" as the spire of the state capitol building reaches skywards. The star and line-work is emboldened and made a little less fussy.

Maybe a little too close to a Colorado layout, but then there is only Utah in between
Taking the double fimbriated fess and building a bold hollow capital "C" in the center for Carson City. That's all.

Just wondered what the count of words on state flags would total.
But then you sort of have to ask "what's a word?"
Is the Y in Oro-y-plata a word in it's own right? For now I'm saying it is.
And should the hidden letters be counted as words? O for Ohio, more overtly C for Colorado? and NC for North Carolina? being one letter, two letters or one word? Here I say NC is two letters.
Should really underhanded letters be counted? T in Texas division between panels? X in Alabama? and the torch as an I in Indiana? - maybe not.
The reverse of the Washington state flag is in this instance being counted as a second valid additions.
Feel free to check them and correct me.
For now I'll say 241 words and 4 instances of letters. (nearly five words per flag on average)
Just 13 flags without words.

Hey it's Michael from Flags For Good again. As you may know, we're hosting NAVA60 in our home town of Indianapolis this October (I hope you all come or at least tune into the live stream) but we need your ideas!

Being the 60th NAVA meeting, we're trying some new things and I'd love for the most vibrant flag-interested community on the internet to help steer the future of what NAVA could be. So please sound off!

If you want to present on a vexillological topic, have an idea for a panel, or anything else you would find fascinating in the world of flags, now's the time to let us know. Submissions will be open until May 15th.

Academic Paper: The usual NAVA/FIAV type of presentation - Submit a short abstract (300 words or so) to vp2nd@nava.org. Doesn't have to be a finished paper, just propose what you want to write/present about.

Panel: Could be an idea for a group of vexillologists or flag-adjacent people to speak on a topic. You could just pitch the idea or volunteer to moderate if you want to be a part of the discussion. Email vp2nd@nava.org or message me with a rough idea so I can bring it up in meetings.

Workshops or anything else: We're trying to mix up the usual NAVA structure and make this the best annual meeting ever so if you have any crazy ideas, this is the year for us to try them out. Drop ideas in the comments, message me, or email vp2nd@nava.org!

LINKS:
REGISTER FOR NAVA60 - October 9-11
CONFERENCE HOTEL

Comment with any questions you may have.

A version of the bold bison skull design that has come together after quite a bit of local voting between many designs. This version was mostly built in the NAVA interest area meetings of the flag design forum and the American state flag forum. On the team of four was Jim Croft since he had proposed designs back in the 1970's that did get some traction. This design echo's the "Big Sky" ethos, the wilds of the state in the bison skull in white and the included request to feature gold braid on the upper and lower hems as per state code. These cover the aspect of the Oro-Y-Plata motto. Currently the idea for a new state flag has been proposed to the Montana Arts Council along with supply of a dozen samples such that their artists might discuss the design or find other answers during this coming year.

Combines a little of the state flag with the current city flag (it's also a border design) and the core of the current city seal (but without text) That text is covered by a large capital letter "C" for "Charleston". The counter change in pale between white and blue acknowledges the opposite fessy blue and white design of Wheeling since both cities have been flip-flopping being the capital over many years.

South Dakota star (3 x 22 lines) that represents the 66 counties by having that number of vertices building shapes. Keeps mid blue field and gold sun. The seal which normally features only white and dark blue is replaced by two stars in those colors.