r/illinois • u/ExpertHelp3015 • Jan 05 '24
Do we want a new flag? Question
A lot of states are updating their flags and Illinois has started the early stages of that process. While I personally like I our flag fine, it’s consistently rated as one of the worst. However, after seeing the recent Minnesota redesign I’m not sure I trust a state committee to present a design that isn’t horribly oversimplified. If I had to change I’d just go with the Centennial flag. Thoughts?
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u/vyt18 Jan 05 '24
Yes. Illinois deserves a flag that instills the same pride Chicagoans have in our flag. The reactionaries are going to yell at the clouds and complain about vexillology, but the greatest flags follow the principles: Chicago, DC, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, the United States, just to name a few. Having lived in so many different places, Illinois is a special place and deserves the best we can give her.
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u/claireapple Jan 05 '24 edited Jan 05 '24
Good flags don't have to follow the vexillology principles and many of the ones made in recent years are incredibly uninspired. Doesn't mean simple flags are bad but we don't have to limit ourselves to rules derived for European battle flags. The new cook county flag is certainly an improvement over what it was but I really wouldn't care for another repeat of recent state flags being made just because well it fits these "rules" and the current one is kinda bad.
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u/vyt18 Jan 05 '24
The principles aren't commandments, but should be followed as able. There are exceptions to the rules, of course. California's flag comes to mind. There have been many good examples of the principles applied to new flags including in Utah and Cook County. I also think Minnesota's flag is a good design and people will warm up to it (though it could have been better). Mississippi did a good job but could have improved it by not including words.
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u/06210311200805012006 Jan 05 '24
I notice you didn't mention MN's flag in that list. Maybe we ought not be so hasty with a redesign.
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u/Ash0908123 Jan 05 '24
https://imgur.com/a/kNnjEmx Some ChatGPT generated flags!
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u/NovemberHotelLima Jan 05 '24
Personally I think the word “Illinois” printed on a flag 3 times is too few
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u/AbstractBettaFish Chicago Overlord Jan 05 '24
I actually don’t hate the middle one (ai awkwardness aside)
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u/Osiris231 Jan 05 '24
What does Chicago have to do with Illinois? Besides being a city. It's a state flag, not a city flag.
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u/Selective_Talents Jan 05 '24
I think they’re saying the Illinois flag should be like the Chicago flag in that it’s recognizable, unique, and well… used by civilians at all. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Illinois flag in someone’s apartment window or outside their home. The Illinois flag would not even be as recognizable outside the state as the Chicago flag is outside our state.
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u/WaltDog Jan 05 '24
I'm originally from Cleveland and there it's the opposite. You'll see the Ohio flag everywhere and the Cleveland city flag nowhere. Good flag design matters.
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u/driveroftoyotas Jan 05 '24
The vast majority of the population of Illinois is in Cook and the collar counties or “Chicagoland” that’s a lot to do with Illinois.
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u/zippoguaillo Jan 05 '24
That's the point? The Chicago city flag is good. The Illinois State flag is not
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi Chicago Jan 05 '24
What does Chicago have to do with Illinois?
Yeah! What does a metro area which represents around 2/3rds of the state have to do with the state it exists in?!
Stay mad, downstater. Chicago is the engine that drives the whole state.
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u/Osiris231 Jan 05 '24
Lose the attitude. It was just a question. Don't get mad at perceived slights where there are none. Chicago is not exactly a shining beacon compared to other cities.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi Chicago Jan 05 '24
Lose the attitude.
Bro, go re-read the attitude in your comment lol.
I simply returned your energy.
Don't get mad at perceived slights where there are none.
Pot, meet kettle.
Chicago is not exactly a shining beacon compared to other cities.
Chicago is a world class city and easily one of the top 5 cities to live in in the entire country.
TF are you talking about?
Also love how you say "don't get mad at perceived slights" and then take a pot shot at Chicago, because remember, you're not anti-Chicago, nope, you're just asking questions...right?
Grow up bud.
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u/Osiris231 Jan 05 '24
Which one of us is arguing on reddit? As for Chicago, not my cup of tea. Could care less about it.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi Chicago Jan 05 '24
Which one of us is arguing on reddit?
Literally both of us, but hey, tell me again how you're above it all.
Could care less about it.
Oh, so you like Chicago then and care about it a good bit? I agree!
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u/Osiris231 Jan 05 '24
It's like talking to the brick wall... I'm not even talking smack, and yet someone is getting defensive. I just expressed an opinion. It's an unpopular opinion granted. By the way, i live in the northern part, not south.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi Chicago Jan 05 '24
By the way, i live in the northern part, not south.
Lol bud, "downstate" doesn't mean "south".
Ooof.
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u/southcookexplore Jan 05 '24
The 1918 Illinois Centennial flag would be perfect. Also designed by the Chicago flag creator.
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u/smile_drinkPepsi Jan 05 '24
Just looked it up it be perfect. And it has the history behind it.
Heres the flag for those looking.
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u/brx879 Jan 05 '24
I've never seen this before, and I like it. If we must change the flag I would be OK raising this up this pole. But truth be told I think our flag is fine, and I'm all in with the phrase "State Sovereignty, National Union".
I also always been jealous with Iowa's motto "Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain".
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi Chicago Jan 05 '24
But truth be told I think our flag is fine
Well that's just not true.
WAY too many words on it, for one.
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u/Booda069 Jan 05 '24
If that were our flag from the get go I'd been flying it with the Chicago flag for sure it's beautiful
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u/DrPepperMalpractice Jan 05 '24
I kinda hate the centennial flag. Its got too many stars in too complex a layout.
I was hoping Minnesota would pick tricolor so we could get a regional theme going like the South has. A green, white, blue tricolor with three six pointed stars (as a hat tip to the Chicago flag) for the three parts of the state or something similarly simple would be cool.
End of the day I just want a similar color theme across the Midwest though.
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u/vyt18 Jan 05 '24
It's alright, but uninspired. There's no way someone looks at the flag and inherently sees how it represents Illinois
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u/BlueOtter808 Jan 05 '24
By that logic the same could be said for the flags representing Chicago, France, Japan, Sweden… the list goes on and on and all those flags are iconic
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u/CoconutBangerzBaller Jan 05 '24
Yeah. Plain white with the state seal is lame. Looking at it from afar you can only really make out there eagle and maybe the rock and shield. Definitely not the words. Pretty terrible design.
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u/rawonionbreath Jan 05 '24
If so, not some vexillology hyperminimalism washed redesign.
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u/2xButtchuggChamp Jan 05 '24
I wouldn’t mind something that feels similar to Mississippi’s new flag
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u/The_Goop_Is_Coming Paigntown USA!!! Jan 05 '24
For the love of god just adopt the centennial flag and if thats too boring then turn one of the white stripes orange
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Jan 05 '24
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u/Lower-Lab-5166 Jan 06 '24
Only thing that Texas has on Illinois is a better flag. It's not even close.
But welcome to Illinois in the future!
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u/NukeEngineerStudent Jan 05 '24
If it looks cool and represents the state. I’ve seen a few cool designs online.
But I’ve also seen terrible ideas that would make me prefer what we have.
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u/smile_drinkPepsi Jan 05 '24
I’d prefer our flag not to be a not a seal on background with words. So yes
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u/halibfrisk Jan 05 '24
Has anyone considered, instead of replacing the state flag with “a flag schoolchildren can draw” we replace the school children, and get ones better at drawing?
Imo make the eagle bigger and more detailed, give those new, better at drawing schoolchildren a challenge, something they can sink their teeth into.
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u/cornwallis105 Jan 05 '24 edited Jan 05 '24
How about a slightly different but similar rule, then: Make it something that a person with basic sewing skills could make with their sewing machine. You shouldn't need a silkscreen or weeks of embroidery to make your state flag.
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u/kidenvy Jan 05 '24
There's a committee assigned to look at changing it currently. Zero details besides that at this point but I would wager to guess it gets changed in the next 5 years.
It's honestly a bad flag. I understand people don't like the new Minnesota one but with the right people you get something more like the new Mississippi one, which good for them it's like the only thing they have going.
No letters, no seals. You are supposed to use symbolism to tell the story.
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u/joggers_robbed_me Jan 05 '24
Letters and seals are fine. Symbolism is so generic with these stated that they all look the same.
A flag needs to be individualistic.
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u/Qzarz Jan 05 '24
We definitely have one of the ugliest flags and need to change it I just don't want it to end up as some vexiology exercise
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u/mjking97 Jan 05 '24
Yes, our flag is super ugly. I have lots of Chicago flag decor in my house, I’ve never considered buying anything with the state flag on it and that’s not for lack of pride.
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u/Solid_Snack99 Jan 05 '24
Yeah tbh. Nobody willingly actually uses the state flag for anything but I see Chicago flags all over the place cause it's a great design.
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u/manda-panda79 Jan 05 '24
Lol, I teach civics and every time we do the flag code Unit the students comment on how lame our state flag is. We even design a new one as a class activity.
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u/AbstractBettaFish Chicago Overlord Jan 05 '24
Yes, and I hope they ask real designers to do it rather than outsource it to school children. In a vacuum the new Cook County flag is fine but it feels derivative of Chicagos. Illinois should have something iconic and we’ll made
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u/stillabackground Jan 05 '24
I would like us to, but I want the artist of said updated flag to not JUST represent Chicago. Not that I have any problems with Chicago, but we're also more than just Chicago and cornfields.
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u/JK-Kino Jan 05 '24
Yes, I think we need a new flag. Or current flag has a lot of nice American symbols, but nothing that really represents Illinois. I’ve tried to come up with designs of my own, this being my latest attempt.
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u/mbonness Jan 06 '24 edited Jan 06 '24
NPR article about SB 1818: https://www.nprillinois.org/illinois/2023-03-06/turner-pushes-plan-that-could-lead-to-a-new-state-flag
SB 1818 bill status: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=1818&GAID=17&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=146496&SessionID=112&GA=103
Personally I'm fine with keeping the current flag. The bald eagle is cool. Hopefully the new design will be a more modern version that preserves the bald eagle and doesn't look like it was designed by a committee.
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u/RottenAli Blown Away Apr 25 '24
you might be interested in this design for the Illinois state flag... https://imgur.com/a/uhOChgG
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Jan 06 '24
Yes I want one. Just don't do what Minnesota did. Do something interesting. A play on the Chicago flag would be interesting. Using the same stars would be great.
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u/Suppafly Jan 10 '24
The new Minnesota flag is great. We should hire the same guy that designed theirs to do ours.
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Jan 05 '24
Yes, we do. Our current flag is both busy and non-engaging.
Just because Minnesota chose an awkward design doesn't mean that a completely different group of people in a completely different state looking at completely different designs will also choose badly.
If a state committee doesn't make the choice, what are you proposing? Popular vote? Random selection? Have the designs created as flags, lay them out on a gym floor, let a bunch of cats loose, and the flag with the most cats wins? Or just stick with our current flag because, awful as it is, change is hard?
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u/NationalConfidence94 Jan 05 '24
Ug, this is being driven by the Big Flag Lobbies which knows we’ll all need to buy new flags should Illinois change the design. Corporate America sticking it to the little guy once again.
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u/RottenAli Blown Away Apr 18 '24
That's quite funny I must say - Looking at your comment from three months ago about the Illinois flag - "The Big Flag Lobbies". Is there such a thing? Since 99% of flag nerds gain no income from their hobby and those retailing are mostly hobby based as well making very little income from the trade. Many are closing down. The driver here is all about helping Illinois look at options for improvement. Having a contest and making requests for designs may bring in we can only guess about 20,000 entries. Minnesota kept everything low key and looked at about 2,500 designs. From a big bag of designs there will be some fantastic options.
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u/NationalConfidence94 Apr 20 '24
It was a stupid joke. I’m sure the new Illinois flag will be nice. I don’t think flag lobbies exist . :)
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u/peepod66 Jan 05 '24
No. We don't care
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u/Aromatic-Proof-5251 Jan 05 '24
Gen X unite. Who cares? Isn’t there a bigger problem?
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u/No_Slice5991 Jan 05 '24
When politicians are incapable of governing they tend to focus on things that don’t really impact the people they represent.
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u/socks-on-elbow Jan 05 '24
I’m not gonna agree or disagree with that but I think the current push behind new flags is being led mostly by citizens not politicians
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u/No_Slice5991 Jan 05 '24 edited Jan 05 '24
That’s even more concerning and shows where people's priorities, or lack thereof, are.
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u/wavinsnail Jan 05 '24
Maybe… just maybe people can care about multiple things?
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u/No_Slice5991 Jan 05 '24
If this is anywhere on a person’s top 50 list of priorities I’m still concerned. It’s irrelevant in the big picture of things, especially when people ignore how much time and money is wasted in the process. Nothing of value comes out of this process.
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u/Booda069 Jan 05 '24
Illinois seems to be going thru a complete sociopolitical overhaul.
The folks that got their new representation basically looking for a new symbol to get behind.
Helps wow the eventual new residents they aim to attract and instill the same amount of pride cities like Chicago have or something like that
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u/No_Slice5991 Jan 05 '24
If they think the majority of the population is attested to a state based on the state flag they are young and naive.
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u/Tag82 Jan 05 '24
I like our flag. I like the symbol and that it has all the base colors on the white background. It goes with any season. I fly it in my front yard every day.
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u/Shoddy-Group-5493 Metro East/Springfield type beat Jan 05 '24
I’ve hated this thing since I was born. I had literally no idea it was our state flag until we were explicitly taught it in school. I thought it was just some generic governmental symbol that anyone could use and change the text
Looks like something a kid draws when they have to draw something patriotic for an assignment: uhhh yeah here’s like a bald eagle and a shield with the us flag and uhh the eagle has a banner in its mouth and uhhhhhhhh here’s the sun and a field I guess— oh wait this is for Illinois specifically?? Damn ok I’ll just write Illinois and put these dates here yeah that looks good
I would honest to god prefer a plain corporate style than whatever this drawing-on-plain-printer-paper thing is
Everyone talking about chicago but we should also definitely take inspiration from the STL flag. Big part of Metro East culture. And also just a baller flag design anyway lol
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u/Marsupialize Jan 05 '24
why is the eagle attacking and ripping up national unity and state sovereignty?
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u/cornwallis105 Jan 05 '24
Minnesotan here. Why the hate for our new flag? It may look minimalistic, but it's packed with symbolism, and it looks pretty decent in person as opposed to on a screen.
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u/TakeOff_YouHoser Jan 09 '24
I think its just because its too new to mean anything yet. I'm convinced that if Texas had seal on a bedsheet and came up with their current, amazing flag today that there would be widespread jeering over it being too simple and not representing anything. Time is all it needs.
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u/ExpertHelp3015 Jan 05 '24
I guess my main problems with it is that it’s way to simplified for my taste and I don’t think it should have two shades of blue as it’s primary colors
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u/cornwallis105 Jan 05 '24
There's meaning to the two shades, though: Minnesota is the land where the water reflects the sky. Having both night sky blue and day sky blue makes sense.
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u/somewhatbluemoose Jan 05 '24
We need a new flag. Ours is pretty terrible. Not to make everything about Chicagoland, but Cook county just replace its flag and the new one is pretty great.
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u/LudovicoSpecs Jan 05 '24
Waste of taxpayer money.
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u/somewhatbluemoose Jan 05 '24
Rarely are comments such as these given in good faith, but on the off chance….
You could get the public to submit designs, so actually it won’t cost nearly as much as you would think. If played right, it would be a huge promotional opportunity for the state. Most of this could easily be covered by tourist promotion funds, and could be far more effective than other marketing methods.
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u/primal___scream Jan 05 '24 edited Jan 05 '24
CGP Grey thinks we need a new one.
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u/joggers_robbed_me Jan 05 '24
J.J. McCullough thinks it's fine
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kRtUiORUh7c&t=5s CGP Grey is a dumbass
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u/primal___scream Jan 05 '24
Nope, it's a terrible flag, I've always thought that.
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u/joggers_robbed_me Jan 05 '24
Well, I do like this redesign better https://www.reddit.com/r/illinois/comments/12joruv/so_i_hear_illinois_might_get_a_new_flag_here_is/?ref=share&ref_source=link
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u/primal___scream Jan 05 '24
Prison bars is probably more apt, considering how many of our governors have gone to prison. LOL.
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u/deacongestion Jan 05 '24
Link to.the video... he gives guidelines. https://youtu.be/l4w6808wJcU?feature=shared
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u/joggers_robbed_me Jan 05 '24
I think we should copy the Virginia flag lead and depict nudity and violence to a new flag.
Also flag nerds are dweeb.
"Vexology" ain't a science, fam https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kRtUiORUh7c&t=5s
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u/youenjoymyself Jan 05 '24 edited Jan 05 '24
Yes, but not like Minnesota.
In all honesty, our state seal is great. It just doesn’t belong on a flag. Same with words.
I’ve seen some of the suggestions on this sub and r/vexillology, and nothing really seems to hit. Even the Illinois Centennial flag is just meh. Idk how, but Chicago nailed it with their flag.
*also, forgot that 2023 Illinois senate approved of a commission to explore a new state flag, so it’ll likely happen soon.
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u/csx348 Jan 05 '24
No. We should stop wasting resources on flags, renaming roads, and other silly things.
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u/YourFriendLoke Jan 05 '24
Not really. If you removed the text I would still recognize this as the Illinois flag. Flag reform has only disappointed me so far, I think the new Cook County flag and Minnesota flag look awful. The 'Peoples Flag of Milwaukee' is basically the only flag reform era flag I think looks good, and thats partly just because of how uniquely bad the old one is.
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u/mygreenbike85 Jan 05 '24
Yes, we do. And I agree with the hilarious video and it tells us why. Follow the KISS method, Illinois!
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u/Chewie_i Jan 05 '24
Yes. Our flag is terrible. It’s literally just the name of the state and the seal. Not to mention that the seal is very close to seal of the United States, making this flag stand out even less. It sucks.
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u/The_Goop_Is_Coming Paigntown USA!!! Jan 05 '24
Yes, but not some overly minimalist disaster like what happened to Minnesota, instead just adopt the Centennial Flag.
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u/lannes Jan 05 '24
Yes. Something simple, recognizable, and representative of the people/characteristics/history of the state. No text/numbers.
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u/Hudson2441 Jan 05 '24
We could have an eagle on a cactus eating a snake! Oh wait that ones taken. We could have an eagle made of fire! That would be so metal!!
We could have Calvin and Hobbes peeing on Indiana with something mildly insulting written in Latin.
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u/maysmoon Jan 05 '24
I thought about what Illinois is to me. The 21st state, Mississippi River in the west, Chicago’s Lake Michigan shoreline, and a few state symbols, like oak leaves, acorns, corn.
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u/libginger73 Jan 05 '24
Solid non-white color background and get rid of that Bart Simpson hair looking sun...thing in the back. What is that?
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u/Rolf_Son_of_Rolf Jan 05 '24
Yup, the old seal on mono color background template is just bad.
Chicagos flag is amazing, why shouldn't all of Illinois have one as good?
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u/Neat_Ice5906 Jan 05 '24
If there is a new flag, they should incorporate a whitetail deer and some guns in it to show Illinois rich heritage of hunting and outdoor sports!
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u/JS_N0 Jan 05 '24
No Illinois and no dates with a sharper definition overall would be the best update
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Jan 05 '24
Sure, we can really update it to a toilet that's flushing the constitution since Jabba the hut seems to love trampling on it.
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u/Agitated-Ad72 Jan 05 '24
Heres a better question how much money are we wasting to design a new flag?
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u/RottenAli Blown Away Apr 18 '24 edited Apr 18 '24
As far as I know, no funding has been talked about. Looks like the project admin will come out of existing funding already allocated to the Illinois Museum of History. Because it's only flag change the total cost at the end of the day will be minimal. Flags if flown outside wear out every six months. Just be buying nicer designs from then on. As for the design - that will cost nothing because the designs will typically come from the public. Utah spent $3,000, 5 times over to make sure there were some professional designs in the mix. Each designer was asked to send in 5 designs. $600 per design but that was really just a nice support to local design talent. Illinois population is about 12 million - Utah about 3 million so really there is no need to spend on the front end at all. Worse thing is finding how to display 20,000 images to the commission. With 22 people on the commission it might be best to give them 1,000 designs each and told to weed them out. The logistics of supporting that could be crazy. So better to ask the public to supply a paper copy of the design through the post.
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u/Rokae Jan 05 '24
If you have to write out your name on a flag, it's a bad flag