Given how many countries take either Friday or Monday (or both) of this week as a holiday, we are going to opt for a long weekend as well, and will return with new posts on Tuesday.

Until then, enjoy this critical look at US state flag designs. A set of design criteria for flags are set out at the beginning, which make sense as form should follow function, and it’s impressive how few of the entrants come close to fulfilling them. Perhaps the equivalent of “don’t write the name of your state on your flag” in our industry would be “don’t include your business model in the title of your journal.” While I vehemently disagree with the critic’s opinion of purple (perhaps the most important of colors), the whole thing is entertaining. We’ll see you Tuesday.

David Crotty

David Crotty

David Crotty is a Senior Consultant at Clarke & Esposito, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategic issues related to professional and academic publishing and information services. Previously, David was the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He oversaw journal policy across OUP’s journals program, drove technological innovation, and served as an information officer. David acquired and managed a suite of research society-owned journals with OUP, and before that was the Executive Editor for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he created and edited new science books and journals, along with serving as a journal Editor-in-Chief. He has served on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc., as well as The AAP-PSP Executive Council. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.

Discussion

7 Thoughts on "Design Matters: Critiquing US Flag Designs"

Hard for me to believe I actually watched the complete video but it was entertainment for a Friday early morning. Thanks David!
I agree with you on the color purple….I would go with Pantone 267C for a flag.

What fun! Thank you, and (spoiler alert) glad to see the flag of the great state of Maryland at the top!

CGPGrey does amazing work- look up his videos on researching the origins of the name Tiffany.

The shape of the “flag” of the state of Ohio is a burgee, and in the buckeye state, we refer to it as the Ohio Burgee, not the Ohio state flag.

Is there a state that loves their flag more than Maryland? I’ve only been in the DMV a few years and I’ve seen it on every surface and in every shape imaginable.

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