The Best Flag in the World
World Cup commentary by a miserable Englishman.
I’ve always had a fondness for flags. I remember as a kid watching the World Cup hosted by Japan and Korea in 2002 trying to remember which flag matched each country.
When @ElectionMapsUK announced they would be running a World Cup of flags on twitter, I was hooked.
A competition governed by design alone, not restricted by population size or government sponsorship (or lack thereof). A truly egalitarian contest!
A quick disclaimer before we begin: all commentary, in the spirit of the competition, is intended in good humour.
The good, the bad and the ugly. What makes a great flag?
Before we dive headlong into the competition, it is worth taking a moment to familiarise ourselves with some basic terminology and the principles that govern the design of a good flag.
A flag is made up of several elements on a coloured background, or field. Elements can be simple, such as crosses, or vertical, horizontal, or diagonal stripes (a pale, a fess or a bend, respectively). You may also see the X-shaped saltire, as seen famously in the Scottish flag, or a Y-shaped pattern called pall, as seen in the flags of South Africa and Vanuatu. Some flags are surrounded by a coloured border otherwise known as a bordure.
More complicated elements include emblems and badges; figures, symbols or animals are referred to as charges. Flags may contain isolated regions baring a different pattern entirely, called a canton, as seen in the flags of the US and Australia.
For reference, the side closest to the flagpole is called the hoist and the opposite side is called the fly.
This is just a surface level primer, but consider it our first steps into the study of vexillology.
According to Ted Kaye, the editor of RAVEN — a peer reviewed journal on the subject of vexillology: “a flag’s purpose is to represent a place, organisation, or person… to be seen at a distance, often moving, and reproduced in quantity and in many sizes.” These three stipulations are very important because they govern the rules of what makes a good flag.
According to Kaye, a good flag should:
- Be simple. A child should be able to recall it from memory!
- Use basic colours. Two or three is the ideal number and they should contrast nicely.
- Avoid letters or seals. It’s trashy, don’t be like Wisconsin.
- Be distinctive. Obviously, it ought to be readily identifiable from other flags. Using symbology to relate it to other flags though is allowed, such as Australia using the union flag as an element of its own.
- Use meaningful symbolism. A bit hard to judge from a superficial glance, but a national flag should embody the spirit of its nation.
With that out of the way and without further ado, let the games begin!
Qualifiers
And so, on the 3rd April, the World Cup begins! Thirty-two qualifying groups to determine which flags will proceed to the final tournament.
In the first qualifier, Bhutan and Nauru take the qualifying spots.
In a round of varied and interesting contenders, it was bound to be anyone’s game. Besides, the winning flags not that bad.
Bhutan’s charge, the dragon, may be a little complex, but it is certainly bold. And Nauru’s flag is simplistic and chic if you can ignore that off-centre star.
It is a shame that Myanmar or Togo didn’t take a winning spot, but at the very least, the clashing red and viridian colour scheme of Bangladesh was relegated to last place — the public must have some taste*.
However, round one should have been a red flag for the upsets to come. No pun intended.
Seventy-six percent, seventy-seven percent, seventy-nine percent. Bhutan wasn’t just winning — it was a landslide.
By the end of the next group the onslaught of the hideous flags had well and truly begun.
Morocco, perhaps one of the coolest flags in the competition finished at the bottom of the group with Nicaragua. The Andorran tricolour also failed to make the cut.
Meanwhile, at the top of the group stood the flag of Dominica, like a buck-toothed titan guffawing, victorious.
If I need to explain to you why the Dominican flag is an offence to graphic design you need to have your eyes tested. It is US State Flag levels of awful.
It consists of a symmetrical cross of yellow, black and white on a field of green, overlaid with red circle within which ten green stars encircle the charge, a parrot of green, purple and yellow. If that sounds like a lot — it is. Your brain melts into migraine as each element desperately grabs for your attention.
Compare that to the other qualifier, Czechia — a chevron based take on the tricolour. Simple, yet instantly recognisable. A poster child for good vexillology.
More upsets: Gabon and St Vincent & the Grenadines; Cameroon and Costa Rica; Italy and France; all finish bottom of their respective groups. Ghana, Senegal, Somalia, Uruguay victims of a merciless public.
Meanwhile, North Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Comoros, Sri Lanka and Grenada all took qualifying positions.
There is some hope however. Switzerland, Argentina, Norway, Greece and Vietnam all survive qualification, while Fiji, the Maldives and Saudi Arabia are rightfully trounced. Overall however, chic bold designs are out, complex, garish designs are in!
*Note: Ted Kaye our vexillologist says this about the Bangladeshi flag: ‘With two strong colours and a single symbol — the rising sun of independence, this flag succeeds admirably.’ So perhaps we all lack taste.
More than a popularity contest
As always with a contest like this, one has to ask if public opinion plays an important role.
Scandanavian flags certainly bucked the trend of simple flags losing out. As countless Eurovision results will attest, these guys are basically playing on easy mode in any popularity contest (No! I’m not bitter!). But the early success of my native United Kingdom, usually battered in the arena geopolitical public opinion, suggests this is not the full story.
The iconic Union Flag went undefeated until the round of thirty-two where it was dispatched by the seemingly unstoppable flag of Bhutan.
Public enemy number one, North Korea also qualified for the final tournament, suggesting that a bold design can be enough to carry you at least some way through the competition.
That said, towards the end of the competition, partisan national support was becoming an issue. Large scale support for a single flag was spoiling the mood of the competition, with many voters only casting votes for their national flag and ignoring all other brackets.
This lead to the implementation of a controversial rule: if your flag received twice as many votes than a whole bracket you would be disqualified. Ultimately, Zimbabwe broke this rule twice in a row. Despite, initial lenience, they were ejected from the competition in the quarter-finals.
Zimbabwean supporters did hold their own competition, which they won… but perhaps the less said about that the better.
The World’s Best Flags
Fortunately, the masses did themselves proud in the end. The four quarter finalists are all brilliant examples of vexillological design, striking the delicate balance between simplicity and recognisably.
Personally, I feel Barbados was hard done by to only pick up the bronze medal, doubly so for Brazil finishing in fourth place.
The Brazilian flag technically breaks the rules we set out at the beginning of this article due to it’s lettering: ‘Ordem e Progresso’ (order and progress to us anglophones). Nonetheless, it’s hard not to admire the flags pop-art flair.
Barbados contrasts the traditional triband with an unconventional deep blue and yellow colour scheme, the stylised trident of Poseidon taking centre stage.
Both worthy finalists without doubt.
In the final, Jamaica pipped South Africa at the post, winning by a slim margin (51% — 49%).
The South African flag breaks the rule of two or three colours, but manages to do so with sophistication, using the green pall to separate the blocks of red, blue and black.
Although no specific symbolism is attached to each of the colours, the flag is meant to represent the diverse groups that make up South African society meeting together at a crossroads. An admirable sentiment.
It was Jamaica however that won the day, it’s iconic yellow saltire separating blocks of black and green. Despite having no official symbolic meaning, the Jamaican flag has become famous around the world due to to the vibrancy of Jamaican culture and the cultural importance of Jamaican music.
The Jamaican flag ticks all the boxes of a good flag. Simple and readily identifiable. It is particularly noteworthy as it is the only national flag not to use blue, white or red (go and check!).
A worthy winner, I’m sure you’ll agree.
So there we have it. Do you think the public picked the best flags? Was your vexillological darling snubbed? Your national pride slighted? I mean, it’s Twitter at the end of the day, so get over it.
Despite all my complaining though, it was a wonderful exercise. Every nation’s flag is a reflection of history. When viewed through the proper lens, they are all objects of beauty.
…yes, even you Dominica!
