Houston Flag Redesign

Personally, I didn't know cities even had their own flag until I visited Chicago a few years ago and saw their's flown everywhere – local shops, bars, commercial buildings, homes – you name it. Coming back to Houston, I noticed that our flag is no where to be seen. Even Downtown at Houston's city hall, you'd think it would be flown on top of the building to help highlight Houston's identity and something to showcase our civic pride – not flown there either. However, looking at the design of Houston's current flag (and pretty much every other major city in the United States), maybe the lack of a quality flag design is one of the reasons why you don't see the city flag flown in Houston like you see throughout the city of Chicago?

Recently, I came across this ~20 minute TedTalk video about city flags from Roman Mars that talks about how terrible city flag designs usually are and the 5 common rules good flags tend to follow:

1. They sport simple designs
2. Feature meaningful imagery
3. Use only two or three colors
4. Avoid lettering
5. Maintain a balance between distinctiveness & familiarity

Keeping these elements in mind, I took a stab at redesigning Houston's flag with an infographic to help explain the imagery/symbolism shown.

As fellow Houstonians, would love to get your thoughts, feedback, and other design ideas.

Happy Flag Day!

Houston flag