A flag is a powerful symbol that, when designed well, reflects its people well and is reflected by its people. Anyone can feel pride when seeing their flag in use. Your nation is part of your personal identity, so to have a well-designed flag is powerful. This can be seen on many levels. For example, the people of the United States take great pride in their country. The American flag is well-designed and represents us well; it is a symbol of the land of liberty and opportunity. This flag is a globally recognized symbol of a great nation. This sense of pride can also be seen on the state level. It is not uncommon to see the flag of Texas or Colorado flying proudly across their cities and towns.

The State of Nebraska is a wonderful place as well and has many reasons to make its people proud. We take great pride in our football team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers. We have also been very successful; Nebraska is the center of many national corporations and has a high quality of living and education. Unfortunately, we do not possess a flag that represents us and everything that we stand for.

The flag of Nebraska is a product of bad design. The golden seal of Nebraska on the navy blue background makes for a design that is both unappealing and commonplace. A flag should be striking, bold, and meaningful; it should be a source of pride for its people. Achieving this level of quality is easily obtainable since good flag design is a relatively simple concept. Vexillologist (flag expert) Ted Kaye wrote the pamphlet Good Flag, Bad Flag: How to Design a Great Flag to lay out the North American Vexillological Association’s principles of good flag design. There are the five rules:

1. Keep it simple

2. Use meaningful symbolism

3. Use 2-3 Basic Colors

4. No lettering or seals

5. Be distinctive or related

If we examine the flag of the state of Nebraska, we can see that it does not follow four out of these five rules. Although the flag does follow a simple color palette, it fails on all other areas. This flag is by no means simple. The giant seal in the middle has small details that would take hours to draw with a pencil. It's also very hard to remember the fine image. Although the seal itself is a good symbol of the state of Nebraska, it is not a good symbol for a flag. Seals should never be put on flags. They were originally designed for documents and contracts. When looking at the flag of Nebraska from a distance, no one can see the small details distinctly and recognize the blacksmith in the foreground or the train in the background. People from out of state would not be able to recognize the flag if it did not say State of Nebraska on the seal. A good flag shouldn't have to write out what it represents, you should look at it and known right away. Finally, the flag is not at all distinct. There are about 30 other American states that have flags that are simply a seal on a colored background, and 21 of these states have dark blue backgrounds making them almost indistinguishable from Nebraska's flag, especially when viewing them from a distance. Nebraska cannot represent itself nationally with its current flag.

Because Nebraska's state flag is not distinct, there is little incentive to actually fly it publicly. We do not commonly fly the flag, nor do we wear clothing with the current design or sell merchandise featuring it. In 2001, NAVA conducted a survey ranking the United States and Canadian state/province flags. In the results, Nebraska's finished at 71st out of 72 flags. Since then, the flag in 72nd place (Georgia) has been replaced. Change is possible; our flag can still be improved.

There are many possibilities for addressing this problem that will result in an improved flag for Nebraska. One suggestion would be to allow the people of Nebraska to submit designs and vote for the best flag. If this path is taken, precautions should be taken to prevent inappropriate designs from being voted for as the new flag. New Zealand recently held flag redesign referendums which can be used for ideas. In any case, if a voting system is necessary for selection of a new flag, the first-past-the-post system should not be implemented; a proportional system would better serve voting when there are multiple choices. It should also be understood that the politicians of the state government of Nebraska should NOT design the flag themselves, but rather leave the creation of designs to more creative people such as the public and professional designers. Some other recommendations would be to emphasize the five principles of flag design.

Change is possible. There is still hope for a better Nebraskan flag; one that stands apart from the other 21 blue flag states and one that can fly alongside Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico and be nationally recognized. We have a lot to gain from a good flag design. It’s time for a new flag to represent the Great State of Nebraska and the good life.

Easy share link --> bit.ly/neflag

Here are some useful links concerning the topic of flag design:

Good Flag, Bad Flag: How to Design a Great Flag by Ted Kaye

More information about the New Zealand Flag Referendums

Roman Mars’ TED Talk on Flag Design (focused on city flags, but relevant to state flags)

Ranking of U.S. and Canadian Flags

Vexillology Subreddit

C.G.P. Grey and Brady Haran discuss U.S. State Flags