Tukutuku by Pax Zwanikken

As you may or may not be aware, New Zealand is holding binding referenda in order to change the national flag. The first referendum will determine which flag from a currently undecided list of 4 alternative flags is most preferred by New Zealanders. The second referendum will be between the preferred alternative flag and the current flag. These referenda will cost 26 million, which is a cost that has angered many people in New Zealand. I’m not going to say whether or not we should have these referenda in the first place, because it’s going to go ahead regardless of what the public says now. I’m only going to be talking about why Tukutuku is the best alternative design proposed.

The current New Zealand flag

There are a couple of things that are wrong with the current New Zealand flag at a glance. One of the most commonly cited faults is its similarity to the Australian flag:

The Australian flag

The flag of New Zealand contains 3 elements and just 3 pieces of clear symbolism (the Union Jack representing our place in the commonwealth, the blue background symbolizing our connection with the ocean as an island nation, and the southern cross representing our place as a nation in the south pacific). 2 of these 3 elements are overly complex and contain many lines, points, and angles. The current New Zealand flag has a high complexity to symbolism ratio, which is the opposite of elegant flag design.

Another fault of the current New Zealand flag is that is heavily modeled after the British blue ensign and does not represent the diverse ethnic and cultural demographics of New Zealand. Also, stop and think about this for a second…our flag has another nation’s flag on it.

There is currently a list of 40 flags being considered for inclusion in the first flag referendum. Here they all are:

Here is the official list with an explanation of the designs

We’re going to cull the list.

Flags often get rendered at small resolutions (in tab thumbnails for example) and should be easily recognizable from a distance, even when flapping in strong wind. Many of the proposed New Zealand flags, notably those that contain ferns, pointed or multicolored stars, and fine koru (spiral) designs, lose some of their design elements at low resolution:

Let’s get rid of the flags that don’t cope with shrinking. As you can see, the pointed stars, fern fronds, and small koru get distorted in shape and adjacent colors start merging. Only 10 of the 40 designs render well.

This also gets rid of all the flags that break the first rule of good flag design: keep it simple enough for a child to draw from memory.

The remainders:

The six koru designs are unique among national flags, but most the fail to represent more than one New Zealand heritage, and this is a problem with the current flag too. The koru is a Maori symbol, and although Maori culture as the only represented culture on the New Zealand flag makes more sense than British culture being the only culture represented, these designs have still failed to represent New Zealand’s diverse heritage.

These six remaining flags are all good flags. They all follow the rules of good flag design and look nice aesthetically (at least in my perspective). They all manage to reflect at least Maori and British heritage. However, only one of these flags represents the many other ethnic and cultural minorities present in New Zealand…

Tukutuku

Tukutuku is a Maori art form where patterns are created by weaving colored strips of textile through wooden boards. The patterns created tell the identities of the various iwi (tribes) that are present in New Zealand.

Importantly, the diagonally crossing lines on the left hand side of this design and the diagonally oriented squares on the right hand side of this design do not represent only Maori heritage. They also bring to mind the “tartans, checks and tweeds of the British Isles” as well as the textile and plant weaving in cultures as diverse as Chinese, Pacific, and Indian. Weaving is present in every culture and is used to tell stories, collect food, keep people warm, and even sail the seas. The use of weaving symbolism produces a very elegant design that everyone can relate to.



This flag masterfully retains the composition of the current New Zealand flag (diagonal cross on the left, southern cross constellation on the right) while completely changing the design to be incredibly consistent and beautiful.

Unlike most of the alternative flag designs that contain a southern cross, the stars of Tukutuku mesh perfectly with the overarching aesthetic of the flag.



There are very few lines and design elements in this flag (two perpendicular lines on the left and a heavily simplified southern cross on the right) yet the depth of symbolism the flag offers is far greater than the current flag, and greater than the other alternatives.

As previously noted, the shapes in this design represent the multiculturalism present in New Zealand. The original ethnic group of New Zealand is further represented by the black, red, and white color scheme of this flag (black, red, and white are the traditional Maori colors).

Just like in the current flag, the southern cross represents our place as a nation in the southern pacific, albeit in a more beautiful manner than the current flag.

The flag is still distinctive when rendered at small sizes or in grey-scale, and one can easily recognize when the flag is being flown upside down in distress.

The shades black, grey, and white further represent the diversity of heritage and culture in New Zealand, while the red pays homage to the sacrifices New Zealanders have made to defend New Zealand’s peace and safety.

If you’re looking for a flag that fixes the problems of the current New Zealand flag, that all people of New Zealand can see themselves in, that looks absolutely stunning, Tukutuku is your best option.

Disclaimer: I do not know the designer of this flag. I am not plugging this flag for their benefit. I saw this flag on the long list and it stuck out to me as by far the best alternative flag design. The only information on the symbolism and design of this flag that I have read comes from this page. Any other comments on symbolism are just what I have intuited from the design and are my opinion.