Texas city flags: Ranking the best, worst & ugliest official flags in Texas

21. Richardson “Reminds me of an Etch-A-Sketch. I don’t understand why we’re trying to do this no smooth design look. I’m sure there’s a reason and the designer has something in mind. It doesn’t speak to me. I’m just kind of confused.”

See some of Texas' best and worst city flags... less 21. Richardson “Reminds me of an Etch-A-Sketch. I don’t understand why we’re trying to do this no smooth design look. I’m sure there’s a reason and the designer has something in mind. It doesn’t ... more Photo: Wikimedia Photo: Wikimedia Image 1 of / 185 Caption Close Texas city flags: Ranking the best, worst & ugliest official flags in Texas 1 / 185 Back to Gallery

The flags from around Texas were not created equal.

Not many people know this better than Houston's Charles Spain, 58, director of the Flag Research Center and the secretary general of the Fédération Internationale des Associations Vexillologiques (FIAV), an international federation of 50 regional and international vexillological associations.

The Flag Research Center was founded in 1962 by Dr. Whitney Smith, the man who pioneered the formal study of flags. Smith dubbed this practice vexillology when he was 17-years-old. At 21, Smith and colleague Gerhard Grahl began publishing The Flag Bulletin, the world's first periodical on flags, in 1961. Smith edited The Flag Bulletin for 50 years and authored 27 books on various aspects of the subject.

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"The man was a genius," Spain told Chr0n.c0m. "His whole house was crammed with books."

Smith died in November and since then, Spain has helmed the Flag Research Center and will begin publishing The Flag Bulletin once again in the spring.

Spain has spent years studying many of Texas' flags and has gotten to know some of their creators. While he felt many of the flags chosen by Chron.com featured logos that were shoddily repurposed, Spain provided one caveat: If the residents of those cities embraced and identified with those flags, that's all that mattered.

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"Flags don't have to be beautiful to be effective," Spain said.

See the slideshow above to see 21 of the best and worst flags from around Texas.