Update The Flag? Why?

Since 2015 there have been hundreds of municipal flag initiatives throughout the United States. Why? In 2015, Roman Mars of 99% Invisible gave a TED Talk entitled, “Why City Flags May Be The Worst Thing You’ve Never Noticed.” We’re not here to tell you that the current flag of Frankfort is the worst thing but we can guarantee that it’s barely noticed. As we’ve met with members of the community, many of who have lived here their entire lives, it’s become clear that the overwhelming majority of Frankfort citizens are unaware of our current city flag.

The reasons for this are varied and nuanced. But none of these reasons are inclusive of ideas such as the flag is bad or wrong. Far from it. The 1959 committee led by Ermina Jett Darnell was a veritable who’s who of Frankfort’s leading historians and artists. But as time has inevitably progressed we have learned much about the art/science of vexillology. We have also entered the digital age where scalability of images has become key to wider adoption.

Why Update The Flag Of Frankfort?

1. The purpose of a flag is to represent its place and be easily recognizable from a distance
2. Online presence is critical in the digital age and image scalability is key
3. Updating the flag spreads community awareness and increases engagement

1. Represent Place & Be Recognizable From A Distance

The second part, be recognizable from a distance, is one of the key reasons for our initiative. Since time immemorial the purpose of a flag has been to say, “This is us. This is our side.” Through the dust and smoke of battlefields since the heroic ages a flag has been used to clearly define, “This belongs to us or this is who we are.” Key to this is having a flag that’s discernible from a distance. The current Frankfort flag does well to try and describe who and where we are as a people and a city. But unfortunately it’s fine lines, small details, and lettering make it very difficult to recognize from a distance. An updated design can easily use the existing elements to create a flag that is easily recognizable even from great distances. Alternatively a reimagined design could accomplish the same, but that is up to the people of Frankfort. Regardless, a new flag that is recognizably unique and discernible is appropriate for a unique and distinctive city such as Frankfort.

2. Scalability & Digital Usage

The primary purpose of a flag is to serve as a banner and that, preferably, means flapping proudly and visibly at the top of a large number of flag poles throughout the community. But in the 21st century we all know that online visibility is just as, if not more, important as an images more traditional usage. As described above, the current flag has small scale elements with very fine line drawings. Just as this makes it indistinguishable at a distance it also makes the image difficult to scale down for other uses. These would be things such as stickers, magnets, buttons, pins, etc. By updating the flag to be more adaptable to these uses we could guarantee a broader adoption. We look forward to a day when members of the community are able to wear Frankfort’s flag as a recognizable patch or lapel pin. We hope that one day visitors to our community will be able to bring home patches, magnets, and stickers to show people, “I visited Frankfort.”

3. Awareness & Community Engagement

A great number of flag initiatives are confronted with the question, “Don’t you have anything better to do?” The answer is an unequivocal, “Yes!” But flag initiatives are a low cost, high return way of bringing awareness to a city’s history and increasing community engagement. We’re not trying to erase the existing flag. Far from it. It’s quite possible that an updated flag will feature updated and enhanced elements of the existing flag. And one of our key goals is to ensure that the current flag receives a place of honor in the city’s museum and city facilities. Hopefully participation in this kind of effort will introduce community members to all the other existing opportunities for community engagement. It’s a lot easier to tackle the big issues when you have a common banner beneath which to confront them.

You Get To Decide

Change is often unwelcome as it sometimes feels like people are trying to erase the past. Firstly, we’d argue that it’s difficult to erase something of which most people are unaware. Secondly, change doesn’t have to be radical change. Taking elements of the past and enhancing them for the present and future can be a great way to bring the community more closely together. Regardless, the people of Frankfort are in the drivers seat. We look forward to your ideas!