The City of Framingham New Flag Needs an Immediate Redesign
The recently unveiled first version of the city flag violates most flag design rules.
I posted an article on a possible city flag on April 5, 2023:
https://framinghamobserver.substack.com/p/will-the-city-of-framingham-get-its
Now the city has come up with a first attempt at a city flag. The problem is that it violates almost every city flag design rule, but most of all it violates one of the cardinal rules of city flag design:
NEVER USE LETTERING OR SEALS
You can view the Mayor announcing the new flag design at the November 21, 2023, City Council meeting in this video clip, which also shows the terrible flag design:
If you go to YouTube and search on ‘city flag design’ you get the following terrific video, which explains good flag design principles with examples of good and bad designs. It is a wonderful video and well worth watching in its entirety
It is generally impossible for city employees or city elected officials to come up with a good city flag design, as they typically have no graphic design skills. It’s much better to draw on the design talent in the community at large.
Here is a possible way to get a great Framingham city flag.
Create a competition and invite entries from residents and businesses in Framingham. That includes students.
Have the competition managed by a panel of, say, four local residents with graphic design credentials. Make sure they view the above video and apply its design rules to the entries. For example, in the invitation for entries, they can state the design rules and note that any entry not abiding by them will be summarily rejected.
After a period during which entries are submitted, let that panel review the entries, select the best 5 and put them on display on the city website and possibly at local art galleries. Then let the community select the winning entry.
The logistics need to be managed to make sure no one in the community votes more than once and that a good percentage of the community participates.
At least something along the lines suggested above should be carried out.
The main thing is to keep the politicians out of the decision loop. They always get it wrong.
In the meantime, we can put up with the current terrible city flag, but we should wait for the new, better design, before we place a bulk city flag order, or have the city flag hung in the State House.
After reading your article....I wrote and called the Mayor's office in regards to this. I'm hoping they put the brakes on the current 'flag logo' and do a proper exploration. I cited your article as the reason I heard about this, and if they decide to keep the current one, I'll send my sketch to you so you can see an example of my first thought. But if they decide to do a proper explore, I'd like to nip and tuck my design first, then do a few more variations. Don't want to share anything too early in the design process...Does that sound cool?
Agreed. I've studied the principles of heraldry, from which flag design is derived. The symbolism goes deep. If the city wants to see some great design options, they should reach out to the community. There's a lot of rich symbolism embedded in the shield of Framingham, and can be suited to a flag. I've been a designer for over 25 years, and do logos all the time. The problem that disrupts good usually arises from design-by-committee. The more opposing non-designer viewpoints that are entertained, the more watered-down it can get.