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?
That sounds fine. My plan is to keep on pressuring them to get this right. I think we have a lot of talent in the city community, but not much talent in the government. If you know any other visual design professionals, encourage them to lobby the Mayor to do this right. I am an Aussie and have always been impressed at how the Sydney Opera House design was chosen: a competition then a panel of 4 architects picking the winner. We need a panel of visual design professionals to manage the competition, select a set of great designs and then let the community choose. I don't want the Mayor or some political committee making that final choice, so I think it's best to go with the community approach. That also engages the community who are generally not aware or savvy about what the inept government does.
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.
I've already done one design exercise this morning to see if I could make a design that's simple and clean, but retains the core symbolism of the seal. It's pretty cool.
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?
That sounds fine. My plan is to keep on pressuring them to get this right. I think we have a lot of talent in the city community, but not much talent in the government. If you know any other visual design professionals, encourage them to lobby the Mayor to do this right. I am an Aussie and have always been impressed at how the Sydney Opera House design was chosen: a competition then a panel of 4 architects picking the winner. We need a panel of visual design professionals to manage the competition, select a set of great designs and then let the community choose. I don't want the Mayor or some political committee making that final choice, so I think it's best to go with the community approach. That also engages the community who are generally not aware or savvy about what the inept government does.
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.
Thanks for your comments. I totally agree. The community is the key agent to enable a good flag design.
I've already done one design exercise this morning to see if I could make a design that's simple and clean, but retains the core symbolism of the seal. It's pretty cool.
Could you send it to me at theframinghamobserver@gmail.com?
Not really sure why city needs a flag- just another thing that will not withstand time
Perhaps. But given that the city has made the move, we should not have a terrible flag.