User:FANDOM Creeper/Vexillology Tips

I'm not an expert, but I do a lot of alternate history and research, and I think I know when a flag could be considered good or bad. Here we go!

Heraldry
Heraldry would be the coat of arms, seal, or national emblem of a nation. If put on a flag, sometimes the lfag will look nice, sometimes it won't. I typically go safe and remove it (unless I'm doing a Europe AH cuz they love doing that), but it can sometimes be pleasent.

The reason to not include heraldry is because it's too complex and straining on the eyes.

Canton
The canton is in the top left corner of the flag, by the staff. This is important in the Flokk flag referendum because the USA flag is in the top left corner. Adding a flag in the canton never looked attractive to me, but that may just be me. The USA flag, however, would be a bad flag to put in the canton due to it already having a flag in the canton. I think in the Flokk situation, it would be best not to have a flag in the canton, although something in the canton would be great, such as a symbol.

Words and Lettering
These make a flag ugly. Never add them when designing a flag. That's it. I've never done it, I never will do it, no good flag has ever had obvious lettering on it. This is just a big no in my book.

Colors
Colors need to go together. Don't out something that's puke green right by a blinding cyan. Don't just use ugly colors in general. If you're adding colors, they need to be well-defined. That means no gradient. That can seriously hurt your eyes (figuratively). You also shouldn't use lots of colors. 4 is typically the maximum, however there can be some exceptions, such as the flag of South Africa. It's best not to go the five or more color direction unless you're an expert. Adding rainbow colors is typically not a good idea, since they don't have the flowing together feel, hich is one problem with Flokk's flag. The most common flag colors are red, white, and blue since they fit so well together.

Symbols
The symbol on Flokk's flag is a nest with eggs. Typically when doing symbols, you want to do an outline our silhouette to make it more attractive, but it's not necissarily ugly when using actual emblems. Popular symbols include stars, crescents, and suns. In Piggy Planet, you could go for eggs, nests, and snouts.

Popular Flag Designs
Here are some designs that really work:

Tricolor
Tricolors are three vertical stripes. A popular example of this is the French flag. It has three stripes, blue, white, red, and is fairly simple. It's attractive and nice. However, since so many flags have adopted this simplicity, it gets hard to tell them apart. Take a look at west-African flags. It's hard to tell them apart when you get down to it, you have to have been working with them a really long time to get it right.

Triband/Tribar
Three horizontal stripes of three colors. They needn't all be different, just as long as the two colors that are the same are on opposite sides. These can also get confusing, and have a similar story as with the tricolor.

Quadrisection
Four different sections of stuff. Usually they should be symmetric or similar so it's not a confusing jumble.

Cross
Commonly seen in England or the flag of Georgia, it's a simple, symmetric cross that is easy to go for. Using recognizable colors can make this flag type easy.

Nordic Cross
An off-centered cross used in Nordic flags. Please don't use this unles designing a Nordic nation

Saltire
A diagonal cross, like a long x. An example is Scotland's flag. Again, simple and attractive. I like this one since if you play your colors right, you can get a simple, unique flag.

Centralized Symbol
Just put the symbol in the center, and have a solid color all around it. An example is Switzerland's flag. It's simple, but it's a bit hard to pull off making it look really good.

Pale
A strange type of flag. It takes the classic tricolor, and putts some heraldry on it. An example is the flag of Canada. This also works with the triband as in Argentina's flag.

Canton Symbol
Rather than a flag in the canton, a simple symbol will work. We see this in many flags such as Uruguay and the USA. These can be good if you're good at design. I personally find them too complex.

Bicolor
Two colors, horizontal or vertical. Simple as that. A bit too simple for me. An example is Poland's flag.

Fess
A stripe running horizontally in the middle of the flag. An example is Latvia's flag.

Bend
A simple diagonal stripe running in one direction. I do like the look of these ones. An example is the flag of Tanzania.

Chevron
A side triangle with a design to the main part of the flag. The triangle is typically on the left, but a right-side triangle may exist as well. An example is the flag of the Czech Republic.

Triangle
I have no idea where to begin. Just look at Guyana's flag.

Pall
This is like with South Africa's flag. A letter "Y" laying on its side. Can look kinda cool

Borders
Borders are very optional. Just a solid color running around the flag, just a border of the rectangle. Don't make them gradient or intricate, just one, simple color.

I hope this helps you in designing any flag, not just the one of Flokk!