52 Flags for 52 Neighborhoods

I have two loves that are very nerdy.  One is my love of Cincinnati and knowing everything I can about its 52 neighborhoods and their history.  The other is a love of all things pertaining to flags.  I love hanging them outside my house, knowing the design elements, and historical evolution of national, state, and civic flags.    

So I decided to combine these two nerdy loves into my first ever blog and what might quite possibly be the greatest blog ever made.  The goal of this blog is to create a civic flag for each of Cincinnati’s 52 neighborhoods, doing one a week, so that within a year I will have designed them all.  A map of the neighborhoods is below

This blog was inspired by two other groups of blogs.

One group is blogs themed on Cincinnati where the blogger does some activity once a week in the 52 neighborhoods for a year.  The first such blog I saw was 52 Breakfasts which was a great idea done back in 2010 through 2011, although breakfast is limiting in terms of options and the timing of the meal.  The other blog was Run 52 (done just this past year) where the bloggers jogged through each of the neighborhoods, which is even more of a commitment given the weather and time it takes.

The other group of blogs that inspired this one were blogs where the author created their own flag designs. One is Fix the Flags which the goal is to create new flags for each U.S. state, particularly because nearly half of them are simply blue with the state seal on them.  That blog was itself inspired by Your State Flag Stinks, which has the same goal of flag redesign.

With rare exception, the Cincinnati neighborhoods have no flags. So this will not be a redesign but simply the first design.  However, there are many common flag templates and some great flags out there to use as a model.  I would greatly welcome anyone out there who had input or ideas to submit their own ideas and I would put up some of the submissions on the blog. 

The North American Vexillogical Association list 5 rules for a good flag that I completely agree with and will attempt to follow throughout this blog.  Many countries get these right.  Most states and cities, however, are often in violation of these rules and the result is complicated cluttered flags.  Here are the rules

·         The 5 Basic Principles of Flag Design

1.       Keep It Simple

2.      Use Meaningful Symbolism

3.      Use 2-3 Basic Colors

4.      No Lettering or Seals

5.      Be Distinctive or Be Related

I will start with my own neighborhood of Pleasant Ridge as the first post.  I put the remaining neighborhoods into a list randomizer and so each week a random neighborhood will be chosen for the next post. 

Just a note: I am not a graphic designer.  My computer design skills extend to Microsoft paint,  so I will often be stealing liberally.  If I think a flag calls for a bird, I’m going to go out and find a bird on the internet and take it because otherwise it would look like a 5 year old drew it. 

Later tonight, I will put up the Pleasant Ridge flag blog.  Hope you enjoy.