Over-the-Rhine

When I put the neighborhoods into the randomizer, I was bummed that Over-the-Rhine came up first.  Over-the-Rhine might be the most intimidating neighborhood to design a flag for because it’s so hip and trendy.  I’m sure that there are many graphic designers and artists living there who would have their own ideas about this subject.

*POST EDIT* Some might run the neighborhoods of the West End, Over the Rhine, and Pendleton together.  A map of OTR's boundaries is below.

In fact, when I began to do research on the topic, I found someone who had already created a flag for OTR.  They made a Facebook page called The-Over-Rhine Flag and created a second page about the flag here with downloadable images and descriptions.  A picture of the flag is below.

FLAG 1

Here is the description from the website.

Symbolism

“The colors of Germany and the USA mix in this flag like the Germans' heritage has mixed with Cincinnati's culture. Similar to Cincinnati's flag the waves symbolize the importance of rivers to both the city and the neighborhood, and at the heart is the Ohio State Buckeye. The red river surrounding the center is symbolic of the way the Miami & Erie Canal surrounded the neighborhood, the line that must be crossed to go Over-the-Rhine)”

I love the way it parallels the Cincinnati flag.

This dude (I am assuming it’s a dude) even made an actual flag and flew it from his window

Now, that’s dedication to neighborhood flag making!  This flag gets the “rules” mostly right.

1.  Simple: Less complicated than the Pleasant Ridge garden flag by far.
2. Meaningful symbols: Loaded with them: the red O for Ohio, the Germany flag in the waves, the parallels to the Cincinnati flag.
3.  Colors: Not a ton of colors.  Five is more than the recommended three, but it’s not bad.  My only critique here is that for the flag in the photo, it is hard to distinguish between the blue background and the black wave.  Maybe a lighter blue.  Maybe it's just the light in the photo.
4.  Lettering/Seals:  Fixes the biggest problem with an otherwise great Cincinnati flag of removing the seal from the center.
5.  References: The symbols stated above are all references to the Ohio/Cincinnati/USA/German flags.

I am not going to top this guy but I feel I must try to come up with something of my own.

First, I just wanted to try one tweak of the flag above.  I wanted to know what it would look like if the background was white (to contrast with the waves more and to more closely parallel the Cincinnati flag) and the buckeye leaf from the Cincinnati flag were added in.  And even though this was not intended, it resembles the jerseys of the German World Cup team I was watching yesterday. Just a thought, let me know what you think. 

FLAG 2

Another flag I found for inspiration was from the Fix the Flags page on a new flag for Ohio.  The author also uses the Cincinnati flag for inspiration and came up with this flag.

The description from the website:

“Using this flag (Cincinnati’s) as a template, I've created one that works for the entire state.  Ohio is bordered by two significant bodies of water, the Ohio River on the south and south-east and Lake Erie on the north, and I think I've captured that, along with the "O," without which Ohio's flag just wouldn't be the same:”

I took this idea and just flipped it upside down and added the buckeye leaves from the Cincinnati flag.  Now instead of the thin lower wave representing the Ohio River and the thick upper wave representing Lake Erie, the thick lower wave represents the Ohio River, and the thin upper wave represents the Miami and Erie Canal, the border of Over the Rhine.  Of course now the O stand for OTR, not Ohio. 

FLAG 3

I still need to come up with something more of my own since I have basically ripped off these other two designers (but the O and waves are now stuck in my head).

Upon research if found this symbol.  This is the coat of arms for the Rhineland area back in Germany.

The wave stands for the Rhine River.  So I tried incorporating the green color and the white waves into the above designs and got this

FLAG 4

Then I tried going back to three waves to parallel the Cincy flag

FLAG 5

I also found that there was a short-lived (1806-1813) union of west German states called the Confederation of the Rhine.  The flag is below.

So using these colors I came up with.

FLAG 6

Finally, trying to make a more overt German reference, I switched the colors to the national German flag....but it looks a bit like a 90s t shirt.

FLAG 7

There is a lot to choose from here and feel free to submit your own. Please vote on your favorite (and feel free to vote for FLAG 1 although it's not mine) and leave any suggestions in the comments below.  To the creators of the FLAGs 1 and 3, I hope the use of your flags here is not a problem.  If so, I will take them down.