The KC City Flag

KC topics that don't fit anywhere else.
Post Reply
chingon
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 3522
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:47 pm
Location: South Plaza

The KC City Flag

Post by chingon »

I wish we had a better city flag. Can somebody do something about that?
User avatar
smh
Supporter
Posts: 4305
Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2010 10:40 pm
Location: Central Loop

Re: Brookside

Post by smh »

chingon wrote:I wish we had a better city flag. Can somebody do something about that?
I like it! Viva France!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kansa ... O_flag.jpg
chingon
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 3522
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:47 pm
Location: South Plaza

Re: Brookside

Post by chingon »

Just removing the words would go a long way towards making it palatable. I, personally think the heart/fountain glyph is lame, because I think the "motto" is impossible cornball. The last incarnation of that glyph (which was two intertwining heart/fountains) was marginally better, by dint of being less intelligible.

As a native Kansan:

Image


and Topekan:

Image

I've under shitty flags my whole life. I wish KC would up its game. Could be worse, I suppose. I could live in the city that flies this unmitigated abomination (though I'd have better transit options and never have to wear sunscreen again):

Image
User avatar
chaglang
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 4132
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:44 pm

Re: Brookside

Post by chaglang »

chingon wrote:Just removing the words would go a long way towards making it palatable. I, personally think the heart/fountain glyph is lame, because I think the "motto" is impossible cornball. The last incarnation of that glyph (which was two intertwining heart/fountains) was marginally better, by dint of being less intelligible.

As a native Kansan:

Image


and Topekan:

Image

I've under shitty flags my whole life. I wish KC would up its game. Could be worse, I suppose. I could live in the city that flies this unmitigated abomination (though I'd have better transit options and never have to wear sunscreen again):

Image
I've seen guys with tattoos of the Chicago flag on their arm. You know you have a great city flag when people are willing to ink it on themselves.
User avatar
chrizow
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 17157
Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2003 8:43 am

Re: Brookside

Post by chrizow »

that topeka flag is really bad, but that portland flag is ok.
chingon
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 3522
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:47 pm
Location: South Plaza

Re: Brookside

Post by chingon »

Funny thing is the Topeka flag gets rank higher by NAVA than KC's flag. We will have to just disagree about the Portland flag, it seems badly dated and really chintzy and horribly Pac-Northwesty...unsurprisingly, I'll cop to really disliking their design sensibilities up that way and having a noticeable anti-Oregon bias.

Salem is worse than all 3:

Image.


No matter how you slice it, we need a new flag.
User avatar
chaglang
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 4132
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:44 pm

Re: Brookside

Post by chaglang »

The current Visit KC logo would be a good start on an abstract, map-based flag, although dropping the "c" might be a good idea. Something playing on the confluence of the Kaw and Missouri Rivers is another option, though it would be awfully close to St. Louis's flag.

There's a lot of timeless iconography on the Power and Light Building that could be used. The suns on the balconies, for example, would be beautiful:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11581147@N06/5159770158/. It would reproduce beautifully in 2 colors.

I wonder if there are some old city seals (before the paperclip logo) that have elements that could be used.
chingon
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 3522
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:47 pm
Location: South Plaza

Re: The KC City Flag

Post by chingon »

some food for thought:

http://www.nava.org/Flag%20Design/city_survey.htm


Obviously there is no correlation between coolness of city and coolness of flag, and I don't particularly agree with NAVA's list, but that "Heart of America, City of Fountains" tagline has got to go. I seriously think there should be some way to fix that.
User avatar
chaglang
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 4132
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:44 pm

Re: The KC City Flag

Post by chaglang »

chingon wrote:some food for thought:

http://www.nava.org/Flag%20Design/city_survey.htm


Obviously there is no correlation between coolness of city and coolness of flag, and I don't particularly agree with NAVA's list, but that "Heart of America, City of Fountains" tagline has got to go. I seriously think there should be some way to fix that.
What I get from that list is that the "good" flags are abstract representations - at most. At the very least, they're just good graphics. In other words, there's nothing about them (with the possible exception of St. Louis) that really "screams" the city they're representing. Chicago is four stars, with blue lines above and below? If you say so. But graphically it works really well. KC shouldn't be so concerned with representing anything (like, fountains) on the flag, unless the graphics are much, much better than the current flag. The graphics are the thing.

Also: colors. That site says that good flag design should be two, three at most, colors. One thing I hate about the current KC flag is the color gradient on the fountain logo and how it has nothing to do with the red and blue stripes on the side.
User avatar
AllThingsKC
Mark Twain Tower
Mark Twain Tower
Posts: 9352
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2004 10:57 am
Location: Kansas City, Missouri (Downtown)
Contact:

Re: The KC City Flag

Post by AllThingsKC »

I agree that it's time to change our flag. But, there have been varying versions of the "fountain logo" on the flag. At first, the fountain was in color. But that made the flag too expensive. So, they made it black. They have also changed the "bars" on the flag. It hasn't always looked like the French flag.
chingon wrote:some food for thought:

http://www.nava.org/Flag%20Design/city_survey.htm


Obviously there is no correlation between coolness of city and coolness of flag, and I don't particularly agree with NAVA's list, but that "Heart of America, City of Fountains" tagline has got to go. I seriously think there should be some way to fix that.
We have talked about this site almost 8 years ago. If you'd like to see some of the comments from then, you can go here: http://forum.kcrag.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4254
User avatar
chaglang
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 4132
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:44 pm

Re: The KC City Flag

Post by chaglang »

It's a shame all the image links are broken- tho I did enjoy the "French people helped terrorists" tangent. Very 2004.
IraGlacialis
Colonnade
Colonnade
Posts: 895
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:02 pm
Location: Bangkok

Re: The KC City Flag

Post by IraGlacialis »

I like keeping the main Heart of America Fountain theme from the original flag, while making it a bit more classy. Also possibly incorporating the theme of the Kaw and Missouri River.
An art deco design would definite be nice IMHO. Something like on the P&L building or the bottom image on the following link (of course replace the clubs with a fountain): http://www.lackadaisycats.com/gallery/1316825628.jpg
pash
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 3800
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 2:47 am

Re: The KC City Flag

Post by pash »

.
Last edited by pash on Sat Feb 04, 2017 12:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
longviewmo
Alameda Tower
Alameda Tower
Posts: 1008
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2009 12:58 am
Location: Manhattan, Kansas
Contact:

Re: The KC City Flag

Post by longviewmo »

The one with the Scout looks far better than the one we're using now, even if the text isn't balanced.
User avatar
chaglang
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 4132
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:44 pm

Re: The KC City Flag

Post by chaglang »

The Scout flag is pretty good. Even if you dropped the text it would look good. It makes me wonder if the two previous versions were even better, and our flags have just been getting worse and worse over the years.

This photo shows the text on the Scout flag centered, and the heart is a little slimmer:
http://localhistory.kclibrary.org/u?/Montgomery,6344
chingon
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 3522
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:47 pm
Location: South Plaza

Re: The KC City Flag

Post by chingon »

AllThingsKC wrote:I agree that it's time to change our flag. But, there have been varying versions of the "fountain logo" on the flag. At first, the fountain was in color. But that made the flag too expensive. So, they made it black. They have also changed the "bars" on the flag. It hasn't always looked like the French flag.
chingon wrote:some food for thought:

http://www.nava.org/Flag%20Design/city_survey.htm


Obviously there is no correlation between coolness of city and coolness of flag, and I don't particularly agree with NAVA's list, but that "Heart of America, City of Fountains" tagline has got to go. I seriously think there should be some way to fix that.
We have talked about this site almost 8 years ago. If you'd like to see some of the comments from then, you can go here: http://forum.kcrag.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4254
So, '04 Chrizow liked the Topeka flag, and '12 Chrizow thinks it sucks, huh? Awesome to see a man's tastes get more refined with the years.
User avatar
chrizow
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 17157
Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2003 8:43 am

Re: The KC City Flag

Post by chrizow »

chingon wrote: So, '04 Chrizow liked the Topeka flag, and '12 Chrizow thinks it sucks, huh? Awesome to see a man's tastes get more refined with the years.
:lol:

that's hilarious. wtf was i thinking? 8 years is a long time...
chingon
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 3522
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:47 pm
Location: South Plaza

Re: The KC City Flag

Post by chingon »

I would probably hang a city flag on my porch, even the current shitsmear, if only they would take the words "city of fountains, heart of the nation" off of it, or I could find one with no text. While looking I found this:

Image

Which I find infinitely more palatable. Maybe if they won't change the flag to something un-embarassing, people should just start flying/selling a good one to city nerds...its could replace the "more city, less kansas" bumper sticker.
kboish
Hotel President
Hotel President
Posts: 3258
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:25 am
Location: West Plaza

Re: The KC City Flag

Post by kboish »

chingon wrote:I would probably hang a city flag on my porch, even the current shitsmear, if only they would take the words "city of fountains, heart of the nation" off of it, or I could find one with no text. While looking I found this:

Image

Which I find infinitely more palatable. Maybe if they won't change the flag to something un-embarassing, people should just start flying/selling a good one to city nerds...its could replace the "more city, less kansas" bumper sticker.
I like it. sign me up
flyingember
Mark Twain Tower
Mark Twain Tower
Posts: 9862
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:54 am

Re: Brookside

Post by flyingember »

smh wrote:
chingon wrote:I wish we had a better city flag. Can somebody do something about that?
I like it! Viva France!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kansa ... O_flag.jpg
which is appropriate because Kansas City began as a French village.

and the town was built over the Prudhomme farm
Post Reply