There's No Crying in Flag Design

CGP Grey
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2023–2026
YouTube
20.7M views · 3 years ago · explainer · evergreen

CGP Grey grades the flags of the US states against a few basic principles of good flag design. He explains why most of them fail and which ones succeed.

HN treats it as the definitive popular case for good flag design, credited with more influence on flag redesigns than any written editorial.

“This one video has had more influance on flag design than any written editorial.”
Design critique & analysisLogos & visual identity
#flags#cgpgrey#vexillology#simplicity#stateflags

7 comments from Hacker News

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@sandworm1012026 · in “Why all new flags look the same”
An article about flag design but no mention of CGP Grey? This one video has had more influance on flag design than any written editorial. ▶ this video
Strongly recommendsView on HN
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@LinuxBender2023 · in “Does Your Flag Fail? Grey Grades the State Flags [video][19 Mins]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
RecommendsView on HN
o
@ohjeez2023 · in “Does Your Flag Fail? Grey Grades the State Flags”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
RecommendsView on HN
j
@jonchurch_2025 · in “BART's Anime Mascots”
It is a useful concept, and letting the whispers of the vexillophiles[0] into your head will lead you to see that most flags are well, pretty bad. CGP Grey has a lot of opinions[1] about this. [0] link [1] ▶ this video
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m
@mjevans2024 · in “Did Sandia use a thermonuclear secondary in a product logo?”
That thing is supposed to be a logo? I'm reminded of CGP Gray's videos about flags. link Like this one ▶ this video About US state flags
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@ubj2023 · in “Next Minnesota State Flag”
Obligatory link to CGP Grey's grading of the quality of all U.S. state flags: ▶ this video Also, a more recent video about Minnesota's new flag: link
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@LinuxBender2023 · in “Utah’s new flag – and here’s why more states are mulling redesigns”
On a related topic, here [1] is a video of CGP Grey grading US flags. My flag Wyoming gets an F in the S tier. But I am happy he wants to retire here. [Spoiler] Utah is one of 4 states that gets the highest grade. [1] - ▶ this video [video][19 mins]
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