Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed | Roman Mars 

dude came with his own background music

"There shouldn't be no flag inside another flag" *coughs in British*

"A flag should be so simple a child can draw it from memory" Yeaaah Japan!

Roman Mars - His parents named him so that He wouldn't be confused with the Greek Mars, called ares

Amsterdam's flag look like it could be an album cover to a punk band

the san fransisco flag looks like it was made in MS paint.

This is my favorite TED talk ever. You can see the crowd go from totally checked out at the start to 100% onboard the flag design train by the end with the standing ovation.

Imagine if the US flag had "UNITED STATES" printed on it

Four years later and I use this to design a flag in Animal Crossing... The power of Ted Talks, everyone...

I live in Milwaukee, and I knew he would bring up the flag, I knew it.

Me seeing the thumbnail: why would Steve Jobs speak about flags?

Cant believe i actually care about flags now. wtf

Who puts a trademark symbol on their flag??!

Hong Kong's flag is the gold standard to me, you could recognize that flower anywhere and from nearly any distance due to it's simplicity

So my obsession with flags has a name.

I have played Fallout New Vegas so much that the California flag looks wrong without the second head on the bear.

In the space of 20 minutes ive gone from thinking "Omg, what a nerd", to "Good lord that flag is disgusting". What have I become...

*"Keep it simple. The flag should be so simple that a child could draw it from memory"* Did you hear that? Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming?

As a former resident of Amsterdam: yes, the flag is cool. Immediately recognisable, too. And if you look at the country that Amsterdam is the capital of, the Netherlands, that has a pretty great flag, too. It's the oldest revolutionary flag in the world, and although it started as orange-white-blue, it quickly became red-white-blue. I like to think that those colours inspired many other (revolutionary) flags. It's simple as well: three horizontal stripes, equal in size, featuring primary colours (and white). You just don't see it a lot in the Netherlands, only one single flag on government buildings, because the Dutch aren't that keen on waving flags about.

He turned such a seemingly mundane topic into something so engaging, the guy's talented.

For those of you who think professional speakers don't get nervous, watch his hand at 4:50.

The Anaheim city council actually mentioned that this video was one of the things that brought about the idea to change it. They also cited the creation of the new Angel Stadium and the need for something _not-awful_ to fly on the flagpoles in front. Since then, the city has installed the flag in at least 20 public places (as opposed to zero places before) and the old one's been pretty much forgotten. It's 3 horizontal bars of dark blue, light blue, dark blue, and ring of 6 white stars centered to represent the 6 city districts. Nothing inspired or innovative but it's so much better than the old one.

no one: this guy: "welcome to my ted talk I'm gonna be roasting flags for 20 minutes"

Fun fact: In 2017, Pocatello Idaho changed their flag. And, let's be honest, they chose an incredibly good flag: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocatello,_Idaho#/media/File%3AFlag_of_Pocatello%2C_Idaho.svg

That San Fran flag redesign with the yellow-black background is so satisfying to look at.

Yes, I did just watch an 18 minute Ted Talk about flags. Now I'm also extremely disappointed with the state of Florida.

I really admire his presence. He is not trying at all to be heard, to be funny, to sound smart. He elegantly talked about a interesting topic. Am I the only one who really wants to have the mental clarity he has.

For those interested in modern flag design: check out the Japanese municipal flags. Most of them are actually designed with the Kanji that makes up the name of the district in mind.

This guy is really likable.

I am actually designing a series of nearly 150 flags as part of a project for my senior year at high school. as the loval vexillologist i have taken it upon myself to make a flag to represent every graduating student for us to fly on graduation day

The Pocatello flag is now (as of 2017) incredible. It follows all the rules and is just striking.

Our state flag here in California breaks a lot of (almost all of) these design rules and yet, in my opinion, it somehow still works. You see our bear and star everywhere across the state! Taking it a step further. Here in Riverside our flag is more of a mess but the mission bell is still plastered everywhere.

15:42 "But also it could become a symbol of how that city considers design itself" *One, singular clap*

if only people applied these rules to tattoos, my god

Thanks in great part to this video, I ran a redesign contest for Salem Oregon and after years and years, we have a new flag!

Oh my god. When I was younger this was my mother's favorite TED Talk. I've been listening to 99% Invisible for a few years. Just connected the dots now. Damn.

"Roman Mars" sounds like an amazing alternate history premise.

Everyone needs to look up Japanese city flags and prefecture flags! They are the most amazing flag designs of all.

This is probably one of the best if not the best delivered TED talk I've seen

The Milwaukee flag is the most midwest thing i've ever seen "Lets just have all of 'em and go get a beer"

Very unusual presentation style, but I like it. Surprisingly interesting talk, I never thought of flags as interesting before watching this

Very cool to see a radio host perform on stage. Shows you just how important the voice is in any kind of presentation.

"The final element in it that just makes it more ridiculous is that there is a flag, within a flag" Cries in Afrikaans

This worked, people took notice and let their officials know, now Anaheim and Pocatello both have new flags that look great, Reno adopted a really nice looking one, and Milwaukee has a potential design that might eventually get adopted, but they're stuck in limbo cause some people said the competition didn't have enough judges and wasn't inclusive enough.

Yeah, I question the initial premise, that teaching people about design improves their lives. Teach someone about typographical kerning, and it ruins everything. EVERYTHING.

Never thought someone could interest me flags. Can't believe I watched the whole thing.

I saw an article a few years back where someone redesigned all 50 state flags to match around a common design theme. They were all red, white, and blue, and featured unique ties to their states.

This is a beautiful thing that man has done here Everyone there walked in knowing nothing about flags and caring even less, and by the end they were so invested and aware of design principles that they (and I) were able to hear flag jokes or see bad flags and genuinely laugh Usually it takes a lot to make a person invested in something enough that they can relate to the comedy based off of it but he pulls it off beautifully Genuinely one of if not my favorite TED talks of all time

Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed Liberian Counties: *Hold my MS Paint*

If this is the original or main location, why isn't it called the "TEDquarters"?

‘A flag should be so simple a child could draw it from memory’ *South Africans looking awkward*

I'm an illustrator (not for flags), and I keep coming back for 9:04 when helping people with their designs, whatever it may be - websites, characters, logos, etc. The points are so simple and salient, even (or rather, especially) non-artists get a profound understanding of "actually, yeah, it does look better that way" when we use a more simplified palette or take out confusingly misplaced detail in a project. Same with the stamp size test (13:25); there's no simpler way to "tactfully nudge" somebody into reconsidering their iconography than showing them how their image dissolves into obscurity when it's scaled down. (within reason, of course. I understand that you can make anything unrecognizable by reducing it to a handful of pixels, the point is more along the lines of "it'll look nice on the marquee, but what about your business cards?") Maybe it's superfluous to comment on a five year old video, but I just want to put into writing how thankful I am to Mr. Mars and his colleagues for putting such a profound thought into such easy to understand words.

Yesterday I watched an 11 minute video about aluminum cans. Today, an 18 minute video about flags. And I gotta say, the world of design is amazing, and there are genius behind everything we take for granted in our lives.

I didn't expect this to hold my attention but it did, good talk!

The Milwaukee flag is the flag equivalent of every "graphic design is my passion" picture

In fact, Japan flag can be drawn by a kid ACCIDENTALLY. What a great design

You should get a guest spot on the final season of "The Big Bang Theory"! The final guest on Sheldon Cooper's "Fun With Flags".

I'm from Pocatello Idaho. Every friggin' citizen of that beautiful town desperately needs to watch this video.

I’ve seen this ted talk so many times and it’s still one of my favorites, if not my favorite over all

"never use seals" spain has entered the chat

That second revised San Francisco flag design, with the Phoenix in the middle of black and gold, is gorgeous. Please make that happen!

my dad was a chicago cop from 1966-1998. when he passed away in 1998, his casket was draped with the Chicago flag at his funeral--a gift from the city.

Very disappointed the flag for buffalo doesnt have a buffalo on it🤦‍♀️

There is a show he might like. It’s called „Fun with Flags“

I don't know why, but everytime it shows up in my recommended, I have to watch it again. It's been like 10-12 times now. I'm just happy that Pocatello has a great looking flag now! Top country grade flag to say the least.

Fantastic to see the flag of my hometown of Trondheim noted as a example of good design! (lower right of the three mentioned near the end). Makes me proud :)

I thought: "huh, my city flag is actually pretty good" Then I realised that I was thinking of the Ohio flag, not the Columbus flag, then I was disappointed

This guys podcast is legitimately the best podcast ever. I found it because of this talk about three years ago and I’m so hooked

why tf would you put a trademark symbol on flag?!

Yes! The Amsterdam flag is awesome!

"Poor Pocatello." will be my new motto for really specific disappointment.

I think the funniest element of this TED Talk is simply how passionate Roman is about flags...

the Austrian flag was "designed" after a battle, when "Herzog Leopolds" white surcoat was completely drenched in blood. When he removed his belt, the cloth beneath remained unstained, revealing the combination of red-white-red. Thats how you design in austria XD

This guy sounds like CGP Grey... who also likes flags... hmm...

I'm not even into flag design but the way this guy constructs his radio show is so calming and comforting

A flag is as important now as a coat of arms would’ve been for royalty in olden times. Recognizable design that can be easily replicated has always been a key to a good design. Maybe if people designing the flags thought of it more as a representation of their family and themselves they might make a better design that would be liked or at least approved by the populace. Lol idk anything about flags other than this video but that’s my two cents on the topic

The San Francisco flag is so bad and so rarely used, my mom grew up in San Francisco and loved the city and never even knew it HAD its own flag. Incidentally, I live in the state with the best-designed flag: New Mexico. That flag is goddamn EVERYWHERE, and people LOVE IT. That red zia on a yellow background is on everything: keychains, mugs, shirts, magnets, shot glasses, license plates, hats, you name it.

Fun with Flags

Congrats to Pocatello. Thanks to this TED Talk, they adopted a new flag, and it's badass!

I've been hearing Roman's wonderful voice for so long without seeing him. Strange how your imagination builds these faces for people you only hear on podcasts or radio. I'm off on a mission to put faces to all these lovely voices now

So it's people like him that changed the Google logo.

When he started talking about city flags, I thought for sure he was going to call out Provo, Utah, with its WordArt-looking design. Then he showed some of his examples and I realized that Provo doesn't even crack the top 10 bad designs. Wow.

I never gave that much attention to flags of the cities, well presented topic with lots of details and humor! Well done!

This video represents many of the things I love. A great presentation; the care behind the text and the audio cues, flawless. A great presenter, with a great voice and who really cares about what he is saying. Great sense of humor, he is funny even when he is calling some city´s flag "that thing".

I saw the Pocatello flag and was like "No... why Idaho... why must you do this?" But then I looked it up and they have a new flag, that looks hecka cool. Good Job Idaho.

[Lives in Amsterdam] "... The most _badass_ city flag in the world." Amsterdams en trots! :')

Shout out to cgp grey for making a flag video 8 years after saying he wouldn't make one specifically because this video came out while he was in the process of his own similar video!

15:02 that’s literally the Watford FC flag (English soccer)

A rare gift for a radio presenter to be more captivating to listen to while looking at them. Congratulations, Roman Mars, you are 100% inspirational

My dad found this talk years ago, proceeded to have the entire family sit down and watch it, and now it is one of the things that we insist new people we meet see at least once.

As an update... San Francisco and Milwaukee STILL have those flags, despite public pressure. Pocatello updated their flag and it is beautiful!

This is a TED talk specifically tailored to my interests.....I like it.

Not all flags that don't follow these guidelines are bad though, take the Welsh flag, how is a highly detailed dragon simple and easy to draw? But everyone in Wales is proud of our flag, and you all know why. Dragons are cool.

The Brazilian flag has writing on it and it's amazing The South African flag has 7 colors and is amazing. There is often exceptions to the rules.

Yup! We love our flag here in Chicago. I have a winter hat and a shirt with the flag on it.

I've watched this multiple times now and it never disappoints.

*Here's Pocatello's new flag, if anyone is curious:* en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocatello,_Idaho#/media/File:New_Pocatello,_Idaho_flag_2017.png *I think it's a good improvement.*

Pocatello changed their flag. It's great now! Milwaukee changed their flag. It's just gorgeous! San Francisco, the richest urban area in the US, did not change their flag. Go figure.

How is this so amazingly funny, engaging, unique, and informative all at the same time??????

I've always been complaining about this in my head for years. Finally someone puts it out.