League of Nations

A blog reader nicknamed "Mestre Luiz" suggest a post about a flag about the League of Nations. I'm not sure, but I guess he means that League of Nations.

The League of Nations (1920-1946) never adopted an official flag, Between 1939 and 1941, it seems, it used the following unofficial flag:

I actually like the basic design, but remove the letters, please. The number five represents the five inhabitated continents (Americas was then usually taught as a single continent) and five "races".

I tried to think with the mentality of those times. Here's a humble attempt:

Five smaller rings are arranged like a Borromean cross, representing the association of the five continents — notice the similarity with Olympic rings —, in the sense that all of them are important. The larger ring represents our planet and the whole humanity, embracing the League of Nations. The blue represent our common skies.

Coincidently, it shares similarities with a 1930 proposal. I guess it's not a very original design, but I think it could have been viable at the time.

Comments and suggestions are welcome?
To "Mestre Luiz": If you are meaning a different "League of Nations", feel free to correct me.

NEWS: Denny and Dunipace (Scotland, UK)

It will be a different kind of post, because today I have some great news to share!

Weeks ago, I wrote about my proposals to the flag of Denny and Dunipace, and noticed that a proposal very similar to my design was among the finalists.

What I didn't know is that that finalist design was a merge between my own design and the one by a Spanish man named Fernando Álvarez Martín. And it won! Therefore I'm technically co-author of first town flag of Scotland!

That's the winner design:

For comparison, one of my proposals was like this:

(I currently don't know Fernando's exact proposal. If I obtain it, I'll submit it here.)

I'm very excited! Firstly, because I'm very proud about contributing someway to the final design. Secondly, because it's an important precedent to other Scottish towns adopting their own cool flags, specially due to support by the Flag Institute and the Court of Lord Lyon.

Comments are welcome!

Greetings to Denny and Dunipace, from Brazil.

Oslo (Norway)

I like very much Norwegian local flags. But, unfortunately, the capital has one of few questionable flags there.

The flag of Oslo looks more or less like this:


Between 1924 and 2002, Oslo used a more interesting flag, whose symbolism is unknown to me. This flag was substituted by the flag above, because the previous flag was supposedly too similar to Greek similar, what I disagree.


However, avoiding the same discussion, I'll propose a fix based on current flag, not the previous one. My proposal is, basically, adapt the current flag into Norwegian subnational flag style, that includes minimalism and respect for heraldic rules. Here it is:


This flag, like Oslo seal, with medieval origins, represents patron saint St. Hallvard, holding arrows and a millstone, the instruments of his martyrdom. I've added the throne with lions, that can be associated with the role of Oslo as capital of Norway. I've removed the stars, whose symbolism, if any, is unknown to me, and the naked woman, that seem to be a later addition.

In general, I like very much the result, and I modestly think it could be adapted into a coat of arms.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Sorry for the absence last week. I've made stuff, but I've had no time to post it.

House of Orléans-Braganza

The house of Orléans-Braganza are descendant of princess Isabel, heiress to last Brazilian emperor, and her husband, count of Eu. They are current claimants to the Brazilian (extinct) throne.

The current coat of arms of Orléans-Braganza is that of former Empire of Brazil, with inescutcheon of house of Orléans:


On a previous post, Rodrigo Sales asked me for a remake of this coat of arms. It's the kind of creative exercise I've never done, but nonetheless I'll present two suggestions. I've used "french modern shield", because that's the escutcheon shape historically used by Brazilian nobility.

My first attempt:


It's, basically, a simplification of current coat of arms. I've removed the stars that, apart from being too busy, should be updated every time a new province was created. This design uses the room much better, and diminished the contrast-problematic clash of green and red.

It's better to design a family coat of arms with some usages in mind, like impalement, quartering and lozenge (for ladies).

Impaled	Marshalled	Lozenge

My second attempt is my favorite:


In Brazilian imperial flag, the green represents House of Braganza (emperor Peter I of Brazil), while yellow represents House of Habsburg-Lorraine (empress consort Maria Leopoldina), so it can work as genealogical arms. The inescutcheon of Orléans adds the blue and white, similar to current flag and a homage to Our Lady, patroness of Brazil.

Other usages of coat of arms:

Impaled	Marshalled	Lozenge

That inspired to make this dinastic flag:


Comments are welcome.
This post was a request. Feel free to do your request, too.

Denny and Dunipace (Scotland, UK)

Denny and Dunipace is holding a contest to decide its new flag (more info here). I've submitted two entries, that didn't made the final list (even though similar entries did), but I'll show them here just for entertainment.

The burgh used to have a beautiful coat of arms, before it was incorporated into Falkirk, even though it's too busy for a flag:

My first entry adapted it into a more flag-friendly design:

The entry was followed by this rationale:

The flag resembles burgh seal and coat of arms. It contains a landscape, with river Carron and the bridge joining Denny and Dunipace. The white color remarks the important treaties signed in this place. The bar engrailed represents the connection with the Sinclair.

My second entry was less derivative but, I have to admit, more generic:


It was an improvement over a previous design, that took "twin towns" too literally:


I've submitted it with the following rationale:

The flag shows River Carron, with Dunipace in north bank and Denny in south. The white color remark the important treaties signed in this place. The black color represents coal and iron. Apart from Denny and Dunipace, the two fortified buildings can represent the forts on its banks dividing Roman and Picts — "Carron" may come from Latin "caer avon", i.e. "river of the forts".

None of them made the final, but designing them was nonetheless some fun.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.
To know the finalists, click here.

Gatineau (QC, Canada)

Gatineau forms, together with Ottawa and smaller communities, Canada's National Capital Region.

Its current flag is the following:


Until 2002, when it was merged with four other townships, it used the following flag:


Both flags use a stylized "G" and, in some way, represent sustainable development.

My attempt is a mix of both and, hope I, better than both:


The blue part represents clean water. The green part, whose shape may remark leaves in the wind, represents nature; it's also an arrow point towards future. The overall design resembles a "G" just like former flag.

A variant on same theme:


Another variant shows five stars, representing the five merged communities:


Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Sorry for recent absence. I had professional compromises.

Harvard Law School (USA)

Harvard Law School, a college of Harvard University, decided to drop his former coat of arms, because it displayed prominently the family arms of Isaac Royall, the first backers of the college. The issue: Royall was a slaveholder and a slave trader, so the coat of arms was considered "racist".

This is the former coat of arms of the college:


I don't know any replacement proposal, apart from what seems to be a parody and a professor's suggestion to add "Iustitia" ("Justice") below "Veritas" ("Truth"). My proposal is not for total rupture:


I'm defacing Royall's arms with three gouttes de sang ("blood drops"), not forgetting his importance to the school, but denouncing that his wealth was gained in exchange for slave blood.

This way, it gives those black lives the credit for helping build, even though without their will, one of most prestigious law schools in the world.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.
I'm an outsider here. Do you think it avoid racist connotations of former coat of arms? Or should Royall's arms be dropped completely?