We’re excited to announce the kickoff of our neighborhood flag contest. If you’re an AJC resident and would like to participate as a flag designer and/or as a voter, see the details below.
To enter a design in the contest:
- What to bring: The following 3 items clipped together:
- Your flag design on 8-1/2×11 paper.
- A description (250 words max) explaining your design and its symbolism.
- Your name and contact information. (These should not appear on either of the 2 items above; this ensures the flags remain anonymous until after judging.)
- When / Where to go: Bring your submission to The Milwaukie Café and Bottle Shop (9401 SE 32nd Ave., Milwaukie, OR 97222) on the weekend of 10/1 – 10/2. There will be a submission box marked with the contest details.
To vote: The entered designs will be displayed in the Café the week of 10/3 – 10/9. Come to the Café anytime during this week to cast your vote; ballots and a ballot drop-box will be available. After this, the votes will be counted to determine the official flag of AJC.
Additional Info:
- The print will display best on a standard 8.5×11″ sheet, printed in whichever orientation (portrait or landscape) maximizes the area of the sheet occupied by your design. (Example: For a classic flag rectangle that’s more wide than tall, you would use the landscape orientation.) If you don’t have a high-quality color printer at home, professional print shops, such as your nearest FedEx, are able to print high quality color prints
- Roman Mars’s TED Talk: “Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you’ve never noticed”
This is a wide-ranging talk (but less than 20 minutes) about not only flag design, but also the wider cultural importance of flags and the boons they can be — especially well-designed ones. Inspiring, entertaining, and informative.
CAUTION: This talk includes some mild colorful language, so use your discretion with any nearby children. - Artifexian’s “How to actually design a good flag” – A shorter talk focused entirely on the concepts of flag design. It includes some overlap with the TED Talk above, but also explores some other considerations. Definitely worth a watch. (The flag design content ends at 5:33, so you can safely ignore everything after that.). BONUS COOL THING: Check out the FLAG WAVER link in this video’s description. On that site, you can upload your flag image to see how it looks flying from a flagpole.
If you have any questions, please contact the AJCNA at: flagcontest@ardenwald.org