What is striped and has the state of Minnesota and the North Star with eight points on it? This is the new flag for Minnesota.
After a lot of discussion on Friday, the State Emblems Redesign Commission moved forward with the design, with some minor changes still needed. It’s not over yet. They were also supposed to keep working on color and other features.
If lawmakers don’t do anything to stop it, which would be hard, the new flag will replace the current one in May. People have strong feelings about it, so be prepared.
Commission Chair Luis Fitch, who works as a brand designer, said that the flag-selection process will be over next week.
“Guys, we get a flag this Tuesday. “Right now I can tell you that,” he told the press. “We have a flag this Tuesday.”
He also said, “After that, people start to party.” We get some beer and bubbly and have a good time. “We have a new flag”
People on the commission, who were made up of elected leaders, artists, historians, and regular people, had different responses to the choice.
The design that the commission chose on Friday began as entry F-1953, which was made by Andrew Prekker, who lives in Luverne. He had told MPR News before that he got the idea from “other state flags known for their simplicity, memorability, and popularity, such as those from Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado.” Another artist submitted a new version that looked more like Minnesota by giving the left edge an asymmetrical shape.
Some people did not see it that way, though.
“They look silly and plain.” “And if you look at a picture of all the different state flags or maps, it looks a lot like them,” commission member Shelley Buck said of the streamlined designs before it was voted as the best idea. “I want Minnesota to be unique and stand out.”
There was more backing for F-944, Buck said. It was a flag with a North Star and an abstract design of a sky reflected in water that looks like two loons.
A person chosen by the Minnesota Arts Board named Phillip McKenzie said that the one the committee liked is artistic in a different way. He said, “It might say more by less.” Compare it to a haiku or a sonnet. That part of the flag is something I like.
Graphic artists showed the panel changes they had made to the final flags and suggested changes to the stars and colors that were suggested.
One of the artists who helped commissioners make the flag changes said it was like getting ready for a night out. He also used help from Coco Chanel, a fashion designer.
Tyler Michaletz said, “When you get dressed up for an event and look nice, take off one accessory and look at yourself in the mirror when you’re done and ready to leave the house.” “The best way to design a flag is to get it almost right and then take it back one step.”
The road hasn’t been easy since more than 2,000 people were cut down to just three. Some commissioners talked about the bad comments they’d gotten from people and said they might have to break the rules of traditional flag design to find a winner.
“If we keep being so strict on what the vexillology people say, we’ll find that the people in Minnesota will reject this over time,” state Sen. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, said about the study of flags.
Sen. Mary Kunesh (DFL-New Brighton) said she had heard from a lot of people who were excited about the change.
Kunesh said, “I think people are very interested in and happy about this change.”
The chair, Fitch, thought that people would like the new flag or at least get used to it over time, and that they might learn to understand what each part of it means.
“A lot of people will be negative and say, ‘I don’t see it,'” Fitch said. “But give them a year or six months.” And then there are younger people who are more open-minded.
Members will get together next Tuesday to make the last changes, go over their process, and write a report about why they made the choices they did over the last four months.