
The International Flag of Planet Earth - apo
http://www.flagofplanetearth.com/
======
AYBABTME
The rings are not interleaved consistently, which is annoying me because
there's no explanation as to why.

The middle ring is on top of all the rings, but the two bottom ones.

The right-most ring crosses its neighbours from under, instead of in an
interleaved under/over like the other rings.

The top-left ring crosses its neighbours from over, in the same fashion.

The other 4 outer rings are (clockwise) over their precedent, then under their
following ring.

I'm curious if it's on purpose. If it's not on purpose, then I'm a bit
disappointed that something so obvious wasn't found, when the rest of the
presentation and discourses suggest great consideration. If it is indeed on
purpose, then I don't understand why it's not explained, and why they made the
top-left, right most and center rings different from the other ones.

Anyways, in other cases I'd say I'm nitpicking a whole lot. But this is a flag
design, their text appeals to great consideration for the craft of designing
flags. I'm a noob and I can notice the inconsistency, so I'm perplexed.

~~~
eridius
I'm guessing this is because if it were interleaved consistently, then it
couldn't possibly be constructed in 3D space.

------
chasing
As with these sorts of things, I respect the academic exercise, but they
always feel really arbitrary. Like, I could pick fifty different decent
symbols and color schemes and come up with something that kind of looked good
and might be a good Earth flag in a movie or something. If that's the goal,
then the challenge isn't really that hard.

If you _really_ wanted to explore a flag for Earth, you'd engage people from
around the world. What symbols are important to them? What colors? How do they
want to be seen? What does it even mean to them to have a flag that represents
Earth as something uniquely ours? And such. Then begin to distill these ideas
down into a flag. Or try to create a process by which an idea could be brought
about. And try to get buy-in from all of these diverse people. That's the hard
part. The interesting part!

(Also, nitpick about the video: 5:8 != the Golden Ratio.)

~~~
alyx
That would lead to analysis-paralysis pretty quickly. Just saying.

~~~
scott_karana
Isn't that sort of the point?

"Make a static, single, identifiable representation of a massive, diverse,
scattered, irregularly sparse time-malleable dataset"

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dakridge
This one is still my favorite:
[http://imgur.com/gallery/7ze3a](http://imgur.com/gallery/7ze3a)

~~~
jarito
Seems like using a flag that gives an unknown contact your home address is a
bad idea. That information might not be something we want to communicate right
off the bat.

~~~
jarboot
Completely agree. Reminds me of Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem novels :)

~~~
ajmurmann
I just read that and the Dark Forrest and that (fundamental) part of the book
honestly made no sense to me. His claim that you can't locate a signal's
source location was in complete conflict with everything I thought I knew
about astronomy and how we locate things in space.

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teddyh
Having a flag for planet Earth is an oxymoron. The very purpose of a flag, and
nationalism in general, is to be a symbol of a nation, and the very concept of
a nation can only exist _in contrast to other nations_. One side of the coin
can only exist because there is another side. All of Earth, considered as a
whole, has nothing to compare itself to. We call the sides of a coin “heads”
and “tails”, but we don’t have a word for the “side” of a sphere, since it
would be pointless.

(Incidentally, there are already a few symbols for the planet Earth: Unicode
2637;TRIGRAM FOR EARTH¹ and Unicode 2641;EARTH²)

That said, there may be a need for a slightly related symbol: In the world
today there is a common _assumption_ of nationalism, so whenever some grand
achievement is done, there is the assumption that it is done in the name of
some country or other, and everything is done with a place reserved for a
symbol for that country – commonly a flag or a heraldric shield. To _contrast
against this_ , we may need a symbol _against nationalism_.

① [http://graphemica.com/%E2%98%B7](http://graphemica.com/%E2%98%B7)

② [http://graphemica.com/%E2%99%81](http://graphemica.com/%E2%99%81)

~~~
maus42
>To contrast against this, we may need a symbol against nationalism.

The 'against-nationalism-ism' would just turn out like a nationalism. After
all, it has a flag.

Just look how the International turned out when they managed something
resembling of the revolution they longed after in one corner of Earth.

~~~
teddyh
Well, there’s always the “against centralized authority” symbol: Ⓐ

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sandworm101
Two things:

1) Blue and white aren't exactly politically neutral. They tried to give Iraq
a blue and white flag, with blue stripes representing the rivers. It did not
go well.

2) A flag should not be so complex that children cannot draw it with crayons.
The interlocking rings are nice, but the specificity of which goes under which
makes things too difficult. The union jack is perfect example of this
complexity but at least there is was the result of various mergers.

~~~
JD557
I completely agree with your second point. Being able to easily draw a flag is
a really nice indicator of how nice your flag is (eg. is it too complex? Does
it scale well?).

Look at the image posted by dakridge:
[https://imgur.com/gallery/7ze3a](https://imgur.com/gallery/7ze3a) Anyone
could easily draw that, and that makes it much better than OP's flag.

~~~
sandworm101
Ya, but its a little dated now. Any reference to the number of planets cannot
survive the next upstart science teacher pushing out a new definition to get
himself on the daily show.

~~~
ajmurmann
Are you referring to Pluto losing its status as a Planet? That was a
complicated process that was based on new discoveries and not some idea by
some "upstart science teacher" on the daily show. Keeping Pluto as a planet
would have made our definition of planet very wide and to be consistent Ceres
should have to be turned back into a planet as well.

------
paulrademacher
Here is a much better proposal, with the added benefit of keeping our planet
safe:

[http://traipse.com/upgrade/](http://traipse.com/upgrade/)

~~~
alanh
This was quite unexpected and has brightened my day

------
4684499
Remind me of this:
[https://i.imgur.com/mkyyF9A.png](https://i.imgur.com/mkyyF9A.png)

~~~
zgniatacz
polish flag should be white over red.

~~~
krotton
Also some of the shades don't match - these are precisely defined, I think.

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Udik
Just googled for "earth flag". Among the various results, this is the only one
that impressed me:

[http://marketblog.envato.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/05/ru75...](http://marketblog.envato.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/05/ru75u9.jpg.png)

Not saying it could actually be used as a flag. Notice how it puts the accent
on us rather than the environment. I find it fresh and combative, it reminds
us of our unity but also of our animality. It says very well who and what we
are (without giving away our address!). However it's not inclusive and well-
meaning enough to be politically acceptable. Isn't that strange?

All the other efforts, including the one linked by the OP, look trivial or
perfunctory to me.

~~~
izolate
Stylish, sure. But this Earth is so much more than just one species of
primate. If life is to define Earth, it should be more inclusive.

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fizixer
Yet another possibility is to use UN flag as representing earth?

Also any "planetary" space program, as opposed to country specific programs
like NASA for US, JAXA for Japan etc, can be under some newly created body,
like "UN space program" or something.

~~~
hguant
There are a large number of political and practical reasons why the U.N. flag
isn't going to be used to represent earth, the biggest one being that few
nations would say the U.N. as a body represents anythijg more than the
interests of the five permanent members of the security council.

Add on the fact that the organization as a whole is bloated and encumbered by
institutional dogfighting that would put Microsoft to shame, I don't see any
UN funded/backed/approved space ventures happening anytime soon. Theres a
reason the ISS isn't under a UN flag.

~~~
maus42
Can you imagine why and how any of those powers -- or any of the others --
would agree to anything else?

If the security council can agree on a policy how to represent Earth, they
have armed might to back it up.

If they do not, all the bets are off, but I suspect that most of the powers
and many smaller countries would do their utmost to fight down any independent
movement claiming to represent the Earth their governments do not approve of.

The UN is a bloated thing of corruption, but so is most of all of the
organized humanity on any scale, so that's quite fitting. Most of our existing
international operational frameworks both _de jure_ and _de facto_ are
coordinated under the UN or very related organizations. Assuming the world
will resemble the one we live in now, if a need to represent the Earth arises
(like, say, alien contact) and if everyone who matters agrees how to deal with
the aliens, they'll probably just stick the UN sticker on that decision. If
they do not, sucks for us.

If someone not-UN will start their space adventure to _find_ aliens, they'll
use their own nationalist / corporate / ideological symbolism. If they in
addition claim to represent the Earth or the Humanity instead of just
themselves without everyone's approval (can't see that happening, I doubt the
permanent members would agree precisely because the reasons you outlined),
they will probably have a war at their hands at home. In that case and without
drastic changes in the international political reality, I'd wager that the
ones who can make their claim to stick would be the UN permanent council
members, because that's how they got in there in the first place.

------
billpg
I prefer this one...
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Terra_flag.gif](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Terra_flag.gif)

Aqua, terra, aer et somniorum.

------
obeattie
All I can see is a striking resemblance to
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_hazard](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_hazard)

~~~
alanh
The implications are apt, I’m afraid

------
3pt14159
It's an interesting start, but the balance feels a bit off. A bit too yonic in
the center and the way the rings overlap with negative space makes it look
worse at small sizes. Realistically speaking a flag is in many ways the way
you are different from _other_ flags but this raises the question: Who is
looking at the flag of Earth? Who does the flag _not_ represent? In the short
term I'd argue it's Venusians or Lunarian settlers. To them a flag that
represents _origins_ is more important. I like the idea of a blue background
symbolizing water / the earth sky, and the primary molecule that makes up our
actual tissue, but the symbol in the middle shouldn't be based on circles.
_All_ planetary life would want to use a circle. Especially as the flag for
the first planet that humans arise from, it's weak.

In the long term the symbol for Earthlings may even be observed by aliens. In
what ways will we be different from them? The flag may even be used as a
symbol for other Earth species like Dolphins once we get the technology to
communicate with them effectively or to artificially increase their
intelligence.

------
bandicity
My ideal Earth flag: a blue marble on white or black background.

------
maus42
It doesn't have an organisation or even a not-very-organized ideological
movement or anything to back it up.

Thus, all the symbolism remain meaningless because practically nobody cares
about it. And those who care or say so (for whatever purposes) are probably
sporting UN emblems, and have been doing that for about half a century.

In reality, if the need arises, we'll use the UN org and its flag to represent
Earth, if it's still around (it probably will) and security council can decide
upon what to do with the aliens (no idea).

(Assuming the pessimistic but oh-so-realistic scenario, cooperation won't
probably work out, so we'll probably have the majority of security council
maybe waving the UN flag (if the majority is suitably overwhelming), the
others waving whatever alliance symbols they bother to come up with (if at
all, in the world wars just different compositions of national flags were
popular in the propaganda, and that's not likely to change), and the first
global civil war. After it's over and if there's still someone around to
declare themselves as the winning side, the victors' flag (which will be used)
will be a meaningful flag full of symbolism.)

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calimac
The flag represents nothing. Humanity is divided.

------
athenot
For the purpose of human unity, this is a great idea. As globalization
progresses, rallying behind divisive banners may become less and less relevant
(or they may shift to non territorial notions, but that's a whole different
story).

But why overthink the symbolism? We already have the globe outline [1] as a
relatively well understood symbol.

[1] Unicode U+1F310

------
monochromatic
This is a silly project that solves a problem no one has. When we encounter
aliens, it'll maybe make sense to have some designation for humans/earth as a
whole. In the meantime though, it's completely meaningless.

And the flag itself is... ok I guess, but there are a million designs that
would be equally acceptable.

I just don't get the point.

~~~
ywecur
I'd say it creates a sense of unity with those that travel into outer space.

~~~
henriquemaia
I concur. When I see some spacecraft bearing the flag of one particular
country, I feel something is missing, for I myself also feel part of quest for
a greater understanding of our boundaries with outer space. A flag of the
earth would create that sense of unity you referred to.

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TeMPOraL
Yeah, I'd say acceptable, and I could get used to it with time. But honestly,
it seems to me that every time someone makes a flag for a real-world thing, it
almost always suck. Why can't they just hire Michael Okuda, whose work in Star
Trek (and NASA) produced really pretty logos and flags?

[http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/underwire/2009/06/image-9a...](http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/underwire/2009/06/image-9afc0d4cddf311dc.jpg)

[https://startreklives.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/emblem.gif](https://startreklives.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/emblem.gif)

\--

Still, I'm willing to wield current design because solidarity as a species
means more to me than petty design issues :).

~~~
jff
Those are all either 1) a derivation of the general "starfleet arrowhead" or
2) a ripoff of the UN flag. Most of them are also afflicted with awful
outdated-looking gradients.

~~~
c22
I'm not sure if "ripoff" is the best way to think of those designs. They were
likely conciously constructed with those elements with the intent of
portraying a believable future descended from our present.

------
databit
Why not use the Olympic flag. Isn't that the purpose of the Olympic Games? To
unite humanity?

~~~
teddyh
If you read up on the actual Olympic Games and the Olympic Committee, you
could get the impression that their purpose is to unite humanity _against the
Olympic Committe_.

~~~
pluma
Well, common enemies tend to be the best bonding agent in any given situation,
so I propose the following:

 _Azure_ , the Olympic symbol _argent_. Motto: "Fuck the International Olympic
Committee!".

------
pla3rhat3r
Couldn't we just use the flag Daffy Duck used!?!
[http://www.gargaro.com/webpages/general/marvin17.jpg](http://www.gargaro.com/webpages/general/marvin17.jpg)

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wahsd
What a bunch of nonsense. Can we at least start acting like humans are
marginally advanced by just skipping the whole flag thing, a fetish used in
ancient times to indicated who you belonged to and to communicate across open
space during combat and for wholly violent and militaristic reasons.

Sure, it's not really a flag, a piece of fabric suspended from a big stick,
but at the very least, let's simply go with an icon, rather than "flag", aka,
rectangle. It's so primitive an nonsensical.

------
jpeg_hero
Looks ugly.

~~~
douche
That was my knee-jerk reaction, as well. Sort of a less interesting variation
on the Olympic flag.

Now this, this has pizzazz
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_in_Futurama#/media/Fi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_in_Futurama#/media/File:Futurama_flag_of_Earth.svg)
/s

~~~
MikeTaylor
Yeah, the Futurama one is just fine if you subscribe to American
Exceptionalism. Which would suit 4.48% of the world population just fine.

~~~
azeirah
...

------
exodust
Without javascript, this page renders as empty white space.

I suppose it is made up of complicated things like text and images, so maybe
an unfair observation.

Anyway, the flag. Sure, make an Earth flag, good idea. But I think it should
look better than a few interlocking circles. Needs a bit more spice or
something. Let's call the 7 circles version 0.1. Looking forward to version
0.2.

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sebnap
If the earth needs a flag, then the flag has the purpose to identify the earth
and indicate the origin of an earthling. Thus, it should look like the earth
as seen from space. Which would result in the borders of our continents. This
would be boring for us, but it would make sense for aliens.

------
moron4hire
Wow. Who would have thought it'd be a bunch of overlapping rings? I'm
completely surprised.

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kqr2
For a good podcast / ted talk on the elements of a good flag design, check
out:

[http://99percentinvisible.org/news/99-invisible-at-
ted/](http://99percentinvisible.org/news/99-invisible-at-ted/)

------
billpg
I think anything with five or more interlocked rings are illegal in any
country that wants to ever host the Ol*mpics.

I seem to recall a game (or something) that had a similar logo to this flag
but had to be redesigned.

~~~
billpg
Found it:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Five_Rings#Inter...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Five_Rings#International_Olympic_Committee)

------
yitchelle
Interesting last picture where there is a row of the American flags and then a
lonely Earth Flag. I would have though it would be Swedish flags as this
project is from a design college in Stockholm.

~~~
pluma
Few other countries love displaying their flag as much as the US (plus a lot
of stock photography just happens to come from the US), so I'd wager it's the
easiest place to find stock photography to put the flag in.

------
kzrdude
_outer space_ is not the right term to describe low earth orbit. It's the
nearest space there is, and if you're there, you're strongly gravitationally
bound to the earth itself.

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SZJX
Lol this flag actually looks like the flag of some Japanese shogun. Maybe
somebody has even already used it in history!

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mtrn
I expected a blue disk on a black ground.

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dankohn1
I hope by the time this flag is used, space suits don't have to be that bulky.

------
dietrichepp
Why would you put the flag for planet Earth on Mars? That just seems
confusing.

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grhmc
I would like to hang this flag outside my home.

------
acmecorps
It needs more.. pop? ;)

Joking aside, I kinda dig it.

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31reasons
It looks like a logo of some bank.

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rckrd
What will the favicon look like?

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notNow
Don't we have the Olympic flag already?

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huhtenberg
tl;dr - a self-promo piece by Oskar Pernefeldt, whoever this guy is.

~~~
reikonomusha
It was a school project.

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latenightcoding
10/10 photoshop skills

------
enlightenedfool
Pure utopia man. But, we could make a first step by helping the refugees from
middle east and people of downtrodden African nations.

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kelvin0
Uh oh, world flag? What`s next a universal P2P crypto currency to be used
across nations...? Smells like NWO reptilian agenda is advancing :-) Seriously
though, this is really nice initiative.

~~~
kelvin0
HN, where's your sense of humor? :)

------
jws
Great, give us an Earth flag and we can go stick it in things and claim them!
Then we can explain to the local inhabitants how that has changed their
situation. We'll need pamphlets in a universal language too.

