Utah: Flag Elevated
I'm on a Rocky Mountain High Right Now
The Beehive State: A Land of Beauty
I want to start by saying that Utah is an absolutely gorgeous state. Although my time there was brief, I loved every minute of it, and I cannot wait to go back. I spent a day in both Washington and Iron Counties in the southwestern corner of the state, the largest center of population outside of the Wasatch Front. It was a day trip from Las Vegas, Nevada and my fiancée and I went to the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and stopped in a few cities and towns along the way. The locals were friendly, the nature was beautiful, and the food was delicious.
It’s because of this that it breaks my poor little heart when I see the most insulting moment of the year so far come out of the Beehive State.
Time to Put This Seal on a Bedsheet to Rest
Utah, since its inception, has had one of the most painfully generic and terribly designed flags in the Union. It’s one of those “seal on a bedsheet” flags that I despise so deeply in my vexillologist core. Look at this sad excuse for a flag:
Let’s take a quick look at the North American Vexillological Association’s Five Principles of good flag design and see how this flag holds up:
Keep it Simple: The flag should be so simple, a child should be able to draw it from memory, and this design is anything but. This is complicated and overdesigned. Grade: F
Use Meaningful Symbolism: This flag does okay at symbolism, the beehive is the symbol for Mormon work ethic, and it fits in well with the state’s identity, and the bald eagle represents America, so that’s decent, I guess. However, it has the American flag in it, twice. Flagception? Cute, but it should go without saying that a flag should probably not have another furled up flag in it. Grade: C
Use 2 or 3 Basic Colors: The contrast isn’t too bad on this flag, but there are seven different colors present here; too many for my liking. Grade: C
No Lettering or Seals: This is where the flag is at its worst. It is nothing more than the state seal of Utah on a blue background. Let me make this crystal clear: A SEAL IS NOT A GOOD FLAG. How are you supposed to even see this flag when its fluttering on a flagpole fifty feet in the air? Or what about when it's not windy and the flag has drooped down to a natural resting position? Words should never be on a flag for the same reason, you simply can’t read them most of the time. And if you have to put your name on a flag, you failed as a flag. Grade: F
Be Distinctive or Be Related: Well, it’s not distinctive, and technically it is related, in the sense that it’s one of the 20+ “seals on a blue bedsheet” state flags (a subcategory of the 30+ “seals on any color bedsheet” state flags). So, by this rule’s most literal interpretation, it is related, but it’s too much so. Related flags should have the same idea or theme, not the same design. See the Japanese prefecture flags for good, related designs. Grade: D
I do want to say that a flag doesn’t have to follow all of these rules to be good, but they are very helpful guidelines. Anyhow, so we’ve determined that the old flag is poorly designed, generic, and a failure as a flag. The people of Utah realized this, too, and in 2021, work began to create a new flag.
A Glorious New Banner Unfurled Over Salt Lake City
After two years and nearly 6,000 submitted redesigns, the new flag was revealed, and boy did it not disappoint. Look at this absolutely gorgeous vexillological wonder, nay, this piece of immaculate art:
It’s perfect. I don’t know what else to say. Utah has shot right up through the rankings to become an S-Tier flag. It’s one of my favorites now, right up there with Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Ohio and Tennessee. Let’s see how it compares to the old flag according to the Five Principles:
Keep it Simple: When it comes to flag, less is more. The crowded cluster of the old flag is replaced by a sleek and simple design. What really does it for me is the hexagon, the shape of a honeycomb, encapsulating the beehive. Al bacio, chef’s kiss. Grade: A
Use Meaningful Symbolism: The beehive remains, this time simpler and more stylized, keeping the idea of Mormon work ethic. The red symbolizes the famous red rock canyons of southern Utah. The white symbolizes the snowy peaks such as those of the Wasatch Range. The blue represents the wide-open skies and many lakes, including the Great Salt Lake. All these elements of the flag embody Utah, another perfect hit right out of the park. Grade: A
Use 2 or 3 Basic Colors: From seven down to four, the flag looks a lot cleaner for it. besides the meanings mentioned above, the colors also symbolize prosperity and industry through the gold, and the red, white and blue connect it to America as a whole without needing to slap two American flags on it. Grade: A
No Lettering or Seals: Nary a letter to be found on this flag. It’s incredible how people can still recognize this as Utah without having to spell it out. Grade: A
Be Distinctive or Be Related: This flag goes above and beyond by managing to accomplish both of these feats simultaneously. It’s clearly distinctive and screams Utah, but the color scheme also relates it to the United States as stated above. Plus, now all Four Corners states have good flags. This truly is the good timeline for flags. Grade: A
What an excellent flag. In a normal world, this would be where the story ends, but I suppose I need to give you some payoff for that hook from the beginning.
What Are Utahans Doing?
Believe it or not, some people actually don’t like this flag and want to return to the old one. I’m serious. There are people who truly are that averse to good design that they want to plaster “UTAH” on their flag. They’re the same people who get tattoos that say “ARM” on their biceps and put bumper stickers that say “CAR” on their vehicles.
For those of you who enjoy when I dunk on the GOP, you’re going to love this one as it would appear a lot of the critics of this flag are on the political right. From what I’ve gathered, some Utah Republicans have two main concerns about changing the flag: history and ideology.
The History Argument
After falling hilariously short in a signature campaign to restore the old flag, these opponents of beauty threw a temper tantrum and voted overwhelmingly to keep the old flag on display at state GOP events. Why? Because “muh history” as the sponsor of the resolution said. They believe, apparently, it would be dishonoring their forebearers to change the flag after a century. Look, I get it. I love history too man, and I’m all about honoring my forebearers, but just because something has been a certain way for a long time (the philosophical discussion around that is for another time) doesn't mean we have to keep doing it. If the United States did that with our flag, we’d still be flying a Union Jack. Look at these other two states for example:
Mississippi had this treacherous and hideous flag for over a hundred years, but guess what? They changed it to a much more symbolic and tightly designed flag a mere two years ago to this:
Look at the beautiful magnolia, the state flower of Mississippi, in the middle of an obvious symbolic visual of the Mississippi River. Around it is 20 stars; Mississippi was the 20th state, and the one gold star made of diamonds to represent the original Native Americans. It’s a wonderful flag: it still keeps the history and looks a lot more appealing. What about New Mexico, Utah’s neighbor, its original flag looked like this:
Yep, makes me want to barf looking at it too. It has all the same features as the old Utah flag: seal, name of state, American flag, numbers, blue. It’s gross. Look at this incredible current flag they have now:
Less is more, like I said before. The red sun symbol of the Zia people, native to New Mexico, combined with the colors of the Spanish flag, the original European colonizers of the land, gives you the perfect simple and beautiful flag to represent this largely Latino and Native American state.
So, to my Utahn GOP companions whining about losing your history: you’re not. Your new flag represents all the history and beauty of your state. Just because you’re either too ignorant to see it or harbor too much animus towards symbolism and prefer the flag to literally spell it out for you doesn't mean everyone else agrees, and polls in Utah have shown that most don’t. Thank Joseph Smith.
The Ideology Argument
I’m not going to spend much time on this argument. At least the history one I can kind of understand; this one is just moronic. Some critics have called the new flag “woke.” You can’t keep calling everything “woke” or you’re going to end up like the boy who cried wolf. “Woke” doesn’t just mean everything I don’t like; is this the right-wing equivalent of calling everything you disagree with “racist” or “fascist?” To quote Inigo Montoya, “You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.”
This is especially humorous when this gorgeous flag that technically supports Mormonism with its beehive is called “woke,” which is to say liberal, by Ryan Woods, a.k.a. “Lady MAGA USA” a so-called “conservative” drag queen. Woods says this is tantamount to erasing history. No, my transvestite friend, it’s called replacing an ugly flag with a much better one.
Some critics have called it a logo, which would mean it’s a visual entity made to be an easy to recognize, shorthand signifier for something. Is a flag not just a logo for a state? If I text someone a German flag emoji when they ask where I’m going on vacation, am I not using a logo to signify a location? I’ll also counter this argument by saying "isn’t the old flag just a seal?”
Finally, some troglodytes don’t like that the words and numbers were removed. And to them I say, I sure am glad you didn’t design the new flag. You’re an enemy of all that is pleasing to the eye. No further comment, your honor.
Let’s Wrap it Up
While the effort by these foes of our wonderful new banner continues, I have faith that the sensible people of Utah will keep this new flag and embrace it. Polls show this to be the most likely outcome, and I’m relieved. I can only hope that other states, including my own (even though we are supposed to have a new one by now, what’s going on up there on Beacon Hill?) are able to take inspiration from this move and we can all have our own flags to be proud of. Maybe someday, we’ll all love our state flags as much as Texans do.
So, let’s hoist this flag and let it fly proud over the beautiful lands of Deseret, and let’s make it know across the land that its beauty is as splendorous as the state it represents.
The grading system slayed me.