I’m really excited to share with you the TED Talk I gave earlier this year at the main TED conference in Vancouver.
It was so much fun to be on stage and I was so pleased the organizers encouraged me to perform the talk in the style of the radio show. I even got to sneak in a “This is 99% Invisible. I’m Roman Mars.”
The talk is ostensibly about the graphic design of flags, but it’s really about using the “rules” of flag design to evaluate all forms of design and the connection between design and civic pride.
I hope you enjoy it and please share it with your friends!
There are plenty of people who aren’t inclined to listen to a podcast, but this video might get them hooked.
Want to get involved in a SF Flag redesign? Autodesk and 99pi want to keep in touch with you. Go to San Francisco Flag and sign up!
Sheldon Cooper Fun With Flags <3
Great presentation! I shared on FB also. This really made the episode about flags come to life.
Absolutely wonderful, Roman! The first time I could “hear an episode” without having to pause my iPod to run to my laptop to pull up the epi-show notes.
Awesome work! Congratulations! :-D
have you guys seen this?
http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/18/8622411/international-flag-planet-earth-design-mockups
A really nice work!! (Still listening to it repeatedly).
Speaking of nice city flags, Japan has really awesome prefecture flags.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Japanese_flags
The San Francisco flag main design element is looks just like this ticket from the 1893 Chicago worlds fair: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Worldsfairticket.jpg
Wow that was awesome. Really enjoyed it.
However, I was hoping that you would talk about Nepalese Flag. Really wanted to hear your thoughts on it.
Enjoyed that presentation. Thanks!
I will see if I can help you out on your way to having the most viewed TED talk. ;-)
It was great to see how portable you are. What is the iPad app that you used for the soundboard?
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I really can’t believe Pensacola, Florida has never won Worst City Flag. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Pensacola.svg
It was awesome! I rewatched it many times in a row.
And now I’m inspired to design a new flag for my hometown.
Brazilian cities tend to use coat of arms in their flags.
http://www.cabofrio.rj.gov.br/imagens/bandeira.gif
Hope I can make good progress and even change it. :)
Fantastic TED talk, absolutely loved it! And thanks for the mention on the South African flag, it is a beauty.
Thanks for the video! I adore the terrible designs you highlighted. We in New Zealand are running a flag design competition, and bad designs are in abundance. I’d be interested in your opinion of our options, actually.
This is quite the supplement/companion to your vexillology podcast. I love it so much now that you’ve put it as a symbol of civic pride on the city level. I’m always asking myself this question of how we can start to concentrate on the smaller things in life…
Nice to actually put a face to that voice for once!
I tried to look up my city flag and it is quite the vexillological oddity. Turns out the technically correct way to say “Pensacola Fl” in flag is to display a set of five different governance flags.
Pensacola Has ruled by quite a few countries since it was founded earning it the tag line “City of five flags” Most government buildings display a Spanish (Isabella and Ferdinand personal flag) , French (kings flag, not national), British, Confederate (Stars and bars, it used to be the battle flag but that changed recently to much controversy) and United States Flag. Fortunately no one ever uses the official flag itself, which is all five of those stuck together.
Roman, you probably can’t see it, but I’m usually giving you a standing ovation at the end of every 99PI episode I listen to. It’s usually in the form a big stupid grin as I’m driving to work in the morning.
Your work is now inspiring me with my own podcasting project (in the midst of its initial production preparation). Instead of a straight-up interview with the organization’s leader, it will also combine on-site interviews and soundbites by others who are involved and influenced in the organization.
Thank You! (cue the applause)
YOU ARE MY FRICKEN HERO, ROMAN MARS. MY FRICKEN HERO.
Roman, you inspired me to take a stab at a new city flag for Honolulu: https://pauku.wordpress.com/2015/05/26/honolulu-city-flag/
Firstly, excellent TED talk. Secondly, the New Zealand government is holding a referendum on our flag. No one is really too sure why. The biggest complaint about the current one seems to be that ‘it looks too much like Australia’s’ which is maybe a fair point. But then again, we have the same heritage as Australia, the same general global location and very similar cultural values. It’s no surprise our flags look the same, I happen to like it and I’d stand by it as an excellent symbol of our country. What do you think?
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I just loved this. As a graphic designer myself I always thought it was high time someone talked about flags! Thankfully my hometown of Hamilton, ON, Canada did a revamp a decade ago and came up with a winning design for our crest and flag that people like (and looks great with the Canadian Flag beside it!) https://www.hamilton.ca/CityDepartments/CorporateServices/Clerks/Crest-FlagandLogo.htm
Wonderful presentation! Like you said, some people are sensitive about flags. You did a great job to take a sensitive topic and make it light-hearted yet brings your valuable points across :)
No doubt a listener from Albuquerque was inspired by this topic. He has created a new flag design for the city (that is pretty awesome) and is trying to get the Mayor to look at it.
http://www.koat.com/flag-proposal-man-wants-to-redesign-albuquerques-flag/33583654
Can anyone direct me to a comprehensive explanation of what all the different elements of Milwaukee’s flag mean? I can’t seem to find this info. Most especially, I want to know about the element in the upper-right quadrant in the central gear – the one that looks like a man in a flying saucer with a genie lamp on it. I don’t even have any guesses about what this element might mean…
Just watched your TED Talk, it amazes me how much I love what you do. Thank you!
The only episodes I listen to (of 99% Invisible) is if Roman Mars is speaking for most of the show. Anne Hepburn (or Ann Heppermann?) and others have such piercing voices compared to Roman’s. I wish they would let him cover every single episode! He has the most beautiful voice on the planet.
Hi Roman, I’m a huge fan of the podcast and was really glad to see the TED talk. I was really curious to see how you organized your talk, would you mind going through the process sometime? What do you have of the printed pages? What App did you use for the sound bits? Greetings from Mexico and thanks!
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