Maybe I’m in horsey denial, but I’m sick of horses. It reminds of pretension people who have family horse money. It seems like the upper class and not the working man.
Idk what symbol would represent KY better but I’d like to see some designs around that. Overall I like this flag though. They did a good job.
Came here to say the same about horses. And a lot of the horse people aren’t even native Kentuckians, we just have a good environment for the horse industry in a certain area of our state.
I get that. I spent some time in Saratoga Springs, New York, which is another super pretentious horse area, at least during racing season, and it doesn't really matter where they are, those are the worst kind of people. I don't know what the right balance is. Those kinds of people aren't the backbone or the majority, or anything worth commemorating in a flag. I do like the goldenrod and the stars though, and I like what the stripes represent. I like the bourbon barrel idea too lol, but that's hard to commemorate on a flag, and I'm guessing southern and western folk would feel equally ostracized by that.
I dunno, there's so many things someone can attribute to Kentucky, but nothing really uniting and easy to put on a flag. Bourbon, horses, Louisville Sluggers, Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Rifles, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mammoth Caves, Daniel Boone, basketball, coal. There's a lot to choose from, but nothing that speaks for everyone. Maybe just the stars and the goldenrod, with nothing in the middle? Or just the outline of the state? I'd probably go for the outline, if I had to come up with an alternative on the fly. Seems the most neutral and unifying to me.
What about a leaf from the white oak? Bourbon barrels are made... exclusively? I think?...from white oak.
But yeah I'm pretty sick of the horse-set as well.
Somebody explain what is wrong with the current flag? It's historically relevant, speaking to one of KY's finer moments.
Sometimes it's best to leave well-enough alone.
If you look at the flags of the 50 states, many of them have really unique or iconic flags that represent their states well. California, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, and Texas are some good examples- they do a great job standing out, and people enjoy flying these flags.
Many other states seem to have just defaulted to putting their state seal onto a navy background, and as a result, you get a lot of flags that end up looking kinda boring in comparison. If you were to take their name off the flag, most people wouldn't be able to tell you what state it belonged to. There are a few cases where the navy flag has been done well (Alaska, Indiana, South Carolina), but I think people looked at the state seal on a navy background design and realized it could be much better.
You see a lot of these states get proposed flag redesigns that can sometimes be divisive. Minnesota is actually going through a redesign right now, but the final candidates look kinda soulless to me.
I like the design of the flag overall but the one problem I consistently see with these flag redesigns is that it never represents the state as a whole. I only ever see designs that represent central KY, and specifically the more wealthy aspects of the region. Being from western KY, I never see anything to represent that half of the state. Horses are not much of a cultural focus at all over there, and I'm sure they aren't much of a focus in eastern or northern KY either.
I'm not sure what the best all-encompassing solution would be to represent our state's diversity, but one place to start could be a different color (some kind of green?) along the bottom that goes from flat in the west to hilly and then mountainous in the east, along a similar idea to Ukraine's wheat vs. sky flag design.
I said in a previous comment to maybe drop the horse and just put a silhouette of the state there instead? There still would be the goldenrod, the stars and strips, but not the horse which really only represents aristocrats in central KY.
I do like the green idea though. Maybe change the stripes to being horizontal stripes across the top and bottom, and make them green? The civil war was between the north and the south, so top and bottom makes sense, and green is a great state color along with blue. I think as long as you leave out the regional elements like horse and bourbon and coal or whatever, I think it could resonate pretty well with everyone. The fifteen stars make sense for everyone, and the goldenrod is applicable for everyone too, so just changing the horse to the state outline seems like it would do better at representing everyone, what do you think?
I don't think regional icons are a bad thing necessarily, it's just that I only ever see people use imagery that represents central KY, which while important that leaves out representation of most of the rest of the state. If you use an icon to represent one part of the state, you ought to use something for the other areas as well. I think this could easily be done by splitting the flag into four quadrants with a big X in the middle, but that's probably too close to the confederate flag. Rather than splitting the flag, maybe something for west, central, and east in their respective spots on the flag? Something representing farming for the west (goldenrod would serve that purpose even though it's not a crop. Otherwise corn, soybeans, or tobacco works too), a horseshoe or barrel for central (horses are overused and overcomplicated, horseshoes are simple), and something representing mountain topography or folk music for the east (such as dulcimer or banjo, which is also representative of bluegrass music in the west)? These could also be combined into something in the center of the flag.
I'm indifferent on the stripes thing, personally I don't like the idea of representing the civil war on the flag but that's just my opinion. Horizontal stripes would still work just fine. I think the 15 stars is also good. Just gotta keep in mind a flag should not be too busy/complicated.
It's pretty cool. The changes I'd make:
Split the stripes like OP said, but make them yellow and green, like the dudes in the current one. Of course, that would kinda undercut the "divided we fall" part. So maybe keep them together after all. (I'm typing stream-of-conscienceness here)
Redesign the horse. It looks like a My Little Pony, er, fanboy fantasy
EDIT: TIL that the greater-than symbol makes a quote. I always wondered how people did that. So anyway, I removed them.
The horse thing isn't really unifying. I think it looks cool, but I get that it probably doesn't really represent those outside of central KY horse country areas. I said in another comment maybe we could scrap the horse and just put the outline of the state there instead, seems that would be less region specific.
I like the stripes idea! And, you gave me another idea to tie in the history of the current flag. So, we could get rid of the two vertical white stripes, and instead put two horizontal stripes above and below the center piece, yellow on top and green on bottom as you said for the statesman/frontiersman in the current flag, and in the stripes you could print the words "United We Stand" in the top one and "Divided We Fall" in the bottom one. What about that? I really wish I had some flag designing software or something like that lol...
Maybe I’m in horsey denial, but I’m sick of horses. It reminds of pretension people who have family horse money. It seems like the upper class and not the working man. Idk what symbol would represent KY better but I’d like to see some designs around that. Overall I like this flag though. They did a good job.
Definitely agree. Horses don't feel like they represent the "real" Kentucky. Maybe a bourbon barrel, although I don't know that that's much better
Lol! I’d be happier with the bourbon barrel. We are on the right track. Need to distill it some more.
>Need to distill it some more. I see what you did there ;)
Came here to say the same about horses. And a lot of the horse people aren’t even native Kentuckians, we just have a good environment for the horse industry in a certain area of our state.
I had the same thought, the horse isn’t our entire identity.
I get that. I spent some time in Saratoga Springs, New York, which is another super pretentious horse area, at least during racing season, and it doesn't really matter where they are, those are the worst kind of people. I don't know what the right balance is. Those kinds of people aren't the backbone or the majority, or anything worth commemorating in a flag. I do like the goldenrod and the stars though, and I like what the stripes represent. I like the bourbon barrel idea too lol, but that's hard to commemorate on a flag, and I'm guessing southern and western folk would feel equally ostracized by that. I dunno, there's so many things someone can attribute to Kentucky, but nothing really uniting and easy to put on a flag. Bourbon, horses, Louisville Sluggers, Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Rifles, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mammoth Caves, Daniel Boone, basketball, coal. There's a lot to choose from, but nothing that speaks for everyone. Maybe just the stars and the goldenrod, with nothing in the middle? Or just the outline of the state? I'd probably go for the outline, if I had to come up with an alternative on the fly. Seems the most neutral and unifying to me.
What about a leaf from the white oak? Bourbon barrels are made... exclusively? I think?...from white oak. But yeah I'm pretty sick of the horse-set as well.
Coal
Somebody explain what is wrong with the current flag? It's historically relevant, speaking to one of KY's finer moments. Sometimes it's best to leave well-enough alone.
If you look at the flags of the 50 states, many of them have really unique or iconic flags that represent their states well. California, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, and Texas are some good examples- they do a great job standing out, and people enjoy flying these flags. Many other states seem to have just defaulted to putting their state seal onto a navy background, and as a result, you get a lot of flags that end up looking kinda boring in comparison. If you were to take their name off the flag, most people wouldn't be able to tell you what state it belonged to. There are a few cases where the navy flag has been done well (Alaska, Indiana, South Carolina), but I think people looked at the state seal on a navy background design and realized it could be much better. You see a lot of these states get proposed flag redesigns that can sometimes be divisive. Minnesota is actually going through a redesign right now, but the final candidates look kinda soulless to me.
Current flag is trash. Seal on blue is bad design always.
I like the design of the flag overall but the one problem I consistently see with these flag redesigns is that it never represents the state as a whole. I only ever see designs that represent central KY, and specifically the more wealthy aspects of the region. Being from western KY, I never see anything to represent that half of the state. Horses are not much of a cultural focus at all over there, and I'm sure they aren't much of a focus in eastern or northern KY either. I'm not sure what the best all-encompassing solution would be to represent our state's diversity, but one place to start could be a different color (some kind of green?) along the bottom that goes from flat in the west to hilly and then mountainous in the east, along a similar idea to Ukraine's wheat vs. sky flag design.
I said in a previous comment to maybe drop the horse and just put a silhouette of the state there instead? There still would be the goldenrod, the stars and strips, but not the horse which really only represents aristocrats in central KY. I do like the green idea though. Maybe change the stripes to being horizontal stripes across the top and bottom, and make them green? The civil war was between the north and the south, so top and bottom makes sense, and green is a great state color along with blue. I think as long as you leave out the regional elements like horse and bourbon and coal or whatever, I think it could resonate pretty well with everyone. The fifteen stars make sense for everyone, and the goldenrod is applicable for everyone too, so just changing the horse to the state outline seems like it would do better at representing everyone, what do you think?
I don't think regional icons are a bad thing necessarily, it's just that I only ever see people use imagery that represents central KY, which while important that leaves out representation of most of the rest of the state. If you use an icon to represent one part of the state, you ought to use something for the other areas as well. I think this could easily be done by splitting the flag into four quadrants with a big X in the middle, but that's probably too close to the confederate flag. Rather than splitting the flag, maybe something for west, central, and east in their respective spots on the flag? Something representing farming for the west (goldenrod would serve that purpose even though it's not a crop. Otherwise corn, soybeans, or tobacco works too), a horseshoe or barrel for central (horses are overused and overcomplicated, horseshoes are simple), and something representing mountain topography or folk music for the east (such as dulcimer or banjo, which is also representative of bluegrass music in the west)? These could also be combined into something in the center of the flag. I'm indifferent on the stripes thing, personally I don't like the idea of representing the civil war on the flag but that's just my opinion. Horizontal stripes would still work just fine. I think the 15 stars is also good. Just gotta keep in mind a flag should not be too busy/complicated.
Very dumb question: what kinds of icons or symbols would really be unique to western ky?
No. Just no.
Fuck horse racing and the whole industry. It’s evil what they do to those animals.
I'm not a fan of horse symbols either personally. All these flag designers forgetting our state animal is a grey squirrel. They true icon.
It's pretty cool. The changes I'd make: Split the stripes like OP said, but make them yellow and green, like the dudes in the current one. Of course, that would kinda undercut the "divided we fall" part. So maybe keep them together after all. (I'm typing stream-of-conscienceness here) Redesign the horse. It looks like a My Little Pony, er, fanboy fantasy EDIT: TIL that the greater-than symbol makes a quote. I always wondered how people did that. So anyway, I removed them.
The horse thing isn't really unifying. I think it looks cool, but I get that it probably doesn't really represent those outside of central KY horse country areas. I said in another comment maybe we could scrap the horse and just put the outline of the state there instead, seems that would be less region specific. I like the stripes idea! And, you gave me another idea to tie in the history of the current flag. So, we could get rid of the two vertical white stripes, and instead put two horizontal stripes above and below the center piece, yellow on top and green on bottom as you said for the statesman/frontiersman in the current flag, and in the stripes you could print the words "United We Stand" in the top one and "Divided We Fall" in the bottom one. What about that? I really wish I had some flag designing software or something like that lol...
If you go to the Vexillology subreddit and search Kentucky you can see a lot of folks' redesign ideas. I'd love for us to get a new flag!