To the editor:
There are five principles to good flag design: keep it simple and symbolic while avoiding seals and staying distinctive and limited to three colors.
Sounds easy enough, and yet not one municipality nor county has created a successful flag in New Jersey. From Bernards to Burlington, all place names, complex seals, or mottos across the banner. The foremost purpose of a flag is nonverbal representation; if your flag has to have your name across it, it’s not given a chance to do its job. In fact, even our state flag overcomplicates itself with a seal thrown in the middle, which defeats the entire purpose of recognizable symbolism. How many third-graders can draw that flag from memory?
I figure that Somerset County is the perfect place to start some symbol reform. It has solid design precedent, and it’s local enough to make change feasible but large enough to have an impact. The current flag has a dark blue seal with 21 stars, a silhouette of the county, and two ribbons, top and bottom. The stars are supposed to represent the 21 municipalities of the county, and the ribbons display the name of the county and the year of its founding.
As far as flags go, it’s rather complicated and could do without words or a seal. The flag fails to be a distinctive identifier. Part of that is the absence of the symbol in public life, and lowering the barrier of access to the flag by simplifying its design will make it easier to incorporate into life in Somerset County. Flags and other public symbols are powerful signifiers of the values of a community and a distinctive flag presents a fresh new face to visitors and investors, a quality that would be singular in our state.
A flag that retains the same color scheme while distilling down the original’s attributes would be a welcome change; a simple yellow background with a blue circle and a white bar bridging them together. The yellow background and blue circle would be an homage to the original flag, with the yellow representing the background of the state flag and the blue circle representing the world.
Looking forward into the future, Somerset County will only become more diverse, drawing people from all across the globe. Recognizing our shared tie to our home at the same time as our varied backgrounds is the perfect way to bring our flag into the 21st century.
Sid Shankar
Hillsborough
