Hello,
This is the Imperial Flag for a sci-fi type country/world.
Please tell me what you think.
* Aesthetically - good/bad? Geometry, proportions, colors, etc.
* What does this flag communicate to you? (i.e. emotions like fear or happyness, concepts like power or diplomacy)
* How can it be improved?
* Is the flag suitable for the type of setting I want to use it in?
* Any other feedback
Thanks!
(http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r252/cReative00/flag.png)
I think it has too many small lines to be a proper flag. As far as I know, flags usually have block colours or very recognisable shapes. Those small horizontal lines and the 2 very similar shades of yellow don't seem to fit well.
As for what it communicates to me? Sun, sand and surf.
I had a bit of a look into it and realised that Empires don't tend to have an 'Imperial Flag' as such... They will keep the flag from the original country and often encorporate it into the flags of the colonies (hence the Aussie flag has the Union Jack in it).
Empires often have Imperial 'Emblems' or 'Seals' or 'Coat of Arms' which they may well fly on a flag as well as the national one.
As you're talking about Sci-fi, take a look at this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ea/Star_wars_galactic_empire_emblem.svg (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ea/Star_wars_galactic_empire_emblem.svg)
It's the Emblem of the Galactic Empire in Star Wars. It's round, geometrical, and pretty. Symmetry is definitely the key.
Similar to this is the Imperial Seal of the Japanese Empire. It's supposed to be a chrysanthemum. Again it is circular and symmetrical. Again it's pretty.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Imperial_Seal_of_Japan.svg (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Imperial_Seal_of_Japan.svg)
The Russian Empire has a Coat of Arms. And it's massive. It consists of dozens of symbols and makes up a pretty picture. But would look a bit messy on a flag. But... again it is round and it is symmetrical.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/Russian_Empire%27s_Big_Coat_of_Arms.jpg (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/Russian_Empire%27s_Big_Coat_of_Arms.jpg)
Now Britain doesn't like to use the word Empire anymore due to its connotations of exploitation and all things nasty. And as most of the countries dont actually belong to Britain anymore they gave it a new name. The Commonwealth. This commonwealth does have it's own flag. And cReative... it's scarily similar to yours.
(http://www.stlucia.gov.lc/pr2000/images/Commonwealth_Flag.gif)
Notice something though... Apart from a few missing spokes on the right-hand side, it is again very symmetrically sound. I think you know what you have to do.
Aesthetically: A very quirky and original symbol. But like Babar said you could reduce the smaller lines and use one shade of yellow to make it a more recognizable shape from far away. I don't think it has to be symmetrical though. The general shape you have now is very nice, would be a shame to lose it.
What does the flag communicate: tranquility, happiness, freedom, light
Is it suitable for a sci-fi setting: everything is suitable for a sci-fi setting
No, it's not very good. The best - and maybe only - way of testing these things is to set up a test group and see what they think the picture tells them. I can save you the hassle to conduct such research and tell you that said group would not think of a sci-fi empire, they would more likely think of a tourist resort.
Complexity is not really an issue these days; many logotypes are utterly complicated and hard to reproduce. But this is a flag, not a company logo, and this should be easily transformed to a large number of environments - uniforms, stickers, badges etc.
Recognisable shapes or symmetrical shapes, or both. I think this is key. Just throwing random lines and shapes together doesn't work. Best idea would be to take a well known object or figure and stylise it to just a silhouette or something.
Quote from: Stupot on Sat 08/09/2007 06:52:24
Apart from a few missing spokes on the right-hand side, it is again very symmetrically sound.
Actually, if you look at it vertically, it
is symmetrical.
Thanks for your feedback...
I've listened to your suggestions and this is what I've come up with:
(http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r252/cReative00/flag2.png)
Let me know what you think
Thanks
Yep, that looks a lot better. I got no crits for this one.
Quote from: space boy on Sun 09/09/2007 15:44:08
Yep, that looks a lot better. I got no crits for this one.
Me neither. I like it.
But if I was going to pick something I'd say I don't really see the need for the two slightly different shades of blue. Better to be all one block of the same hue.
True. If you want to use two shades of blue, add more contrast. Also, to me it doesn't quite resemble future but something ancient, with the roman pillars and the sun as the main surrounding that keeps the whole content in place. Also, it night be done in purpose, but it seems as the detail in the centre doesn't fit, or goes over the lines at times, one might want to work on that.
Quote from: Tuomas on Sun 09/09/2007 16:08:07
Also, to me it doesn't quite resemble future but something ancient
Well, what does future look like? His world might be one with very advanced technology but with an architectural style and culture resembling our ancient world. Like I said, anything is allowed in a sci-fi setting. Take a look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fading_Suns
Remove the blur on the "sunrays" or make the sharp parts blurry. It looks really inconsistent now, IMO..
Quote from: vict0r on Mon 10/09/2007 18:08:18
Remove the blur on the "sunrays" or make the sharp parts blurry. It looks really inconsistent now, IMO..
If my guess to how he made the new design is right, then the Rotating will Always blur.
cR - To save yourself time in painting over your triangles, would be--if you're using Photoshop--open the .psd in Illustrator. Vector never blurs. I hope you have each element on it's own layer(if you did use photoshop). Just trace over one triangle in Illustrator (on it's own layer of course) and then you can do the copy/paste/rotate without the blurring.
If you dont have illustrator, the only way to crisp them would be to manually trace over each one on a new layer and then just erase the blurred ones.
call me the devils advocate but I like the other one better. with yello as a solid colour and just one blue it would be quite nice