This post is the first of a series of flag redesigns for San Jose. A well-designed city flag can foster civic pride and unite a community. In Chicago, for example, their flag, one of the best designed flags in the country, is ingrained in the city's culture. The same is true for Portland. However, San Jose's flag is uninspiring and fails as a symbol for our community (When is the last time you saw our flag flying around?).
In this series, I'm going to start throwing around a bunch of design ideas, and hopefully we can come up with a solid design and get some flags waving around the city, similar to the "Fog and Gold" redesign in San Francisco.
Before we begin, here are some flag-design best practices by NAVA, the North American Vexillological Association:
- Keep it Simple
- Use Meaningful Symbolism
- Use 2-3 Basic Colors
- No Lettering or Seals
- Be Distinctive or Be Related
For reference, here is San Jose's current flag: 
It's bland, lacks symbolism and includes the city's seal; a design faux pas.
Now, I humbly submit the first of my redesign attempts:
In it, the triangular shape in the center represents the Santa Clara Valley, with the Golden Triangles on the sides representing the mountains which bound it. The sun, a common symbol of the City, represents warmth and our aspirations, and its central location within the white triangle symbolizes its position in the heart of the Silicon Valley. The colors are the official colors of San Jose and California.
So, comment below or tag me on Twitter @personopolis with your feedback/ideas. My next post(s) will be some more stuff on urbanism ans social issues and from there I'll release my next design.
Signing off,
AG
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