Finalists for the new Tulsa flag

[Tulsasaurus Rex]

What about taking B, flipping the dreamcatcher and tweaking it to make it look like the downtown skyline?

http://imgur.com/a/n2wQo

Crude mockup. I'm seeing a lot of issues with using the dreamcatcher on comments/Facebook.

1) We'll have to update the flag when we build a news skyscraper (like that'll ever happen)

2) I'm not worried about the dream catcher, not least because that's not a dream catcher. I know some person involved in the flag project called it a dream catcher but I think it's looks like and is intended to look like the Osage shield on the flag of Oklahoma.

[BKDotCom]

So this new flag will attract tourists at a rate higher than the costs of replacing all the flags?

The primary goal is to not suck.  It de-sucking one thing associated with Tulsa improves image/brand-awareness, so-be-it

Will they be replacing the shield "flag" on all the city vehicles as well?

The "shield flag" on city vehicles isn't a flag, it's a shield.   That's the primary problem with our flag..  Someone just threw the city shield on a white flag and said "done"

[Ibanez]

A is the least awful.

B is very "meh" in that it isn't good, but neither is it entirely awful.

C is, I dunno...the result of a fever dream? It really looks like something Homer Simpson would have seen after eating a Guatemalan Insanity Pepper. Minus Johnny Cash as his spirit animal of course.

Can we see some of the designs that were not finalist? I have a hard time believing these were the three best unless they were the only submissions.

[heironymouspasparagus]

A is the least awful.

B is very "meh" in that it isn't good, but neither is it awful.

C is, I dunno...the result of a fever dream? It really looks like something Homer Simpson would have seen after eating a Guatemalan Insanity Pepper. Minus Johnny Cash as his spirit animal of course.

Can we see some of the designs that were not finalist? I have a hard time believing these were the three best unless they were the only submissions.

They say nearly 400 submitted.  Surely we have more imagination, creativity and artistic talent in this town...??   Or maybe it is not a problem with the submissions so much as the evaluators...?  

I agree - let's see some more!   Maybe they should have put it up for an online poll for a couple months - top 3 "likes" gets to the finals.

[Tulsa Zephyr]

Don't like any of the three choices.  Actually if they offered the bottom right (Black with "TULSA" in the center), I'd almost pick that over the others.  I'd say put the Tulsa emblem which is on police cars, with the feathers under the word Tulsa, in competition with the others.

[DowntownDan]

I voted B, but A is growing on my.  C looks like an abstract Swedish flag and I would immediately think of Sweden when I saw it.

[DowntownDan]

What about taking B, flipping the dreamcatcher and tweaking it to make it look like the downtown skyline?

http://imgur.com/a/n2wQo

Crude mockup. I'm seeing a lot of issues with using the dreamcatcher on comments/Facebook.

The project was based largely on Roman Mars' TED talk on flags in which he set out a bunch of rules.  This breaks one of them.  The flag should be easy to draw by hand.  Drawing a tiny skyline would be difficult.  The "dreamcatcher" part of the flag is straight lines with points and would be easy to draw.

[DowntownDan]

Don't like any of the three choices.  Actually if they offered the bottom right (Black with "TULSA" in the center), I'd almost pick that over the others.  I'd say put the Tulsa emblem which is on police cars, with the feathers under the word Tulsa, in competition with the others.

This breaks another key rule.  No words on the flag.  It's lazy.  Flags are about symbols that remind you of the place.  Putting the name of the place on the flag is lame.

[johrasephoenix]

I like B.  It's drawable and has staying power.  "A" looks exactly like the Ukrainian flag and could easily be the flag of some Ukrainian army unit.  C is too busy.

Any new abstract flag design is going to get a ton of hate and take a generation to become loved.  Even the Chicago flag, which is pretty universally recognized as the best, would be voted down if proposed brand new today. 

That's exactly why some countries stick with old flags that don't make sense.  New Zealand can't agree on a new abstract design, so it just sticks with its outdated colonial-era flag.  Heck, Hawaii still has the British Union Jack on its flag.       

Hawaii:

[Ibanez]

I wish I could vote for this one:

[Red Arrow]

I wish I could vote for this one:

Take the name out and you have a winner.

[sgrizzle]

So on A they want you to see black wall street, the letter T, a tree to represent Council Oak, a tulsa-ish blue, oil drilling, and golden driller-ish yellow. They want you to somehow interpret it as more like this:

[Tulsa Zephyr]

This breaks another key rule.  No words on the flag.  It's lazy.  Flags are about symbols that remind you of the place.  Putting the name of the place on the flag is lame.

I was being sarcastic...I'd rather be sarcastic than an a$$hole...

[Red Arrow]

Why is the "sky blue" on the bottom in A?  Flying inverted?

[sgrizzle]

Why is the "sky blue" on the bottom in A?  Flying inverted?

River?