There’s no star among these 40 flags
THE first reaction to the ‘‘long-list’’ of 40 new flag designs is disappointment. Too many look like bad company logos, where the design brief was to incorporate two or more visually incongruous themes: ferns, stars or koru in all their possible combinations.
The flag committee chose the 40 ‘‘unanimously’’ and committee chairman John Burrows says the designs had to be simple, uncluttered, balanced ‘‘and have good contrast’’. Really? Some of the designs are cluttered to the point of incoherence.
And only a few really look like plausible flags. Wa kainga/Home looks like a flag and has avoided the trap of planting a fern under the stars and adding a whirligig. The New Southern Cross just removes the Union Jack – a necessity for modern New Zealand – but leaves the stars looking lost.
The fern sounds like a good idea because it is iconic and Kiwi, perhaps a local version of the Canadian maple leaf. In practice it doesn’t seem to work on a flag, and not only because it has indelible associations of butter and rugby. The shape is somehow not striking enough to be a recognisable symbol of nationhood.
The koru is a natural symbol for New Zealand, because it evokes both the fern frond and the indigenous people. But its shape is hard to mesh into the unforgiving rectangle of a flag. It is a true icon, but flags seem to require strong verticals or striking horizontal lines: the tricolour in its various incarnations is popular for a reason.
Presumably the committee will now base its short-list on four basic motifs: the fern, the Southern Cross, the koru – and a variant of a mountain (Wa kainga or Red Peak). And this points to a seeming gap in the long-list.
What happened to an abstract combination of broad green, white and blue vertical stripes? These are Pacific colours with a flavour of Aotearoa. They figured in informal talk, but will be absent from the final reckoning.
Perhaps, over time, people will find a favourite among this uninspiring collection. The real danger is that opinion will split into lukewarm camps and the existing flag will win by default.
That would be a sad lost opportunity. For many, the colonial flag no longer fits this country. New Zealanders are natural constitutional conservatives and many are not interested in reform. But inertia and lack of imagination should not hold the trump card.
Above all the choice should not be sabotaged by silly complaints about expense and political ‘‘diversions’’. John Key’s motives in proposing a change of flag are no doubt as mixed as a politician’s always are. But the time is overdue to consider a new flag, and voters are able to consider more than one political issue at a time. We don’t have to stick with what we have.
Unfortunately we are stuck with a rigid timetable of twin referendums, but room needs to be left for a late and inspiring new entrant. South Africa tried to design a flag by committee and competition, and failed to find a favourite. It then chose a design by a single individual, and the choice is now widely admired. Perhaps a brilliant and original design can still save the day.