Fountain flag — or is it a whale? Panel seeks more input, voting
Facing concerns that the people’s choice for Orlando’s new flag looks to some like a surfacing whale, a panel of experts opted Friday to ask for tweaks to the four most popular designs and another round of public voting.
The top design, which with 1,474 votes led its closest rivals by more than 550, depicts the Lake Eola fountain gushing into the sky, ringed by a rainbow reflected in the water to form a letter “O.”
But to some critics, the spraying water better resembles the tail of a whale than the centerpiece of Orlando’s signature park.
“It’s been so disparaged in such a short period of time for being a sperm whale that, at this point, that imagery can’t be shaken,” said Kyle Shephard, Orlando’s chief assistant city attorney and a member of the Flag Design Review Committee, which met Friday.
The panel, which earlier identified 10 finalists from the more than 1,000 designs submitted to the city’s flag contest, had convened to review the results of online voting for the top contenders.
The committee — which will give a recommendation to the City Council, the final arbiter on the new flag — opted against choosing any one design during Friday’s meeting.
Instead, they directed city staff to work with the artists behind the top four finishers to refine their designs. Those four will then be made into real flags and put on display for another public vote.
For the most popular design from the first vote, the committee’s suggestions included reshaping the water spout to look less like a tail and making the “O” more circular. The panel also discussed coloring the water and sky differently, to create a horizon.
The second-place, swanthemed design could use a less-plain backdrop, members said, while the third-place design — which, to some, resembles an angry face — could do with fewer lines.
Committee members also debated their goals for the winning design: Should iconic imagery — like the fountain — take precedent, or should the flag rely more on symbolic colors and shapes?