Comment by throwaway314155
2 days ago
> Seems like same rule about flags[1]: a child should be able to draw it from memory.
Im a grown ass man and can't draw the US flag properly from memory, much less the many far more complicated flags out there.
I don't think that definition is particularly useful.
It is a useful concept, and letting the whispers of the vexillophiles[0] into your head will lead you to see that most flags are well, pretty bad.
CGP Grey has a lot of opinions[1] about this.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vexillology
[1] https://youtu.be/l4w6808wJcU
It's a "you should" kind of rule not a "everyone follows this with no exceptions" kind of rule. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I can think of an example of the latter
> It's a "you should" kind of rule not a "everyone follows this with no exceptions" kind of rule.
It's not a "you should" kind of rule either. It's something someone made up and wants to persuade other people of for no particular reason, similar to "don't split infinitives".
There is no benefit to having people be able to draw the flag accurately. A flag has two purposes:
1. Be easy to recognize.
2. Be visually impressive.
Two good flags are the flag of California and the flag of Saudi Arabia. You'd have a hard time drawing either one, but that's not a problem.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_California
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Saudi_Arabia
(Note also that I've seen a Spaniard claim her flag was easy to draw. She meant that it's easy to draw if you don't bother to draw the coat of arms.)
The purposes you mention are much more easily achieved by being simple to draw.
Yes, it is something "someone is arguing" but it's congruent with general design principles you will see in most domains.
She's not exactly wrong. Many countries use variants of flags for different uses. In the case of Spain[0] the civil flag does not have the coat of arms.
For a similar case, see the flag of Germany[1], Austria[2], Peru[3], Finland[4], Italy[5], and need I go on?
I don't think you should be ashamed for not knowing, but it's worth recognizing how easy it is to miscommunicate because different inherent assumptions are being made. In your case it is unsurprising that there is this disagreement because she sees the civil flag commonly and you don't, so it seems like a cop-out to you while it is pretty reasonable for her. There's surprisingly (annoyingly) a lot of depth to seemingly simple things.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Spain
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Germany
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Austria
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Peru
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Finland
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Italy
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Look at the flags for Texas and Chile for a more reasonable version of the US flag. The new Minnesota flag is an example of a good flag by these rules as well.