Many flags around the world are iconic, think the ones of France, Canada, South Africa, the Nordics, etc.
However, there are some that aren’t as good, like the Australian and New Zealand flags, both of which still retain the union jack with little Indigenous symbolism. Speaking as an Australian myself, our flag isn’t all that great! The Southern Cross is cool, but there is no hint of green/gold, and the union jack just looks tacked on. There are also many flags that look good, but the symbolism represents ideas that you’re against. Think Iran’s flag that draws heavily from their sect of Islam and the theocracy, or the PRC’s flag having the smaller stars representing the people surrounding the larger star representing the one party state. There’s also some that are okay, but a bit boring and hard of distinguish from the rest, and an additional element would make it stand out more.
And purple should be on more flags! Republican Spain during the 1930s had some purple, but they lost the civil war and the flag was replaced.
If you could change the national flags of the world, what would be your flag proposals?
There’s a lot of flags that annoy me and I would like to see changed, but I think these are the ones that I would change without a second thought:
Russia
Current: I find their current flag to be offensive to the eyes. The bright blue and red clash with each other, and the white bar at the top makes it looks like it's upside down. It gives off a very uncomfortable and depressing vibe.
Suggestion: I would change it to the old black, yellow, and white flag that Imperial Russia used. I think it's a very beautiful and elegant flag with a unique color combination that harmonizes well together.
Iran
Current: It takes the classical Iranian tricolors and gives them these disgusting squiggles to the green and red blocks that are supposed to be "Allahu Akbar" on repeat in the Kufic script. They also add this eyesore of an islamic emblem in the middle that supposed to be a bunch of swords and a crescent spelling out "allah" in Arabic. I don't know a single Iranian who likes this flag.
Suggestion: I would change it to the old lion and sun flag. Not only does it look badass, but this flag actually carries the history of Iran. It's the historical flag, it's the flag that people identify with, and it's a flag that encompasses all Iranians, not just the muslims (which are barely a majority in the country).
Iraq
Current: The flag of my home country is just stupid. It's a tricolor used by previous Iraqi flags with 3 stars in the middle. Saddam Hussein later added the words "Allahu Akbar" in Arabic between the stars. The new Iraqi government ran with it, but then later decided to remove the Saddam Hussein elements by removing the stars he didn't add and keep the "Allahu Akbar that he did add". It pissed off a lot of people because it's a deceitful attempt by islamists to pretend that Iraq is an islamic state.
Suggestion: Go back to the Qasim flag. This was a flag that was used in Iraq after the revolution to overthrow the monarchy. It used the pan-arab tricolors to represent the Arabs, a yellow circle that represented the Kurdish sun, and a red star that symbolized the star of Ishtar which represented the Assyrians in the country and the country's rich history. It's simply a superior flag, though I would do away with the pan Arab colors in favor of something that symbolizes Iraq.
China
Current: I will forever hold the opinion that communist flags are hideous. China is an ancient civilization that has a rich history and culture, and you're telling that they can't find anything to symbolize their nation outside of a foreign influenced communist flag? Bullshit.
Suggestion: Bring back the Qing dynasty flag. It's iconic, it's indigenous, and it represents China's deep heritage way better than a bland red flag with stars. Besides, it has a cool dragon on it, how can anybody hate that?
Belarus
Current: Is this not one of the ugliest flags in the world? The colors clash with each other, the blocks are not balanced, and the pattern on the side is just repulsive. Not only that but this flag is a stripped down version of the Soviet Imposed flag, which most Belarussians view as a symbol of Russian imperialism. To make matters worse the current flag was designed and imposed by Lukashenko, the brutal dictator of Belarus, in 1995. Belarussians view this gross flag as symbol of Lukashenko's tyranny and an extension of Russia's imperialism.
Suggestion: It's time to replace the current atrocity with the real flag of Belarus. Belarus literally means 'White Rus' as in the historical term for the ancient Slavic Rus who were never conquered by the Tartars, and this flag has a lot of white to represent that freedom and red for the sacrificing that it took to defend it. I specifically like the variation that has the coat of arms of Lithuania on it since a good portion of the historical Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth encompassed modern Belarus.
Some feedback:
As for Russia, I think some elements of the imperial flag should be used, but not its entirety, since it represents the monarchy who historically weren’t all too kind to their people for most of their reign. Perhaps a new flag, with a France-like vertical tricolour, a mixture of the imperial colours (yellow, maybe black) and the modern colours (red, maybe blue) could be formed to represent remembering Russia’s long past while also showing that they are stepping forward into the future.
I do think bringing the lion and sun flag would be great! It’s a lion holding a blade with the sun rising from its back, how cool is that? The image hasn’t loaded yet, but I do need to note that the flag should be the one without the crown, as that represents the authoritarian Shah. The crownless flag was actually adopted when the Shah was deposed for a democracy, but then the CIA had to muck everything up and depose Mossadegh to restore the U.S.-friendly Shah, and later you had the 1979 Islamic revolution and all that.
The Qasim flag does look really cool! No qualms about that one, I think it’s simply better than the current flag.
As for the Chinese flag, I do think that the current flag is a little boring, but it’s quite recognisable. However (speaking as somebody with Chinese ancestry), red is a lucky colour in Chinese culture, although the PRC officially defines the red on the flag to symbolise the communist struggle. I think a majorly red flag would be suitable for China, and additionally, the Qing flag represents the dynasty ruled by the Manchus rather than the majority Han Chinese, so I’m sure some people (particularly the older folk) would be upset by that. I personally enjoy the “five peoples” flag of the Beiyang republic, with five stripes representing the five major people groups of China, but since that specific iteration of China was plagued by corruption and all that, it’s not a popular option.
In my opinion, I think a majorly red flag would be good, but maybe not the central star with the four stars surrounding it (it represents the people surrounding the party). Personally, I would go for a yellow/gold Chinese dragon in the centre going around in a circle (symbolising how long China has existed, the “foreverness” of Chinese identity), a star in the middle if communism sticks around, and maybe some lions on either side as well, since those are also very important in China? Actually, maybe it could be lions on one side (representing the spirit of the Chinese people) and a flower / maybe some leaves / another plant (representing the kind and respectful culture of the Chinese people). I think that would be neat!
In the case of Belarus, I think the white red white would look pretty neat! Recognisable and has some historical background to it. I feel it’s a little bland though, maybe adding a third colour or some of the patterns would do it good?
IIRC history of the current Russian flag is that it was a naval flag derived from the Dutch by… Rearranging the stripes. Yeah, so original.
Also, many people confuse the color stripe order anyway. The cynical way to remember it is “blood under water”.
I suppose I should not ask your opinion on color choices for Bangladesh.
Or the colour choices for Morocco…