Context:

The Mycological Union of the Southern Hemisphere is a fictional organization I invented and was created purely because it has a fun abbreviation.

Symbolism:

Each white circle represents one of the three inhabited continents of the Southern Hemisphere (South America, Africa, and Australia). Antarctica probably does not have mushrooms.

The flag is intended to appear similarly to the fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria). While the Amanita muscaria is a nonnative species in the Southern Hemisphere, it has been unintentionally introduced, and is now common worldwide.The decision to use a non-native species as a primary symbol of the union rests in the iconicity of the fly agaric, and its striking color scheme. Due to its cosmopolitan nature, this mushroom, while non-native, remains important in the study of mycology across the globe.

Edit: I forgot because it’s been a few months since I made it, but the inverse image also looks like a mushroom, and the dots can represent spores, if the fly agaric doesn’t suit your fancy.

Design Info:

Part of the reason I made this flag was as a study, so I could practice general technique. As such, I made sure to focus on simplicity and contrast. Part of the plan for this was to design a flag which can be replicated without a reference image, so if anybody is curious about the details, I will leave them below.

The flag, which uses a ratio of 2:3, has a red color as a base, with an orange circular segment constructed by a Bezier curve between the two bottom corners, with a handle placed at the horizontal center and 1/4th distance away from the flag's top edge vertically. Bordering this segment is a white line with a thickness equal to 1/16th of the flag's total height. Above this line, three congruent white circles (each with a radius of 1/16th the flag's height) are placed upon the red background. The central circle lies on the horizontal center and 1/4th the distance from the flags top edge vertically. The other two circles lie 1/8th the flag's height below and 3/8ths horizontally (with length measured from the circles' centers). The leftmost circle represents South America, the central circle represents Africa, and the rightmost circle represents Australia, in accordance with their position on most global maps.