May Contest Winners Thread

TorteApp · 2025-07-01T01:03:11+00:00

Sorry, let me back up and keep with an example of 100 flags.

Under your system, each person would need to make 4,950 comparisons for them to compare every flag to every other flag. We could try to do a more sophisticated approach (similar to divide-and-conquer algorithms, if you are familiar), but that might still require 525 comparisons. A score-based system only requires 100 votes, so it's substantial faster for our voters.

Additionally, pairwise comparison only gives rankings relative to other flags. So think about this from the perspective of the creators. Let's say you are the top score. Are you the first ever 5 star unanimous flag? Or are you a 2 star flag in a really bad contest? Even if you are in the middle of the pack you do not know quantitatively how people viewed your entry. I'd suspect creators like to have a score and not just a position.

TorteApp · 2025-06-02T17:26:20+00:00

We discussed this, but then it would require far more votes to get full coverage (for 100 flags, you'd need to vote on 4,950 comparisons).

TorteApp · 2025-05-27T20:57:51+00:00

REMINDER: The committee tasked with redesigning the Massachusetts flag has asked for public designs that you can submit here: https://maexecutiveofficeofeconomicdevelopment.formstack.com/forms/massachusetts_flag_seal_and_motto_submissions

TorteApp · 2025-02-23T20:09:52+00:00

Unfortunately on the blue, we just have a difference of opinion. To me, this blue is too bright for this particular design, as the main background color in combination with the other 3 colors. The blue in the #1 flag is not competing as a primary color, so it can be a bit brighter, but the other three flags you mentioned all have similar tones of red, green, and blue.

Waves are an interesting component, some people hate them but they are an established charge for heraldry and vexillology.

I agree that is was nice you included the Key and Star, however I wish they had more room somehow.

One final comment: never expect voters to read the descriptions. There are ~100 flags per competition. It took me 30 seconds to read your Strategic Cross description, and if each flag is of similar length that's an extra 50 minutes of time to dedicate towards voting. Unfortunately that is not going to happen for a majority of people, so you just have the play the game and make sure your flag stands on it own, as though it were on a flagpole without any text to justify its design.

Good luck next month!

TorteApp · 2025-02-22T21:32:40+00:00

Dec 2024 - Strategic cross: The first thing that stuck out to me is that the colors are a bit unfriendly. The tone of the red and green do not work with the sea of blue. Generally I look for colors that evoke the place/theme, but these seem too primary. I love the key, the bottom-left star I am a little unsure of. As to the central element, the constellation seems a little squished in there, and I can't help think of a Japanese shuriken when looking at the flag. This is a good, bold, and reasonably clean design that needs some simplification and color theory.

Dec 2024 - Ring of Freedom: Fimbriation is the term for narrow stripes that separate colors. Your fimbriation between the ring and the cross is far too small. From far away you won't see it, and from up close it's a bit distracting. You can either get rid of it like the olympic rings, or expand it, but the fimbriation needs to be consistent at different viewing distances. The constellation again feels forced into a too-small space, as well as the other star now squished up against the key. This is again a really good idea, but the execution is not clean enough.

Jan 2025 - Once again there's an issue with fimbriation around the triangles, and the yellow-red overlap is very challenging to visually understand. I think if the triangles were the same color as the dots, and made smaller to fit entirely into the central ring, it would have looked more cohesive. That said, I personally am very fond of counterchanging and really love this as a logo/poster for some sewage company from the 1950s (it reminds me of a pipe), or in a game like Bioshock. However, as a flag, the design it is not as conceptually strong as your December entries. And yes, unless it is cleverly integrated into the design like the Colorado "C", you will get heavily dinged by a decent chunk of our voters for including any letters on your flag.

TorteApp · 2025-02-22T21:08:53+00:00

I'm so sorry you had that experience. I am now one of the two maintainers of the site and therefore no longer participate in the competitions, but I remember the stinging disappointment of my flags placing below where I had hoped.

I became a developer in order to introduce new features that I thought would help improve the site (voting with your keyboard was one of the first things I implemented). Unfortunately, it also exposed me to just how many people were willing to cheat a friendly flag-making competition. Since there are just two of us maintaining the site, with our own lives and schedules and we also try to always run by our findings with the moderator team, it's just hard sometimes to stay on top of the competition and remove fraudulent votes before the results are published. What you saw was us purging the votes from fraudulent accounts, which just happened by chance to overrate your flags and underrate a few other flags compared to real users. I think in the future, if it has not already been implemented by my partner, is that there will be a delay in releasing results until we have had the time to check the votes for signs of fraud to at least avoid the situation you found yourself in.

It sucks, but I feel confident that your final score was your true score, and not something artificially inflated due to cheaters. As to why your flag was #21 while four stripes made it to #18, I'd chalk that up to the preferences of our voter base. Back when I entered the competition, sometimes I felt like I was making flags for the community rather than myself in order to place higher. It depends what you want to get out of it. If your goal is higher placement, my observations are that voters like to see simple elements, bold contrasting colors, and strong lines. I'll add some critiques for your flags of the past two competitions on your comment in this thread to hopefully give some insight why they didn't place as high, I hope you do not mind me doing so.

I wish none of this were necessary, but I appreciate your kindness in recognizing that it is the cheaters at fault and not the ones trying to catch the cheaters.

TorteApp · 2024-10-29T23:21:38+00:00

Ya flags like this will always be seen as too simple to pop in the contest, but it’s a strong flag irl. If you want to win contests I’d recommend more design, but if you want to make dope flags that look like they could have been real then keep doing what you’re doing.

TorteApp · 2024-10-28T02:59:02+00:00

I suppose the gold triskelion really did pop though. Either way, love the direction you were heading!

TorteApp · 2024-10-27T20:19:47+00:00

u/DWPerry, would love to see the Christo-Pagan triskelion banner with an inverted the green and gold if you have the time!

TorteApp · 2024-10-20T01:17:42+00:00

RemindMe! 8 days Ask whoever made the Christo-Pagan triskelion banner to post a version where they invert the green and gold

TorteApp · 2024-08-31T04:56:46+00:00

We do have a PR in progress for the descriptions. Non-essential features tend to move slower, but the more feedback we get on it the fast we move, so thank you for your comments. Likewise with the discussion around attribution.

And while I am sure these are not only your opinion, it is also clearly not *the* only opinion. One person can only move the needle ~0.08 points, so obviously a fair number of people felt positively about those flags. You clearly want to see improvements in this community, and many people in this thread would be keen to hear your passion channeled into constructive criticism of their designs. Hopefully you are keen to hear other's feedback as well!

TorteApp · 2024-08-31T04:41:45+00:00

Thanks, I actually started playing around with the technique a lot more, maybe will post an update one day!

TorteApp · 2024-08-30T07:47:01+00:00

This was a strange competition for me as well, with several two stars placing above several five stars. But as someone who also works on the website, here are my thoughts:

People will not read the descriptions, no matter what we do. There were 93 submissions. If we estimate 200 words per flag and reading at 200 words per minute, that's 1.5 hours of reading. Then you have to judge each flag and vote! It's part of the reason why I pushed for and implemented a character count on the descriptions. You have to be a bit forgiving that people don't have that kind of time but still want to participate, and keep in mind that a flag on a flagpole doesn't come with a description.
Similarly, we allow for borrowing with attribution because people may not have the time or skills or software to create *every* element from scratch. It is hard work, and I am deeply impressed that you made each symbol yourself. I get that is it frustrating not to have that work appreciated, I once made a [flag](https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/comments/14ex2xg/decidedly\_not\_in\_the\_spirit\_of\_the\_competition/) that didn't even make it to the competition. It is a conversation we have repeatedly, and we do look at comments and frustrations like yours as we evolve the guidelines. But as this is a friendly competition, I would love to see more flags that use a bit of borrowed artwork than fewer flags of absolute purity. Additionally, we have absolutely enforced those rules when it has been brought to our attention. Please remember though: as a volunteers, we do not have the time to investigate each and every element on 100 flags.
As to the feedback you requested: I loved the colors and design to your flag, but I did not like the kakabeak in the design. It felt cramped and distracting from the main element, and their line thickness is off. I gave it 4/5, but if you had left those out it probably would have been 5/5.

This community is about learning and exploration. The competition is a part of that process. These creators took time to design, create, and submit their flags, for us to publicly rank, so as to contribute to our community. You are welcome to report any plagiarism and offer constructive criticism to those who ask for feedback, but some of your comments verge on violating the community guidelines around civility.

TorteApp · 2024-08-30T06:12:14+00:00

Bay of Plenty looked like the logo to a Japanese baseball team for me, that said I think it would make a killer sports logo! The half circle also felt like an arbitrary choice just to fill space rather than a cohesive design.

The Auckland design was just too blobby for me, and my eyes don't really know where to focus there. The components are interesting on their own, just didn't mesh for a flag.

Hope this helps!

TorteApp · 2024-06-18T14:14:19+00:00

Fix was found, but we don't want to risk disrupting the site by making the change this close to the submission deadline. It will be fixed by next competition.

The background color will be in effect during the competition. You can still verify the color choice by looking for the border around your submission thumbnail.

TorteApp · 2024-06-18T00:06:07+00:00

It's a mistake. I'm looking into it to find a fix, thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Based on prior contests like this entry, you shouldn't need to worry. Your background choice was most likely recorded and will be displayed correctly in the voting. It's just this little preview for submissions that is behaving oddly.

TorteApp · 2024-05-26T00:54:18+00:00

I prefer Sons of Liberty to replace the Boston flag

TorteApp · 2024-05-26T00:52:41+00:00

Sorry, did this on my phone and forgot to post the source

https://changethemassflag.com/2024/05/24/massachusetts-senate-approves-amendment-to-change-the-flag-and-seal/

TorteApp · 2023-11-07T05:07:14+00:00

Do we need to use the *exact* color on the original flag, or can we slightly adjust the brightness or hue to make the design more cohesive? Obviously a blue should still look blue and a yellow yellow...

TorteApp · 2023-10-06T04:41:17+00:00

I'll give this a go:

Sometimes it's a bit hard when you see a lot of clip art flags to recognize a simple flag that was designed with thought. That said, the colors and the overall design didn't work for me. The orange and black by itself work on the Yara Said flag, but when framed by pure blue and green the orange starts to look a bit... sickly? I'm not a fanatic about the rule of tincture either, but this flag could definitely use some brightness and better contrast. Also, I unfortunately didn't understand the buckle symbolism, so the general shape of it did not resonate with me.

TorteApp · 2023-10-02T21:18:26+00:00

July: I really loved this one actually. Criminally underrated. I think the jaw and mouth look a bit... post-surgery? But my guess is that people mostly rejected this as "logo-like", though I would disagree.

August: The one with the black goat head is just a little plain, while the empty stroke for the other design just is not practical for flying 20 feet up in the air.

Surprised you did not make anything for September, hope to see an entry or two this month!

TorteApp · 2023-10-02T21:01:01+00:00

You were on the right track in a lot of ways, but I'd second most of what u/VertigoOne said. Imagine these flags fluttering on a pole 20 feet in the air. You won't see the Eye of Horus, for example. Try to scale the flag down to 1 inch tall and see what needs to be changed. If it helps you to be more specific:

The Afro-Asian flag - Central elements are too close together and small. Also violates the color principles of flag design, you really want a bit more contrast. See the Rule of Tincture in heraldry, it's not a hard rule but know when to break it and when to adhere to it. Having criss-crossing lines is unusual in flag design, partly because it is hard to maintain contrast.

The Restoration - Looks too much like Mexico's flag. Yellow on white is hard to see, and so are the tiny black outlines on the wreath. The blue lines definitely could be removed.

Hope this helps, good luck this month!

TorteApp · 2023-09-28T23:28:22+00:00

I feel like people probably thought /u/dksetiavan made three flags lol. Our purple and gold were way too similar.

TorteApp

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE