Introduction:
The project we were tasked with was to create a new flag to replace the awful Scottsdale, AZ flag. The city is hosting a competition for graphics artists to try and create a simple flag with symbols and no lettering unlike the current one.
Inspiration:
I drew my inspiration from a TED talk video about flags and how there are bad and good flag designs. One of the flags that drew my attention was the Chicago flag with a clean and simple design. I sought to create a simple design that embodied the history of Scottsdale.
Sketches:
Originally in my sketches I wanted to have a rattle snake wrapped around a turquoise rock as they are symbols relevant to Scottsdale. With messing around on Adobe Illustrator the snake around the rock proved to be nearly impossible with my level of Illustrator knowledge. Then my second sketch comprised of me creating a star in the middle which seemed to more feasible and provided a cleaner design.
Explanation:
The flag represents multiple parts of history in Scottsdale, AZ. The white lines across represent the cotton industry throughout Scottsdale’s history. Likewise, the tan background represents the desert as Scottsdale is located in a desert like every Arizona city except up north. In addition, the turquoise sun represents two symbols; the first is the color representing the turquoise trade and rock of Arizona while the star/sun represents the valley of the sun.
Final Product:
After many changes I settled on this design where I created a simple design with a turquoise star different from the Arizona state star.
