Mixed Bag of Flags

The North American Vexillology Association recently conducted a survey, grading flags from cities and towns around the country. The good news for Wisconsin is that Madison got an A. The bad news is that seven other cities received Fs for their designs.

The survey polled members and the public on 312 flags that were adopted or redesigned since 2015. Over 2800 flag fiends ranked entries from 0 to 10, then average scores were converted to letter grades. Franklin, West Allis, South Milwaukee, Kenosha, River Falls, De Pere and Janesville all failed the assignment.

The Drink Wisconsinbly Week in Review Editorial Board is in no position to grade shame anybody. That said, it’s not hard to understand why these municipalities came up short on their report cards. If you run any of their designs up the flagpole only those with limited aesthetic understanding would salute.

Should any of these towns want to take another swing at their flag, the DW Creative Think Tank is willing to help. If you want to take the project seriously, we can provide concepts that look less like the logo for a low-end marketing firm. If you want to thumb your nose at the flag nerds, we can suggest some cool ideas featuring lasers, explosions or maybe a badger character on an ATV flipping the bird. Either way, your town will get an A+ design — even if it doesn’t actually get that grade from the snooty judges.