The Flag Design Workbook

The FlagLore workbook for designing a flag that reads at a distance, from the first sketch to the construction sheet

A flag is seen from far away, moving, from either side, and has to be recognized in a second. The Flag Design Workbook takes a design for a club, school, town or contest entry from one sentence to a construction sheet a maker can sew, with the arithmetic at each step. Part 1 writes the brief, sketches at thumbnail size, and chooses a ratio that fits the flags you will actually print (a 2:3 design on a stock 3 x 5 ft flag is stretched 11 percent, turning circles into ovals). It checks every pair of touching colors for lightness, because red and green are 1.08 to 1 and merge at a distance, shows why lettering fails (a readable letter at 100 feet is nearly two inches tall on a flat, still flag), and gives every element as a share of the hoist. A worked club flag goes from a draft with a real fault to the fix. Part 2 runs five tests, builds the one-page submission and orders a sample. With your purchase comes a personalised sheet worked on the ratio, pole and colors you enter in the FlagLore tools.

Look inside

Two full pages from the workbook, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• The brief: what the flag stands for, in one sentence
• The thumbnail rule: what survives one inch survives a field
• Choosing a ratio that fits the flags you will print
• Colors that read apart: the lightness of every touching pair
• Why no lettering: the smallest readable letter at a distance
• The construction sheet, every element as a share of the hoist
• Five tests, the one-page submission, and ordering a sample
• Bonuses: a quickstart, the lightness card and a contest checklist
• A personalised sheet worked on your own flag

The workbook complements the free flag tools. They do the proportion, size and color sums; it adds the rest and takes a design from one sentence to a construction sheet.