Good Flag, Bad Flag, and the Great NAVA Flag Survey of 2001

Abstract

Vexillology—the study of flags, often overlaps with vexillography—the design of flags. It’s no wonder, since most of us who look at thousands of flags in the course of our study cannot help but form opinions about their design as well. The flag community accepts this shift from the descriptive to the prescriptive as long as the boundary is clear: those who document flags should accept all flags as meriting study without regard to their quality, while those who seek to create or improve flags should disclose that their agenda is not scholarly but activist.