Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed | Roman Mars

Roman Mars is obsessed with flags — and after you watch this talk, you might be, too. These ubiquitous symbols of civic pride are often designed, well, pretty terribly. But they don't have to be. In this surprising and hilarious talk about vexillology — the study of flags — Mars reveals the five basic principles of flag design and shows why he believes they can be applied to just about anything.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.

[strawberrywl]

Amsterdam's flag look like it could be an album cover to a punk band

[TylerLeeJones]

dude came with his own background music

[sly]

I live in Milwaukee, and I knew he would bring up the flag, I knew it.

[keifuchan]

"A flag should be so simple a child can draw it from memory" Yeaaah Japan!

[Skorpeonismyrealname]

Four years later and I use this to design a flag in Animal Crossing...
The power of Ted Talks, everyone...

[qualifiedarmchaircritic]

That San Fran flag redesign with the yellow-black background is so satisfying to look at.

[georgerosebush]

He turned such a seemingly mundane topic into something so engaging, the guy's talented.

[DrWatson]

"There shouldn't be no flag inside another flag"
*coughs in British*

[nathantucker]

I am actually designing a series of nearly 150 flags as part of a project for my senior year at high school. as the loval vexillologist i have taken it upon myself to make a flag to represent every graduating student for us to fly on graduation day

[ethan_]

This is my favorite TED talk ever. You can see the crowd go from totally checked out at the start to 100% onboard the flag design train by the end with the standing ovation.

[FirstNameLastName-qthz]

the san fransisco flag looks like it was made in MS paint.

[nauticalcreations]

Roman Mars - His parents named him so that He wouldn't be confused with the Greek Mars, called ares

[dangerouslytalented]

I have played Fallout New Vegas so much that the California flag looks wrong without the second head on the bear.

[simoso]

Who puts a trademark symbol on their flag??!

[JIYkp]

Very cool to see a radio host perform on stage.
Shows you just how important the voice is in any kind of presentation.

[zachdurocher]

Imagine if the US flag had "UNITED STATES" printed on it

[chandler]

Yes, I did just watch an 18 minute Ted Talk about flags. Now I'm also extremely disappointed with the state of Florida.

[acmulhern]

Very unusual presentation style, but I like it. Surprisingly interesting talk, I never thought of flags as interesting before watching this

[jacobhaft]

For those of you who think professional speakers don't get nervous, watch his hand at 4:50.

[Jacob_Tribal]

So my obsession with flags has a name.