THE DETROIT RISE
MISSION
Design podcaster Roman Mars did a TED Talk on the unfortunate fact that there’s a “scourge of bad U.S. city flags and they must be stopped.” He dared people to go out to see if their city had a flag, if it’s any good, and to change it if it wasn’t. So I did.
IDEA
As a Detroit native, born and raised, and as a designer, I couldn’t help but take this challenge on. With research into the history and present stature of Detroit, its current flag, and the pride of citizens, I designed a new flag that certainly resonates with today’s community and definitely captures Detroit’s identity as the comeback champion city of the world.
INTEL
• Personal Work
• Flag Design
• Book Design
• Print Design
• Video Direction
A New Flag for Detroit
THE DETROIT RISE
Detroit is a great city.
Detroit deserves a great flag.
The City of Detroit is currently in a state of renovation, and for all its great effort to resurrect from a troubled past, it deserves a symbol of rebirth just as new as the ash it is gradually rising from.
Detroit is in need of a new flag.
Its current flag doesn’t accurately represent citizens today (nor does it pay homage to Native Americans and especially those from the 20th century) and doesn’t follow basic principles of good flag design. The design is too complex, it uses too many colors, and the city seal shouldn’t be on it.
There are many US cities redesigning their flags because their designs are horrible. Detroit’s flag is one of them and many citizens and city officials don’t even know we have one. As the only US city to be designated a City of Design by UNESCO and one that claims to be so prideful, yet not show its pride in any real way, our image is pretty embarrassing.
The people of Chicago and Milwaukee fly and embrace their flag faithfully, showing insane amounts of civic pride. Why aren’t Detroiters doing the same?
Changing the flag is an enormous opportunity to not only fully activate our civic pride and identity, but to captivate the rest of the world to come and see why Detroit is great.
This initiative aims to encourage Detroiters, city supporters, and city leaders to (1) understand why we need to change the Detroit flag and make that effort to do so and (2) truly reassert our city’s image and show our civic pride by embracing and flying this new flag—the Detroit Rise.
Flag Anatomy
BLACK
Black is for resilience. Black is the best color to represent our strength, grit, attitude, resourcefulness, and our ability to bounce back.
WHITE
White is for righteousness. We always strive to end corruption of any kind in all areas of our civic life.
BLUE
Blue is for progression. With our city’s cool and cold climate, formidable blue-collar culture, and forward-thinking mentality, blue fits us freshly well.
THE INDUSTRIAL STAR
The star itself symbolizes Detroit, geographically, indicating its location in relation to the river.
Its 5 points represent our most successful industries from past, present, and future: auto industry, music, art and design, life science, and high technology.
THE RISE
The curved form literally symbolizes Detroit and its motto. “Detroit” comes from the French, Détroit (/deh-twah/), meaning “the strait.” The strait is the Detroit River; the river looks like an ascending pathway.
Local priest Gabriel Richard penned the city’s motto after the fire of 1805, saying, “We hope for better things; it will rise from the ashes.”
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Detroit owes its origins to the Native Americans and early French settlers who identified and established the city on the river. From being a major hub for fur trading and a checkpoint in the Underground Railroad for slaves to cross into freedom in Canada to being a critical region for industrial and international advancements, the past, present, and now future growth of Detroit derives and continues from this core: The Strait.
THE BANNER OF THE STRAIT
Accurately capturing the history, identity, and spirit of Detroit and because we are actually living up to our motto, the Detroit Rise truly represents our rising from the struggles we endure and a path toward the better things we hope for and will attain.