When I saw the image of the commission's selection for the seal above in the Minnesota Reformer and the Star Tribune, I though: why not just use this concept for the state flag as well?
Sure, there will be some minor tweaks, as Star Tribune reporter Briana Bierschbach posted on X:
NEW: The State Emblems and Redesign Commission members have picked state seal S224 to move forward as their top finalist, with revisions likely to still come as they debate the motto, date and other potential design changes at their next meetings. pic.twitter.com/akWJ0PrnH7
— Briana Bierschbach (@bbierschbach) December 5, 2023
Readers probably gathered from my post LTE of the day: loons visit everywhere in Minnesota though not on finalist flags that Bluestem favors team loon.
Sure, picking the new seal for the state flag would toss the process. To heck with process.
A report on the seal choice, from the Minnesota Reformer:
Commission selects loon-centric design for new Minnesota state seal
By Madison McVanThe new Minnesota state seal will feature a loon, the North Star, wild rice, lake water and the state motto, “l’étoile du nord.”
The State Emblems Redesign Commission voted Tuesday to select the final design for the state seal, landing unanimously on design S224.
“This symbol represents the abundance of natural resources that are the foundation of the economy and vitality of Minnesota,” the designer wrote as part of the submission.
The commission may still make changes to the design, including “dates, language, design of the stars, and color of the loon’s eye,” according to a Minnesota Historical Society press release.
The seal choice was obvious; in the process of narrowing down the designs, each commissioner included S224 among their top choices.
“The support is there,” State Emblems Redesign Commission member Aaron Wittnebel said during Tuesday’s meeting. “When you look through the comments section for the seals, this seal received a little over 3,300 comments. Five-sixths of those comments were positive. The rest of the seals received less than 1,000 comments and the majority of them were negative comments.”
The commission will meet in-person Dec. 12 to discuss potential tweaks to the final seal design and move forward on selecting a new state flag. The commissioners have narrowed the flag design proposals to six finalists.
The decision on a new state flag has been far more fraught; the commission’s choices of finalists caught a wave of online criticism when they were recently announced.
This Minnesota Reformer article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Image: The finalist for Minnesota State Seal.
Related posts
- LTE of the day: loons visit everywhere in Minnesota though not on finalist flags
- Formal effort begins to replace ‘cluttered genocidal mess’ on Minnesota state flag and seal
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Respectfully disagree. Seals and flags have different purposes. I like the loon seal. For a seal.
I also like a simpler, basic graphic for a flag that shouts "Minnesota!" from a long distance away. Like AZ and New Mexico's or CA's bear or the Texas star. Seals on a flag are boring.
Posted by: Amy Wilde | Dec 06, 2023 at 01:09 AM
To simply put the new State Seal on a blue field and call it a flag is not the answer. That is what we current have for a flag. As the previous poster said, 2 different purposes.
New idea, too late in the process but, wonder of anyone ever thought of changing the shape of the flag? Not sure it needs to be a rectangle. How about a flag in the general shape of our State? Thought of this after seeing the flag of Nepal.
Posted by: Kurt Franke | Dec 06, 2023 at 08:58 AM