Detroit's flag, examined
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The city of Detroit's flag inside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. Photos: Samuel Robinson/Axios
It's Flag Day and states like Texas and cities like Chicago are flying their local flags with pride.
The intrigue: It makes us wonder why there's a lack of iconography associated with the city of Detroit's flag.
- Quick, without looking — do you even remember what it looks like?
Zoom in: The two Latin phrases inside the flag's seal, Speramus Meliora and Resurget Cineribus, translate to "We hope for better things" and "It will rise from the ashes," a reference to the Great Fire of 1805.
- The city didn't adopt the flag that was initially designed in 1907 by David E. Heineman until 1948.
Quick take: The current flag that was updated in 2000 doesn't quite meet vexillologists standard for a "good flag." Detroit's contains more than three colors (we count eight) and lettering, a big no-no for flag designers.
- So how would you make our flag more recognizable?
📥 Email [email protected] and let us know.
