Ugly city flags are taking a hit.

Designer Roman Mars even created a Ted Talk around the subject, which prompted several jurisdictions to revamp their emblems.  In fact, Mars’s personal agenda is to improve localities’ banners, which he purports can serve as a foundation for overall local gov design.

“I dare you to join the effort to change that,” Mars says.  “A well-designed flag could be seen as an indicator of how a city considers all of its design systems.  Its public transit. Its parks. Its signage.  It might seem frivolous but it’s not.”

He held up Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Illinois, as having some of the best-designed banners.

Pocatello, Idaho, on the other hand, was part of a recent CBS Sunday Morning story about how bad city flag design can be.  It was, in fact, voted the worst city flag design by the North American Vexillological Association.

Now Pocatello is taking to the Internet to get ideas for improvement.  Pocatello’s contest is running on its website and social media at #NewFlagForPocatello through December. 

This is a link to Mars’s entertaining Ted Talk about flag design, which may engender some ideas on how to improve your city or county banner.  (But there is no nod to Sheldon from Big Bang Theory, whose character produces a fictitious Internet program about flags.)