So, who has the best flag? A controversial question. Everyone will say that they have the best flag.
I'm going to run a competition of all the national flags. 17 knockout stages in the heats, 7 semi-finals, a further knock-out round, then 5 head-to-head rounds to produce a final three.
Each round of the heats I'll set criteria for flags to be knocked out. Who will be left? The longer before they get knocked out, the better the design of the flag.
It is difficult to find that balance of classic design, reproducibility, conveying an identity, avoiding complexity, but also having personality.
I believe a lot of famous flags are considered better than they actually are, purely because of the nation they are associated with.
A flag and a coat of arms are two completely separate things. A coat of arms does not belong on a national flag and shows a misunderstanding of how a national flag should be designed. A coat of arms is too complicated to be on a flag. The first nations to be knocked out are…
Afghanistan
Andorra
Belize
Bermuda
Costa Rica
Croatia
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Fiji
Guatemala
Haiti
Moldova
Montenegro
Nicaragua
Mexico
Paraguay
Portugal
San Marino
Serbia
Slovenia
Slovakia
Spain
As with coats of arms, a flag should not feature another flag. This is a feature of coats of arms.
Australia
New Zealand
Taiwan
Tonga
Tuvalu
Although Tonga technically doesn't have another flag on it, it appears to have the flag of the Red Cross in canton. It just looks like it's a sub-division of a health organisation, not a nation. Taiwan has the flag of a poltical party in canton.
A map and a flag are two different things. Don't confuse them.
Cyprus
Writing has no place on a flag. This is not an advert or a religious text.
Brazil
Brunei
Iraq
Saudi Arabia
You may not be able to see it but Brunei has a couple of sentences in small writing.
Honourable mention: I will be lamenting the knock out of flags that had potential. But the rules must apply to all. The flag of Brazil starts off well: the green field; the yellow diamond and blue circle, very striking. But then just falls down massively. The stars are way too complicated and it's the only national flag in the world to have Latin words.
All elements of a flag must be easily identifiable and, just as important, easily reproducable with some fidelity. These flags fail in that.
Kazakhstan
Belarus
Iran
Turkmenistan
See the page on colour for more explanation, but basically this is about how a charge (the object) needs to contrast well with the field (background).
Albania
Bangladesh
Egypt
Guinea-Bissau
Malawi
Morocco
Phillipines
Tajikistan
Zambia
Central African Republic
Comoros
Gambia
Kenya
Mauritius
Mozamique
Namibia
Seychelles
South Sudan
St Kitts & Nevis
Tanzania
Uzbekistan
Zimbabwe
Honourable mentions: Kenya and St. Kitts & Nevis both work well. But the shield on Kenya is getting a bit pictorial, and they would both have been eliminated in round 9.
This is about contrast, where a field has multiple divisions but uses no white or yellow.
Azerbaijan
Cambodia
Eritrea
Laos
Libya
Mongolia
Vanuatu
Fibriation is just a border around an object, as opposed to a border around the whole field.
Botswana
Burundi
Cape Verde
D.R.Congo
Dominica
Grenada
Iceland
Maldives
Nepal
North Korea
Norway
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Swaziland
Trinidad & Tobago
This is about contrast, where a field has multiple divisions but uses no white or yellow.
Honourable mentions: Nepal is a very distinctive flag because it has unique shape, but it's odd in many ways – the shape, the top charge, the border. South Africa also is distinctive, but not classic. Trinidad & Tobago is classic, but it's charge is slightly odd (not exactly corner to corner) and it's fimbriated.
Not just charges that overlap, but odd charges.
Angola
Bosnia
Kyrgyzstan
Oman
Angola has machete overlapping half a cog. Half? Bosnia has nine and two half stars. Two halves? And an oddly positioned and oddly orientated triangle. Kyrgyzstan has the crown of a yurt overlapping the sun. This flag gets an honourable mention. Initially it looks great, but on closer inspection is too complicated. Oman has a sword overlapping a sword overlapping a dagger.
Just plain odd.
Liechtenstein
Malta
Nauru
Rwanda
Liechtenstein's flag has a crown. Again, something this complex belongs on a coat of arms not a flag. Malta has a medal on its flag. Something that belong on your chest, not your flag. Nauru looks like it has put its sun under the water, not really sure why. Rwanda has put its sun opposite the hoist side of the flag. That would be OK if there was something in the hoist, but it's empty.
Greece
Liberia
Malaysia
Uganda
United States of America
Uruguay
Honourable mention: Greece
Pairs of flags which are, or effectively are, identical.
Austria
Latvia
Bahrain
Qatar
Chad
Romania
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Guinea
Mali
Indonesia
Monaco
Ireland
Ivory Coast
Probably the most controversial round, but there's just nothing going on. Just a simple field division, in two or three, and nothing else. Dull. Doesn't say anything.
Armenia
Belgium
Benin
Bolivia
Bulgaria
Colombia
Estonia
France
Gabon
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Lithuania
Madagascar
Nigeria
Peru
Poland
Russia
Sierra Leone
Ukraine
Yemen
Honourable mention: For me the one that sticks out in this bunch is Germany.
The worst colour to use in a flag, as the flag should be seen against a blue sky.
Argentina
Bahamas
Djibouti
Micronesia
Palau
Somalia
St Lucia
While an animal is a good thing to have on a coat of arms, a flag needs to be reproducable. Animals and plants often have no standard way of being reproduced, or if they do, it is quite complicated. There shouldn't be the need to send an EPS file to everyone who wants to make the national flag
Bhutan
Kiribati
Lebanon
Papua New Guinea
This is the last knockout round. These flags are slightly too complicated – a certain number of stars, or a rule that they should be a certain way up, neither of which could not be ascertained if they were at the top of a flag pole.
China
Honduras
Samoa
Singapore
South Korea
United Kingdom
Venezuala
Honourable mention: United Kingdom is a classic flag, but has that weird assymetry to the red saltire. It's unnecessary.