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Photo by Try Hank from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
The entries are in for our Posted Toronto/Torontoist Flags For All Neighbourhood Flags Contest, and the batch is pretty eclectic. Steven Murray from the National Post and Torontoist's Marc Lostracco offer their commentary, along with the artist statements. Read on to see the designs and to vote on a winner!
Entry 1: Michael D'Amico
Artist statement: I'm a musican and artist. Kensington Market is one of my favorite haunts in the city where everything is on a human scale—the architecture, the food, the people and shops all reflect a creativity and generousity unique to the market.
Steven says: I appreciate the variety in this design, but it strangely feels too "Autumny" for it to be a full-time flag. Reproduction would be tricky as well, with the finer details. I am glad that the mug of liquid isn't labeled anything. Is it coffee? Tea? Cocoa? That's for the viewer to decide. I'm thirsty.
Marc says: The use of red and black is interesting and unexpected. The amount of elements would have to be simplified to make it an easily identifiable and reproducible flag, but I found the cat to be quite creative and charming. I'd like to see a version on a red background with just the cat and the "KM" lettering on the black swoop.
Entry 2: Samina Sarfraz
Artist statement: This work's title is "Gems In A Pouch," representing the different communities. The green circle represents parks, and the blue ribbon reflects the official colour of Toronto.
Steven says: This is an uplifting and kinetic design, but it unfortunately feels more like a flag for the Olympics rather than a neighbourhood. GO TORONTO 2016!
Marc says: Though this is more of an idea that could be applied to Toronto as a whole, it's graphically clean and modern, and the "Gems In A Pouch" motif is an interesting take on the cultural mosaic.
Entry 3: Peter Klumpenhower
Steven says: I like the ingenuity of taking a simple piece out of the flag, but the colours may be a little too, um, "Conservative party" for Kensington.
Marc says: The black part is meant to be a cutout, in a shape intended to form a letter "K." We don't see many flags use pennant-like cutouts these days. Interestingly, the blue bars flanking maple leaves were once part of the original proposal for the 1965 national flag redesign, meant to symbolize both coasts.
Entry 4: Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg (Netherlands)
Artist statement: Two things that strike me about Kensington: its origin, where the intended large plots for stately houses got instead divided into smaller plots for immigrants, and all those waves of immigrants, that have contributed to the colourful mix of people in the Kensington neighbourhood. So, I created a design that showed the big flag cut up into colourful smaller blocks, yet overall giving a hint of an old European pattern for its history, or if you like, an abstraction of a street map.
Steven says: The colours perfectly match the vibrant Kensington area, but the weave look makes it feel a little too Old Europe for such an eclectic neighbourhood.
Marc says: This flag is much busier than the artist's second design below, but more in-line with his concept. The grid pattern actually reminds me of old-time football (soccer) club flags—perhaps it would work even better if the squares were even and in more of a checkerboard pattern. It's certainly unique.
Entry 5: Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg
Artist statement: A design of just four blocks, each a different size and colour, says in a minimal way what the other one says in an larger way. I like flags, especially if their simplicity and colours make them a joy to look at. City flags and national flags can be something serious, but I created these designs because I feel neighbourhood flags should just be fun!
Steven says: I'm a big fan of flags that keep it simple and I also like that it's asymmetrical, showing the neighbourhood's off-centre charm. But perhaps it's too simple for somewhere that's so eclectic.
Marc says: I like the artist's representation of blocks being divided up into varying sizes as Kensington matured and grew. The combination of yellow, green, white and red here is interesting and unexpected, and I think that its simplicity is the most striking part.
Entry 6: Nick Vongthavy
Artist statement:I mixing the English (first settlers) font with modern feel for the "K." The yellow represents value and the green reminds me of the market.
Steven says: I think this is a great mix of simple design with something slightly flashy in the letter K. If my name started with a K, I would proudly drape myself in this flag and nothing else. I am now Keve Murray.
Marc says: Again, I think the simplicity here is a great asset. The Old English-type letter shows a certain pride, and I could imagine this design and colour scheme on stickers and embroidered crests, almost as if it were part of an official coat of arms. Like the Cabbagetown BIA flag, it's immediately recognizable and I could easily see this flying over the market.
Now it's up to you! Time to give your vote on these flags and other selections. The winner will receive an large, hand-crafted appliqué flag featuring their design, courtesy of our friends at The Flag Shop, as well as some National Post swag. May the best flag, or the flag designer with the most friends, win!
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Next time Marc, I swears.
6 is a really great start. Perhaps an investigation into other colour combinations could improve it. (Or not.) The hybrid K is amazing - it's the best thing about it.
The K should become the logo for the market - appear (small) on price tags, receipts, t shirts, etc etc. But of course, some hipster doofus will claim this would be corporatizing the market/selling out/making things too mainstream/(insert other assorted whining here).
The rest of the flag designs are horribly bad.
I gotta ask, Steven: how does one flag for be criticized being too "Old Europe" while the other is praised without mention of its semi-Gothic, half ye-olde-English lettering? I'm not really mad -- just offering some friendly puzzlement.
I usually tend to be against lettering; flags should speak on a very primitive level, appealing more to emotion than the mind. So their designs should always stick to more abstract elements of colour and shape, without reliance on human divides like language. That said, I like the idea of a hybridized font to symbolize two halves of old and new. Other people really seem to like it too!
I have to applaud all the artists for their contributions. It's really not easy putting out something you make for public criticism.
I was the one who made the comment about liking the hybrid-gothic lettering in the last one; Steven made the other comment.
Yep, I know, Marc ... I was just wondering why he didn't notice the same thing as you did, since he was already attuned to the motif when it was used in a different way on an earlier design.
the K in no. 6 also makes me think of ye olde CBC classic "king of kensingon"....
i kind of agree with gloria about no lettering, but then again this won't be flown at the U.N. and the K just looks right in this context.
I like the stylized K because it's a nice touch even with it's Old Europe origins. If you made a pattern out of the Ks, I think it would be too much. The weave, I find, is too much.
Something that should be pointed out is the colour—some of the designs are really bright here, but in reality as a coloured fabric or printed on a flag, they'd be much duller.
davedave: What colour combinations for the last one were you thinking of?
Which colours? I have noooooo idea...You gotta bring the K into photoshop and try different combos behind it...
Green is a nice salute to the environmentally conscious spirit of the market...But there are lots of green/yellow combos already...(and is it 2 colours? Maybe it could just be green)
Here's a quick jpeg of the flags of the world...
http://www.starstore.com/acatalog/Flags_World-poster_L.jpg
Maybe stay away from primary colours and go into a more custom shade of something that's more unique?
Why was I able to vote more than once?
antiboy: the poll only accepts one vote per IP, so if you saw the numbers go up, it was probably only in your browser or that someone else voted simultaneously.
Oh okay, I just figured the form would say "you've already voted in this poll" or something to that extent since I'm able to "cast" a vote every time I come to the site. I see now that it doesn't really do anything.
Steven: Thanks for the answer!
Hrrrrrmmmmm...
I am not terribly impressed by any of these - they're either too amateur or too abstract.
I would have liked somthing a little more artsy/crafty.
Damn! I knew I should have entered this! Next time, I promise, next time.
One thing that I just noticed about the last one is how it looks like the modern "K" is emerging out of the classic "K"—the new coming out of the old—which is kind of a nice notion.