HackerTubewatch
Surprise me
Frame from Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed | Roman Mars Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed | Roman Mars

96 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
3 HN users recommended this talk2 months2017–2023 score 3
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

The canonical reference on flag and logo design principles, cited in branding and design threads.

Roman Mars gives a funny TED talk on vexillology, laying out five basic principles of good flag design and why many city flags fail them.

“one must watch the short talk on state and country flags” (HN, 2020)

2 strong recommendations · 1 recommendations · 3 citations · Talks

6 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@alpb Feb 2020 Strongly recommends
on HN thread State of Oklahoma's New Brand Identity / Logo
This is painful to see. It looks like a shopping mall or apartment building logo, compared to other states with proper flags. And it goes without saying, on this topic, one must watch the short talk on state and country flags: [this video]
Short talk on good state and country flag design.
@misterS Feb 2022 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Country Flags in SVG
> kids in first year of school should know how to draw flag from memory Roman Mars taught me that – well Ted Kaye, but Roman taught me in his seminal TED talk [1]. [1] [this video]
Seminal TED talk on flag design principles.
@djsumdog Feb 2020 Recommends
on HN thread State of Oklahoma's New Brand Identity / Logo
Their flag is terrible: [link] 99% Invisible does a great episode on what makes a good flag, and why cities like Chicago, DC and Amsterdam have iconic, memorable flags: [this video] [link]
Explains what makes a good flag, citing Chicago, DC and Amsterdam.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@spaceribs Jan 2017 Cites it
on HN thread Mozilla launches new brand identity
Read more
Rebranding, when done correctly, can be a great way to regroup and focus on what's important about your business. You really need to stop looking at it as just a new design, and look at what philosophy it exudes. This constant visual reminder of what the company's mission is resonates downward much better than a mission statement, and how clients/customers interact with you. This is of course if your rebrand was a success, and that's a very very difficult task dependent on all sorts of internal factors, that even the largest companies get wrong (see Gap, Uber, Pepsi). Don't listen to me though: [link] [this video]
Talk on design philosophy and branding.
@Someone Jan 2023 Cites it
on HN thread New American City Flags Survey (2022)
American flag design continues to amaze with its ugliness. I’ve read [link] and watched [this video] years ago, and would think that’s “flag design 101”, but it doesn’t look like few designers know that in the USA.
Basic flag design principles.
@surprisetalk Feb 2023 Cites it
on HN thread Ask HN: How to protect blog from AI search?
Read more
This is an extremely difficult question that I've been grappling with myself. My first strategy is to create writings that can't be summarized. I try to make essays that are dripping with idiosyncrasy. I can't win in an information war, but I can stay competitive for ~10 years in a creative clash: [1] [link] [2] [link] [3] [link] [4] [link] [5] [link] I myself draw lots of my inspiration from my "sages of style", in the same way that AIs will try to replicate my voice. None of these great thinkers can be summarized or replicated in any meaningful way: [6] David Foster Wallace: [link] [7] George Carlin: [link] [8] Derek Sivers: [link] [9] John Green: [link] [10] Roman Mars: [this video] [11] Alan Kay: [link] [12] Alan Watts: [link] [13] Richard Feynman: [link] [14] Raymond Smullyan: [link] But style only takes you so far. My second strategy is to socialize IRL. This year, I'm starting a tech conference called "Outland" to foster community in an age where community might be all that matters. [15] [link]

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Search
j k
Next / previous video
r
Surprise me
l
Like (video page)
w
Watch later (video page)
?
This help
Esc
Close