Check out our flag design!
The choice of the silver fern as the central emblem of our flag’s design came naturally. The design of the silver fern came even more so. Our philosophy to the design incorporates several design elements to achieve specific goals.
Please compare The Black & Silver with the Flag Consideration Panel's video (above right) about what makes a good flag.
Goals - “100% Us”
Our Design
- “The Black & Silver”
The Black & Silver flag is the embodiment of our history, our culture, and our evolution as a nation. We are unique and our flag should recognize this. Our reputation is bold and brave.
The silver fern is our unifying symbol that others recognize us by. It represents unity, excellence, courage, bravery, welcome. It is home. It is us. It is our guiding light.
New Zealand is the only country whose national colour is black. As Sir Isaac Newtown observed, white is the combination of all rays of the spectrum and black absorbs all colour. Black is fashionable, it is bold, it is warmth. It is the sign of respect.
The following goals were identified when combining these two elements in a flag.
Identifiable
The silver fern is easily recognizable as a silver fern, not a feather, another leaf, or an obscure motif.
The silver fern’s shape and the rest of the flag relates to the people of New Zealand.
Describable
Any design has to be able to be described simply in order for it to be reproduced and mass produced.
Simplicity
Any design has to be logical and consistent in its design. It can’t contain unnecessarily complicated elements.
The cost of manufacture is a major component to consider.
Currently, the New Zealand flag has two light colours printed on to a dark background.
A flag with highly contrasting colours, where the dark emblem is printed on a light colour, is cost efficient and highly visible.
A high degree of white as a base also has the added benefit of luminosity and elements of dark adds sheen.
Universality
Any national flag has to be adaptable for the civil and military services’ ensigns. The emblems on the flag should also be able to be adapted for other government and representative functions. Any Silver Fern design for the flag has to be compatible with other established uses of the Silver Fern.
Vexillological
Any flag has to look like a flag. It can’t be a complex work of art or a trendy logo (though the best flags, like Switzerland’s and Canada’s, have become their nation’s logo in tribute to their success as flags).
A flag has to be laid out to be instantly recognizable as representing a particular territory.
It should identify military and civilian transport as being from that territory. Even with no wind, a naval ensign on an angled mast should still be distinguishable.
Adaptable
Any national flag has to be adaptable for the civil and military services’ ensigns. The emblems on the flag should also be able to be adapted for other government and representative functions.
Any silver fern design for the flag has to be compatible with other established uses of the silver fern.
Timeless
Any design for a national flag must be able to inspire New Zealanders as powerfully two hundred years from now as it does today. It must transcend generations, politics, religion, culture, demographics, and philosophies. The Black & Silver does.
Maturity
Evolving beyond the maternal Union Jack and the Little Australia Southern Cross is a sign of maturity and individuality.
Evolving beyond the fledgling koru into a mature silver fern is a sign that our disparate parts have matured into a united whole.
Vexillogical components. Please click on image to enlarge.
"The Black & Silver" flag.
Please click on image to view an enlarged version.
Vexillological Description
"Two white pales of one fifth fly at head and end flanking a stylized mature Silver Fern emblem centre charge of a black field."
"The Black & Silver" civilian and military ensigns.
Please click on image to view an enlarged version.
Design Guide
A naval ensign needs high visibility. Black on white maximises contrast and brightness.
Nature often has a pattern.
Elements
- “Designed by Nature”
To achieve the abovementioned goals, the following design elements are incorporated into the design
Synergy & Energy
Black and white are the two most contrasting colours. On standard flag fabric, the colours of the spectrum dance in the sunlight on both colours.
Balance
The two white pales that flank the silver fern maintain a balance within the flag and frame the fern.The pales ensure that the ensign is distinguishable at sea in low wind conditions, the ‘white, black, white’ maintaining the uniqueness of the flag’s colours.
Organic Design
It’s designed by nature. Straight lines rarely occur in nature. Our silver fern’s design doesn’t contain a single straight line. Its shape incorporates the mathematics of nature.
Unfurling Logarithm
A silver fern has many mathematical properties. As the fern evolves over time, it unfurls from an Archimedes spiral – a form of logarithm – to a logarithm with a distinctive inflexion along its stem.
Scaleability
A silver fern has three levels of scale, each proportionate to the other. The overall fern has fronds, which also have leaves.
All three levels are phototropic and the gaps between the leaves and fronds maximise surface area for photosynthesis.
The fronds are an essential element that have been designed to be distinctive from other forms of vegetation.
Minimalism
Our silver fern is as simple as it needs to be to please the eye, and as complex as it needs to be to look like a silver fern.
Symmetry
A silver fern is symmetrical and translates. Most historical representations, however, show it on a diagonal with a curved stem.
To achieve symmetry, the stem is rotationally symmetrical at the centre point. Fronds on opposite sides of the stem are the same length and shape. Each frond translates along the stem in a gradually reduced scale.
Conformity
The silver fern looks best positioned in the centre of the rectangular flag.
The central panel is also rectangular because the fern is wide. This is the difference between the Canadian template and ours: the Canadian central panel is square because the maple leaf is square.
We’ve designed our fern to have as many perimeter points as fit comfortably within the central rectangle.
White is a combination of all the primary colours of white whereas black is the combination of all the primary colours of pigment. Both colours have the greatest contrast and visibility.
Sir Isaac Netwon observed that white light passed through a prism seprates into the colours of the spectrum and that passing through a second prism combines back into white light. In an umpigmented synthetic fabric , such as those used in flags, colours appear to sparkle and dance as light splits and then try to combine. This is called noise.
"Why choose The Black & Silver?"
Because it’s our symbol of nationhood.
Nothing says New Zealand like the silver fern on black. The Black & Silver is the distillation of New Zealand’s
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history
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geography
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founders
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natural beauty
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spirit of boldness, and
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standard of excellence.
It’s the symbol that unifies our people and distinguishes our nation from others.
The Black & Silver tradition started with a Native rugby team, and spread like ferns through the native bush to embrace every facet of New Zealand’s identity.
It gave us our own distinctive look that we can literally trade on.
In a crowded world, a country is lucky if it has one distinguishing emblem or one colour that foreigners can recognize. New Zealand has one of each.
Because it’s the New Zealand achiever’s flag.
The Black & Silver is a bold statement by a little nation that loves to do things differently.Emblazoned with the emblem and colours that have been doing us proud for one and a quarter centuries, The Black & Silver has inspiration power woven into every stitch.Its central panel honours that rare breed of New Zealander whose pursuit of excellence has earned them the right to wear the silver fern on black.And we don’t mean just literally – in sport and battle. We also mean figuratively, in fields as diverse as medicine, filmmaking and opera singing.Everyone who does their best in whatever they do reflects the spirit of the silver fern.
Such a flag will inspire Kiwis in ways that a bland statement of location and parentage can never do.
Because no self-respecting country declares its semi-dependence.
Voting to keep the colours and stars of the current flag as a security blanket is not what the world expects of the bold little country that first gave women the vote, pioneered the welfare state, and banned nuclear ships.
We do not do things by halves. We must take bold steps, not granny steps. Be All-New Zealand, not Old-New Zealand.
Sixty eight years ago, we won full independence. Next year, let’s declare it.
Because there’s no more “overt sign of patriotism.”
John Key says quite rightly that he wants to “build more overt signs of patriotism”.There’s only one overtly patriotic New Zealand sign – and it’s not coloured red, white and blue!
Because our silver fern is actually a silver fern.
Many a so-called silver fern is really a sword fern, kowhai or acacia leaf.(The worst offender, sadly is the current All Blacks fern – a brutal fusion of a feather, a dagger and a set of steak knives. L)A silver fern, with its splayed fronds, has a totally different structure from all of the above. For timeless appeal, it must be smooth and elegant, not angular and sharp.The old All Black ferns were stylish, and were our inspiration.
Because our silver fern design is timeless, not trendy.
We haven’t tried to reinvent the wheel with a design that jars with tradition.We’ve simply refined the classical silver fern that older New Zealanders remember from the All Blacks uniforms of the 1960s, 70s and early 80s.
Because it’s the perfect contrast.
Good contrast is one of the keys to good flag design, and The Black & Silver features the two most contrasting colours of the palette (the silver fern being, of course, white.)The unpigmented white fabric used in flags also shimmers and shines with all the colours of the spectrum. (Sir Isaac Newton called it ‘noise’.)
Because it’s cheaper and will last longer.
A black and white flag is less expensive to produce than a three-coloured flag.And contrary to what many people say, the black won’t fade quickly.The current flag has two light colours printed on to a dark fabric.Our design has the darkest and most fade-resistant colour printed onto the lightest (and most fade-resistant) fabric.
Because it translates brilliantly to ensigns.
The white ‘pales’ (panels) allow civilian and military insignias to be incorporated in the flag with the minimum of design disruption.We believe this will make New Zealand’s Black & Silver the most adaptable national flag in the world.The white pales also mean it can be clearly distinguished when the wind isn’t blowing.