Give The Black & Silver a fair go
(Craig's column wasn't published by a major newspaper in time for the Flag Consideration Panel's 1 September decision of four flag designs that will be voted on in the first referendum.)
(left) New Zealand War Service Medal)
(right) The Black & Silver flag
I support choosing a new flag. It’s our chance to choose a symbol that represents who we are today rather than our colonial past; and to finally have a flag that won’t be mistaken for our neighbour’s.
This opportunity won’t come around again in my lifetime, so I have to speak up now and say the decision of the Flag Consideration Panel to not long-list ‘The Black & Silver’ flag is more than a mistake, it is fundamentally unfair.
The Black & Silver, designed by John Ansell, Kenneth Wang and Grant McLachlan, is not only an iconic treatment of the silver fern, it won more votes during the suggestion period than 39 of the 40 flags that did make the long-list.
Among other things, a flag should represent the values we stand for as a nation. I have always believed that one of those values is a commitment to fair play, and leaving the ‘Black & Silver’ off the long-list does not meet that standard.
I have worked with John, and have always envied his ability to appeal straight to the Kiwi heartland. From turning the old Cook Strait Ferries into ‘The Interislander’ to dubbing the Wellington Regional Stadium the ‘Cake Tin’, John has a knack of creating things that become part of our shared culture. The Black & Silver flag has the potential to do that again. John is also the only person I know who has been working on a new design for the New Zealand flag since the 1980s.
As well as being part of the Black & Silver flag team, Grant McLachlan has contributed to the wider flag process with research that’s helped keep the debate more informed. I for one hadn’t realised how widely the silver fern was recognised as an icon of New Zealand long before the current New Zealand flag was adopted – or more accurately, delivered to us from England. If the designer of that flag had ever set foot in New Zealand, our flag might have had a fern on it from the beginning.
Given that, it’s not surprising that many designs on the long-list incorporate ferns. But too many of the designs look more like corporate logos than flags. If a flag design looks as it would be more at home on the cover of a glossy brochure than flying at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, it is not the right choice.
The design for The Black & Silver however, is definitely a flag. The balance of design elements and colour is similar to the hugely successful Canadian flag, while unmistakably representing New Zealand. No other nation could fly that flag. Simplicity is arguably the greatest strength of good design, and the two colours of the Black & Silver could not be simpler or more striking.
I also have to admire the hard work and conviction of The Black & Silver flag team. They took their job seriously and it shows in their flag.
Instead of hedging their bets by entering many different designs, they did their research. They consulted with iwi, vexillologists, historians, designers, and even botanists before creating and entering just one design they believed was right.
I believe they got it right too. The Black & Silver flag is simple, memorable and distinctly New Zealand. Apparently, many other New Zealanders agree too, as evidenced by the Black & Silver winning the second-highest number of votes during the suggestion process, and creating its own buzz on social media, something few other designs on the long-list can claim.
I am at a loss to see why it has not been included, while up to five variations of some other designs – differing only in colour choices – have been.
Let’s think about that for a moment. If a designer can’t decide what colours their flag should be; if it doesn’t really matter if blue goes here, or whether there’s red on it or not, does that flag really have a strong idea behind it in the first place?
Yet the panel has chosen to reward this lack of clarity with multiple selections.
Perhaps part of the answer is that none of the panel of experts is actually an expert on flags.
Someone who is an expert - vexillologist Ted Kaye - has spoken up to criticise the decision to include so many colour variants of so many symbols on the long-list.
Kaye said, “I believe your ‘Black & Silver’ design is a strong contender and could hold its own alongside the 40 designs short-listed by the committee and currently under consideration by the public.”
The long-list is meant to encourage public discussion, before ultimately selecting four designs for the November referendum.
For informed discussion to take place, the panel should be putting forward real and clear choices, not every possible colour variation of some narrow themes. This approach removes choice even while creating the illusion of giving it.
Fortunately, it is not too late to correct the mistake. According to their own rules, “The Panel and the Crown each reserve the right to consider other flag designs suggested before, during or after the Suggestion Period.”
So, despite the panel’s insistence that no communication will be entered into, and their directive to the media that it should only focus on designs on the long-list, the mechanism already exists to bring back the Black & Silver.
Frankly, it’s outrageous that it is not on the long-list already. The panel have asked for public discussion, while at the same time trying to limit that discussion. The first thing the public should be asking is why a leading design was left off.
It’s not too late for the panel to give the ‘Black & Silver’ - and the New Zealand public - a fair go.
- Craig lives in Hong Kong. He is Regional Creative Director for a global ad agency.