Your Rejected Design Might Become A National Treasure, Like The American Flag
The July 4th Design Special
It’s July 4th. Which means one thing: flags on literally everything.
Shirts. Trucks. Beer cans. Hot dog napkins. Your weird uncle’s swim trunks.
If you’re American, you probably see the flag so often you forget to actually look at it.
So today, in true Big Bang Theory style, let’s have a little Fun With Flags.
Flags: The Ultimate Brand Strategy
A flag is basically your country’s logo… but make it flappy.
It needs to:
Be instantly recognizable from a mile away.
Look good in the wind, on a patch, or spread across a football field.
Make people feel emotions (preferably the patriotic kind).
The Totally True (Sort of, not really) Betsy Ross Story
Legend says Betsy Ross sewed the first stars and stripes by candlelight while humming “Born in the USA.” The reality however maaaay be a little different. As with most briefings, Betsy and her ilk were only given a vague “make it have 13 stripes and 13 stars” direction by the Continental Congress. Out of this, many early versions floated around from various sources - one of those potentially being (we’re not 100% sure) New Jersey Congressman Francis Hopkinson’s design, which some believe was sewn by Betsy Ross - a flag maker by profession. The romanticized myth of Betsy actually designing and sewing the first flag only came about nearly 100 years later in 1870 from a speech by her grandson William Canby. And thus, America’s first brand myth was born!
The High Schooler Who Redesigned America
Fun fact: the current 50-star flag was designed in 1958 by a 17-year-old named Robert Heft.
Now picture this: it’s 1958, Alaska and Hawaii aren’t even states yet, and your history teacher assigns you a “show and tell” project where you can make anything U.S. related and bring it to class. You think to yourself, “well, it seems like we may be getting some new states… what would a 50 star flag look like?” You then spend hours cutting out white stars and arranging them in the now iconic five rows of six stars and four rows of five stars and paste your new masterpiece over a 48 star American Flag.
Finally, it’s your big day. You excitedly bring your new creation to class, only to receive a B- and a berating from your teacher saying, “Why you got too many stars? You don’t even know how many states we have.” Heft was then flippantly told he could improve his grade if he convinced the government to adopt his design. Lo and behold, after countless letters and phone calls to the white house, Heft’s flag was eventually reviewed and selected out of more than 1,500 designs. Fortunately, Heft’s teacher remained true to his word and raised his grade to an A. (likely the hardest A Heft had to earn in his life!)
And thus, we too ought to learn from Heft: half the time, the people who are reviewing your work didn’t even read the brief, but if you can convince the government to use your design, they too may come to realize that, in the words of Heft’s teacher, “I guess if it’s good enough for Washington, it’s good enough for me”.
Stripes, Stars, and Semiotics
Here’s your cheat sheet:
13 stripes = Original colonies (basically the east coast).
50 stars = Current states (including that one you forget exists).
Red = Valor
White = Purity
Blue = Justice
Color meanings were assigned later—because branding is always retroactive.
Designer Takeaways for Your Brand
Simplicity sells.
Symbols need meaning.
Consistency builds trust.
Flexibility makes it future-proof.
Never let negative design feedback stop you.
Wrapping Up
So this Fourth of July, while you’re eating 12 hot dogs in flag shorts, take a moment to admire the actual design strategy behind the star-spangled banner.
It’s a little messy. A little mythologized. Totally American.
And honestly? Pretty damn effective branding.