Are These The Ugliest City Flags on Earth?

Yesterday, New Zealand announced four finalists for its flag redesign contest, which got us thinking about which other places need new flags immediately. The answer was all cities, which tend to have really bad flags. So we asked you, our fair readers, to share the worst city flags to ever ascend a pole. As usual, you didn’t disappoint.

After listening to Roman Mars’ TED Talk on flag design, we were determined to find the most egregious. Like this gem from Provo, Utah (above) which is great in a Centrum Silver kind of way. But Provo is one of the lucky ones. They actually redesigned their flag this year, and it’s pretty nice!

These other cities, though, need to step it up. Let’s take a tour of some of the worst vexillological offenders.

Too Simple

Yes, simple is good, but these are so abstract that they’re meaningless. A flag should be a flag, not an athletic logo. And when did Arby’s move to Calgary?

Calgary, Alberta

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Reno, Nevada

In case you get lost.

Phoenix, Arizona

Clip-Art Fauna

Speaking of birds, there are a lot of birds available as clip-art, which is where all these flags seem to have originated.

San Francisco, California

Vancouver, Washington

Rochester, Minnesota

Geese from the future.

Melbourne, Australia

Made with MacPaint

These flags were proudly designed using the finest Apple products. In 1988.

Round Rock, Texas

Costa Mesa, California

Pocatello, Idaho

Trying Too Hard

Some flag designs just don’t know when to stop. Someone tell these cities that they’re at an 11 and we need them to bring it down to at least a 4.

Sydney, Australia

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Tampa, Florida

Just Plain Confusing

These are where symbolism has gone awry. Seattle’s seems to be made for a city named Goodwill, Toronto’s looks like a butt, and what the hell is up with the fish in Kvalsund?