Design Envy · Monochrome American Flag: Stampd' LA

Monochrome American Flag: Stampd' LA

Curator: Darrin Crescenzi

date: September 21, 2012

Categories: Brand & Identity Systems Design

Tags: america, Black, flag, monochrome, usa, white

Via stampdla.com

All black American flag by Stampd' LA

There’s something haunting and strangely beautiful about these monochrome American flags by So Cal clothier Stampd' LA.

The graphic designer in me is a sucker for black or white objects that shouldn’t be. But given how many times in a day those of us in the States see the flag, it’s a little disorienting to see it reinterpreted in such a stark fashion. Without the color, and the associations the red, white and blue bring, the nation’s symbol is stripped down to its barest textural elements. It’s quite fascinating to see how impactful the flag is when seen only through the lens of its unique composition. Because of the often cartoonish way we see the colors of the flag used, these make you stop and reevaluate it as a symbol, in the way it was intended—somber, eerie and gorgeous.

Via stampdla.com

All black American flag by Stampd' LA

Via stampdla.com

All black American flag by Stampd' LA

Via stampdla.com

All white American flag by Stampd' LA

Via stampdla.com

All white American flag by Stampd' LA

Via stampdla.com

All white American flag by Stampd' LA

I love flags. My interest in them as a child laid the groundwork for becoming a graphic designer, and there’s something I’ve always appreciated about flags of any sort that have been sewn versus printed. These make you think of the flag as a tactile object, and their surprising heft makes them something you want to hold and touch.

Kelly

Whatever aesthetic worth this object might hold for designers (and I count myself one of them) is immaterial. This product is just another unfortunate exercise in flag desecration. And no, I’m not some extremist nut job, I’m voting for Obama and I recycle. I just happen to remember (and agree with) the lessons I learned in 5th grade about what not to do to the US Flag. Like let it touch the ground, or change its colors. It’s one of the few non-partisan, nationally-beloved and sacrosanct objects we have left. An excerpt from the flag code is copied below. Now if you excuse me, I have a bald eagle sandwich to eat.

By the late 1800′s an organized flag protection movement was born in reaction to perceived commercial and political misuse of the flag. By 1932, all of the States had adopted flag desecration laws.

In general, these State laws outlawed:Placing any kind of marking on the flag, whether for commercial, political, or other purposes;
Using the flag in any form of advertising; and
Publicly mutilating, trampling, defacing, defiling, defying or casting contempt, either by words or by act, upon the flag.Under the model flag desecration law, the term “flag” was defined to include any flag, standard, ensign, or color, or any representation of such made of any substance whatsoever and of any size that evidently purported to be said flag or a picture or representation thereof, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and stripes in any number, or by which the person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag of the U.S.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=511911132 Marshall Danner

“By the late 1800′s an organized flag protection movement was born in reaction to perceived commercial and political misuse of the flag. By 1932, all of the States had adopted flag desecration laws.”

And you’re telling me every crappy tv commercial around the 4th doesn’t in some way disrespect the flag? There is commercial misuse of the flag every day, I feel like this product respects and interprets the meaning of the flag in a much more appealing way than others I have seen.