In the book "Good" Flag, "Bad" Flag, there are five principles that most people agree encourage strong flag design:

1. Keep it simple.

2. Use meaningful symbolism.

3. Use 2 or 3 basic colors.

4. No lettering or seals.

5. Be distinctive or be related.

The Washington State flag breaks all of these rules.

The flag is not simple. It would be impossible for a child to copy it. You could not doodle the flag, and have anyone identify it.

The flag does not use meaningful symbolism. What is the symbol on the flag? The State Seal. What is the state seal? George Washington. Why is it George Washington? Because they arbitrarily named the state after George Washington.

There are plenty of meaningful associations with the State of Washington, besides the fact the state is named after Washington. The name is fine enough, but it's happenstance. The flag doesn't need to also represent the already happenstance name.

There are six colors on the Washington State flag, assuming you include white.

There is both a seal, and specifically a seal with lettering on it. Not only that, but the lettering on the seal is so entirely redundant that it says "The Seal of the State of Washington 1889".

And finally the Washington State flag is not distinctive and related. It is not memorable! If you saw the flag and didn't know what it was, it would seem like a random bureaucratic flag. Nothing about the flag is about the state itself - excluding its name.

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Personally, I don't hate the flag because George Washington is on it. I'm not cancelling George Washington. But I don't believe the flag looks good, simple, or memorable. And most importantly, I don't feel like it represents Washington State.

I have no specific alternative flag in mind. It should be up for the people to decide!

Feel free to submit some sample flags to societyshowpodcast@gmail.com! Could be fun, could be examples of a new flag!