Why Flags Look the Way They Do: Flag Design for Curious Kids

For parents and teachers · 3 min read

Every flag was designed by someone, for a reason. Looking at why flags look the way they do turns flag learning from memorising into detective work, and it’s the perfect warm-up before children design a flag of their own. The study of flags even has its own name: vexillology.

Colours carry meaning

Countries choose their own meanings, so the same colour can mean different things on different flags. Red is often said to stand for courage or for the people who fought for the country. Green often stands for the land, farming or nature. Blue often stands for the sea, rivers or the sky. White often stands for peace.

A good question for children is always: “What do you think this colour means here?” Then look up what the country itself says. India’s flag, for example, has saffron, white and green stripes, with a navy-blue wheel, the Ashoka Chakra, with 24 spokes in the middle.

Symbols tell a story

Plants: Canada’s maple leaf and Lebanon’s cedar tree.
Animals: Bhutan’s dragon and the eagle eating a snake on a cactus on Mexico’s flag.
The sky: Brazil’s globe shows the sky over Rio de Janeiro on the morning of 15 November 1889, the day the country became a republic, with the motto “Ordem e Progresso” (Order and Progress).
The sun: Japan’s red circle stands for the sun.
Stars that count: the 50 stars on the United States flag stand for its 50 states, and the 13 stripes for the first 13 colonies.
Maps: Cyprus and Kosovo show the shape of the country itself.

Flag families

Countries that share a history or a region sometimes choose a shared look:

The Nordic cross: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland. Denmark’s flag is often said to be the oldest national flag still in use.
Pan-African colours: red, yellow (or gold) and green, taken from the flag of Ethiopia, appear on the flags of Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Cameroon and others.
Pan-Arab colours: red, white, green and black appear on the flags of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Sudan and Palestine.
The Southern Cross: a group of stars seen in the southern sky appears on the flags of Australia, New Zealand, Samoa and Papua New Guinea.

The most unusual flags

Nepal has the only national flag that isn’t a rectangle: two triangles, one on top of the other.
Switzerland and Vatican City have square flags.
Paraguay’s flag has a different emblem on the front and the back.
Chad and Romania, and Indonesia and Monaco, are almost exact twins.

Five rules for designing a great flag

Flag experts often use five simple rules (from the guide “Good Flag, Bad Flag”). They are perfect for children designing their own:

Keep it simple: a child should be able to draw it from memory.
Use meaningful symbols: every colour and shape should mean something.
Use two or three basic colours that look good together.
No writing or detailed badges: words can’t be read when a flag flies far away.
Be different, or show a connection: it shouldn’t look like another flag, unless it means to.

Try it

Ask children to design a flag for their family, their class or an imaginary country, using the five rules. Then ask them to explain it: why that colour, why that symbol? Flag Creator on Flagoo lets them choose a layout, colours and symbols and make a certificate of their flag; the printable “Design a flag” sheet works on paper.

Questions parents and teachers ask

Which country has a flag that is not a rectangle?

Nepal. Its flag is made of two triangles, one above the other. It is the only national flag that isn’t a rectangle.

Which countries have square flags?

Switzerland and Vatican City.

What is the study of flags called?

Vexillology. People who study flags are called vexillologists.

Flagoo team · Updated 2026-10-12

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