I've been struggling with this off and on for years...gobbling up huge hours in the studio...and it always comes back to that fern ... and/or that Southern Cross. I'm not particularly bothered that the cross is not unique to us, it can always be re-interpreted ... and it's so damn FLAGGISH ... some traditions are hard to beat and 'stars on flags' is one of them. But it's the fern that does set us apart. The only problem that I have with it is that (it seems) that however you deploy it on its own - with that black background - it always has such a sporty air to it.
I'm working on a design - which I'm pretty hot on - that incorporates both the Cross and the Fern. I'm finding a powerful echo here of the existing flag, with the branching fern fronds similar in their fanning effect to the radiating bars of Union Jack ... and dominating the upper left of the flag. And the Cross is more or less in the same position ... but against black ... which makes sense given that they're seen at night.
The corner to corner arrangement is also an existing flag design tradition .The fern and the star look pretty good ALL in black, but I'm keen to introduce that Pohutakawa green ... partly to strike a note for our green image, and partly to get away from the sports thing. There's a pictorial thing going on here too ... which can be a bit scary in a flag ... but is a nice narrative here ... we are looking at the night sky from underneath a silver fern ... a nice bit of South Pacific romanticism ... like an old Rudall Hayward movie.
Don't think I've quite nailed the actual 'fern-ish-ness' of the fern yet but I'm pretty happy with it.
But all the talking-up and clever rationales aren't going to matter in the end ... if it doesn't just reach out and say THIS IS THE NEW NEW ZEALAND FLAG then no amount of lobbying is going to do it ... someone'll do it ... but it ain't easy!!
Dick Frizzell
June, 2004