I agree with Dick Frizzell that something "damn FLAGGISH" is good - which is why I prefer something more abstract than representations of flora and fauna. Dick is also right to say a successful design will "just reach out and say THIS IS THE NEW NEW ZEALAND FLAG" - which is why I am looking for something that says "I AM" rather than "me too".
I agree with Jeffy James that "the symbolism of the koru is positive". I like Turi Park's exploration of the potential of the Gordon Walters koru which is capable of development in many directions - when care is taken to understand and master of the visual language which is his legacy. By the way Turi, my Listener essay (also on this website) makes it clear that Walters was happy with the narrative I applied to his Painting No.1 and his widow, Dr Margaret Orbell, is delighted with the notion that it could inform a new New Zealand flag.
Since writing that essay I have explored many ideas. Some excited me for a while, but the 'essential Walters' koru design conceived on Waitangi Day 2004 is the one with the staying power. Because it has given me that midwife feeling - all I have done is deliver this thing with a life of its own - I feel strongly that it's 'the one'.
I agree with Lloyd Morrison and Cameron Sanders that black and white have a "powerful simplicity" and that "in the context of world flags would give the New Zealand flag great distinction". But wait there's more ... while the Stars and Stripes, the Union Jack and the Tricouleurs lend themselves to variations that are still recognisable, the Gordon Walters koru language does not rely on colour to be distinctive. I have shown how changes in the colour of the flag can shift the emphasis (from the top) to tino rangatiratanga, to the British connection or to a 'clean green' image.
And then there are the T shirts ... All I want to demonstrate here is that this koru flag design provides the basis for an emergent national identity system - not only a flag, not a logo, not an emblem, but a visual language that can evolve infinitely in the hands of good designers.
Michael Smythe
December 2004