Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Barcode Flag Of Europe

Proposal for a new flag of the European Union. 
Europe's 'diversity and unity' is represented as vertical stripes.

In 2002, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and his think-tank AMO, an independent part of OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), designed a new flag in response to European Commission President Romano Prodi's request to find ways of rebranding the Union.

The barcode comprised of 15 flags, arranged from west (left) to east.

The proposed new design was dubbed the "barcode", as it displays the colors of every European flag of the then 15 members. The described aim is "to portray Europe as the common effort of different nations, with each retaining its own unique cultural identity". Unlike the current flag, it would change to reflect new member states.

Updated barcode flag depicting 25 nations.

The joining of ten new members to the EU in 2004 resulted in a first official update of the barcode. It now depicts the flags of 25 members but was never officially adopted by the EU. However, in 2006 the  Austrian Government used the flag as the logo of its European Union Presidency.

next episode: Conwy

12 comments:

  1. I hope they've not spent too much money researching these possible flags . . . have they taken into account what would happen to such a flag if one country left for example?
    The design does make me think of the striped fabric used for deckchairs on the beach.
    I haven't ever seen a flag that looked like this in use.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We'll replace the English with the Scots (although I sure hope England won't leave the EU).

      Delete
  2. I dislike it. Too much red, as regards my tastes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not sure if my original comment went through, so here goes again. I found this very interesting, thanks for finding the information on this and sharing it with us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Karen. I'm being bombarded with spam, it's getting worse and worse. I wonder what's in it for those people.

      Delete
  4. I think it's a great attempt to design a flag for all the countries of the EU, but i don't find it very attractive. Too many colours for one thing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rob, it looks fom the comment above, as if you simply need to disable 'anonymous' comments. I resisted for a long time but it made things so much easier. Comment moderation also means I have control over what apears on the page.

    Regarding the flag- Lisa and I had exactly the same thought - deckchairs!

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  6. Rob, the flag is about as romantic as a QR code for a smartphone, though more colorful. If the USA ever gets Puerto Rico in as a state, ours will become lopsided.

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  7. I love this flag. Thanks for sharing. Your blog is the best on the web.

    ReplyDelete

I love to read your remarks and suggestions!

Please don't comment using the name 'Anonymous', because unfortunately these will end up in the spam department, due to the large bots leaving anonymous comments with questionable links...

Also don't use links that refer to commercial sites, this is spam (and me no likey spam)!

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