Serendipity!

It can be fascinating when fields of study overlap, can't it? Take, for example, the three overlapping areas of heraldry, sigillography, and vexillology. Each of these fields have their own specialized adherents, but there are also a lot of ways in which these three overlap.

Which brings us to today's bit of serendipity.*

A good friend of mine recently sent me a .pdf of a pamphlet entitled "'Good' Flag, 'Bad' Flag", a set of guidelines to designing flags by Ted Kaye of the North American Vexillological Association, wherein are laid out five basic principles of flag design. (This is one place where the overlap between flags and heraldry can come into play; many of the principles of good flag design also apply to good heraldic design.)

But as I saw it, and thought to myself, "I've recently seen something else about this pamphlet. What was it?"

A quick search took me to a YouTube video entitled "Good Flag, Bad Flag: The Limits of Simple Design," by Linus Borman, a critique of the strengths (and some of the weaknesses) of the "'Good' Flag, 'Bad' Flag" pamphlet.

At least part of what Mr. Borman points out reminded me of that line from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, where Barbossa tells Miss Turner, who has invoked the "pirate's code", "the code is more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules."

Anyway, I found it interesting that I came across these two items, from different sources of transmission to me, all in the same week.

You can find Mr. Kaye's pamphlet on-line in several languages at https://nava.org/good-flag-bad-flag, 

and Mr. Borman's video critique at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSzx0k_C6TI

Check 'em out, and see: (1) what you think of them; and (2) how they each can apply to heraldry as well as flags.

* Serendipity can be seen as "good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries."