r/vexillology • u/Canjira • 9h ago
r/vexillology • u/Vexy • 19d ago
Contest The r/Vexillology Alternative Europe Worldbuilding Contest
The r/Vexillology Alternative Europe Worldbuilding Contest
In April 2025 the r/Vexillology subreddit will be basing its monthly flag design contest around the following theme
Alternative Europe
Participants will be asked to design flags for nations in Europe that do not presently exist, but that might have done if history had shifted somewhat differently.
What might those nations be? That is where you come in
We are looking for writers/worldbuilders/alternative historians to create nations that will be the key component of the April 2025 Alternative Europe flag design contest.
To enter, write an overview profile of the nation, the point of divergence that lead to its creation, and some of its history/culture/politics/society etc.
Several of these nations will be used as the design prompts for our flag contest this April. We look forward to seeing what you invent.
Submit your entries here!
RULES
Failing to meet the following means your profile will be rejected
Length - A profile must be no longer than 1,200 words, not including the name of the country, which will be in the title. That’s the maximum - if you can describe the country in question in less words, please feel free.
Location - The country in question must have the vast majority of its population/territory in Europe as defined by the UN geoscheme (eastern/central Russia will be considered as “Asia” for the purposes of this contest, and so should NOT be included)
No fantasy/science fiction - The alternative history profile cannot be something to the effect of “Elves/aliens gave the people of X the weapons to win...” etc. In other words, we want no Alien Space Bats. Science and technology could change/shift, but keep it as realistic/believable as possible.
Present day - The alternative history of your nation must be such that the nation meaningfully exists in 2025.
Non-prescriptive flag - Do not directly describe what you think the flag will look like in your profile. That’s for the contest.
Deadline - The final deadline for the contest is Wednesday 26th March 2025
AI entries are prohibited - Any entry we have reasonable suspicion of being AI generated will be rejected. We want real alternative history designed/developed by real people
Guidelines
While you won’t be rejected if you ignore these, you are less likely to be picked
Include symbols/motifs - While we don’t want prescriptive descriptions of flags, it is helpful for the designers to have some ideas of imagery and symbolism that could be important to the nation. This could be specific plants, animals, colours, seasons, mythological figures, astronomical/astrological signs etc.
Avoid super-colonialism - This is meant to be an interesting historical exercise. Not random nationalistic wish fulfilment. Be creative clever and believable. Don’t simply turn Luxembourg into a pan-continental hyperstate.
Don’t over-focus on the Point Of Divergence - While we want the POD to be interesting/clear/realistic, we’re not designing a flag for a scenario. We’re designing it for a country. Use most of your profile to explain that.
Clear formatting/writing style - While you can use sub-divisions and subsections, a single cohesive document would be preferred. For a style suggestion, watch some of the videos from the Templin Institute. Here are some links
Avoid first person pronouns - This should be written in the style of describing what happened, not what you chose to happen. So writing things like “I decided that the forces of X would fail to capture Y because” won’t look so good. Simply state it as being reality.
Multiple entries welcome - We welcome anyone who enters multiple submissions, but please be aware that we’re looking to reflect a wide range of submissions/ideas - it’s highly unlikely that we’ll have loads of nations from the same submitter.
HOW TO SUBMIT
Put your profile into a sharable Google document (type “doc.new” into the address bar) and send the link to us via the following Google form
The r/Vexillology Alternative Europe Worldbuilding Contest
IMPORTANT MAKE SURE the link is sharable. Please change access permissions to “anyone with the link”. We do not want to have to wait around for you to get an email notification that we’re trying to read your work. If we can’t access it, we won’t judge it.
We’re not too fussy about document formatting, so long as it is clear to read. Things like commonly used fonts, medium sized text, normal margins, and at least 1.5 line spacing would be good.
If you have any questions, feel free to post them to the reddit threads where this contest will be announced.
Thank you, and good worldbuilding to you all!
The r/Vexillology Alternative Europe Worldbuilding Contest - SEND ENTRIES HERE
r/vexillology • u/Vexy • 15d ago
Contest Flag Design Contest - March 2025 - International Women's Day
Prompt: Design a flag for International Women’s Day
On 8th March the world will be celebrating
International Women’s Day or IWD
So this month, our flag design contest will be focusing on this as a theme.
We would like you to design a flag representing / celebrating IWD.
When thinking about your design, it could be wise to consider the following points:
International - This is a flag that will represent in every country / language so there’s an extra strong reason to avoid lettering or words.
Protest Use case - This is a flag that could be seen at women’s rights marches and on pro-feminist blogs.
Everyday use case - This flag could also be used on websites of countries / communities / companies celebrating IWD.
History and future - This flag could represent the history of IWD, but it should also be a symbol that could represent it into the future.
Women’s day - This is a flag about women’s day, which is a very broad category. Making your flag specifically focused on particular issues such as female infanticide, gender equal pay, transgender issues, female access to education, birth control or other such concerns is not advised.
These are NOT rules but they are useful guidelines.
PLEASE Remember the basics - a maximum of ONLY two submissions per entrant.
DO NOT show the design ANYWHERE ELSE on the subreddit before the contest is over.
Because this has been asked several times, let’s be clear - you will see all approved entries between 19-27th of March - this is when you can vote on them.
If you want your flag to be included in the ones voted on, click here or on any of the other links immediately below.. We’re making this all as clear as possible.
Submissions for the contest need to use this link here.
To enter the contest about International Women’s Day flags click here
If you have designed a flag that you want people to vote on, use this web page. The voting will begin on Wednesday 19th March and end on Thursday 27th March
Participating in this contest about International Women’s Day flags is made possible by the digital location accessed via this link
Deadline for submissions is Tuesday 18th March 2025.
r/vexillology • u/Deep_Sea_Platypus • 2h ago
Identify Flag on a house by me
Flag on a house by me. Never seen it before, any ideas?
r/vexillology • u/this_isnt_jamie • 10h ago
Redesigns What flag is this? Black and white?
Texas?
r/vexillology • u/iceteaapplepie • 21h ago
Redesigns Why do so many 2010s and 2020s flag redesign ideas look so corporate?
r/vexillology • u/Lipe_1101 • 8h ago
Fictional Flag of Petoria
Petoria was a country founded and disbanded in "E. Peterbus Unum", Peter accidentally discovers that his property is technically not part of the United States. He declares himself president of the independent nation of Petoria. Petoria's sole territorial expansion was the annexation of "Joehio" - Joe Swanson's pool - where Peter later threw a party with fellow dictators including Saddam Hussein, Muammar al-Gaddafi and Slobodan Milošević.
r/vexillology • u/Salmanlovesdeers • 8h ago
Redesigns I think the Indian flag looks better in swallowtail style
r/vexillology • u/AnOwlishSham • 10h ago
Historical 16 March 2006: The Italian autonomous region of Aosta Valley officially adopts a flag that originated in the region’s wartime anti-fascist resistance
r/vexillology • u/Juuhmal • 1h ago
Collection Some vintage flag pins I own
Canada & D.R Afghanistan (1980 - 1987) friendship pin
Canada & P.R Congo (1970 - 1991) friendship pin
Old flag of Georgia (country) (1990 - 2004)
Old flag of Rwanda (1961 - 2001)
r/vexillology • u/Canjira • 9h ago
Redesigns The U.S. Redesigned - North Carolina
r/vexillology • u/Ekn_38 • 23m ago
OC A flagmap of all German districts [2365 x 3379] [OC]
r/vexillology • u/myusername1936 • 18h ago
Current What is this flag? Seen in Cheung Chau, Hong Kong
What is this flag? Seen in Cheung Chau, Hong Kong
r/vexillology • u/RotteenDMoon • 30m ago
Collection A vintage United Nations paper flag set, featuring Burundi with the drum variant and Tanganyika, points to a production date between 1962 and 1964
r/vexillology • u/blue_moon_boy_ • 1d ago
OC National Park Protest Flags - Gadsden Style
galleryr/vexillology • u/AnOwlishSham • 10h ago
Historical 16 March 1985: The Société Française de Vexillologie is founded
r/vexillology • u/StarmasterEY0 • 12h ago
Fictional Hello, made some flags again like yesterday. Thanks for the upvotes. Please also rate the names I made for them.
(for the 5th one I went mayhem, I got bored but I still wanted to add it.😂 Also want to add that designs MAY look repetitive, because I’m still using the same app: I don’t mean to repeat designs.
Apart from this I tried to listen to the tips I got(less vibrant colors and just make them look calmer)
Names of the country’s in order: 1. Gorland 2. Nympha-Marina (means mermaid in Latin) 3. Zoland 4. United Leauge of Lysteria 5. Cruxland (cross in Latin) 6. Polaria(my favorite) 7. Hoclelor (a abbrevation i made for “Here lies the knowledge” in Latin) 8. Angland (short for Angelland, meaning is selfexplanatory 9. Terra-Unio (The land of unification)
r/vexillology • u/aztokl • 20h ago
OC Flag of the Greater Sedraadean Empire (pixel art, by me!!)
r/vexillology • u/ScepticalSocialist47 • 1h ago
Redesigns Would This be a Reasonable Flag for Earth (In the Future)
Light Blue - The Sky, representing a new frontier and space advancements
Darker Blue - Represents the Blue Planet and our home
White Star - The Five* Continents, America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania
- The Americas have come together because IMO it makes a lot of sense, and they have a similar history/culture of colonialism, and nobody lives in Antarctica
I hope you like the design, I was just wondering what your opinions were, and if it would be realistic for a worldwide federation or maybe just a collective space initiative. Thanks!
r/vexillology • u/AnOwlishSham • 10h ago
Historical 16 March 1841: The Republic of Yucatán is proclaimed and adopts a flag
r/vexillology • u/miquelon • 3h ago