For as long as I can remember I have always loved flags! I used to spend hours looking at my giant atlas of the world with the flags in the back. What the do the colours mean? What is the history of the flag? What do the stars, triangles, diagonals mean? What is the story of the badge coat of arms? So many people hold their flags with pride knowing the country they are from whilst without knowing what they represent. For many it’s part of their identity, but what are we identifying with?

These thoughts also come into many aspects of design. Be it logos or architecture, these things in some way represent us and attempt to illustrate what we stand for.

Roman Mars is also obsessed with flags — and after you watch this TED talk, you might be, too.

“These ubiquitous symbols of civic pride are often designed, well, pretty terribly. But they don’t have to be. In this surprising and hilarious talk about vexillology — the study of flags — Mars reveals the five basic principles of flag design and shows why he believes they can be applied to just about anything.”