Columbia, South Carolina
Flag Redesign
I came across this contest after finding it on the Portland Flag Association's website. They have an ongoing mention of local contests for new flag designs, and having visited Columbia, and lived in South Carolina, I figured that it would be a good contest to enter, especially since the prospect of a win would mean that the flag would become the official flag of the city.
The Design process
My finalist flag design for the City of Columbia, SC.
In coming up with a design, I wanted to see what identified with Columbia and essentially came down to a few items:
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Being the capital city of South Carolina
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Being home to the University of South Carolina Gamecocks
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Being a place where 3 rivers converged
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Where the name of the city came from - SC Senator J. L. Gervais
I originally thought of using a "Y" like motif, symbolizing graphically the convergence of the Broad, Congaree, and Saluda rivers. This design however I thought was too big of an element and too dissimilar from the SC flag to be related.
I quickly moved to the wing of the Gamecocks as USC has longevity in the history of the city.
In moving to the Gamecock and incorporating symbols of a bird I came across the quote in the naming of the city, which is when I thought of the graphic element of a wing and how that fit. However, I still felt something was off with the typical wing depiction, so I then shifted to what it could look like with giant bands across the field of a flag, and that is how I came to the design seen in the final.
The three bands represent the three rivers that meet in Columbia, and the way they are oriented simulates a wing, which calls back to the naming of the city: "in this town we should find refuge under the wings of Columbia."
In addition the wing could represent the mascots of the city's Carolina Gamecocks or Columbia Fireflies. The flag itself also becomes Columbia if one thinks about the orientation of a flag flying above the heads of people, every time it flies, the people of Columbia can find refuge under its wings in the capital city.
The crescent ties directly related to the place of the flag, South Carolina. The blue comes from the state flag as well, while the yellow comes from the corn of the original city flag, tying that early flag history along with one of the main crops of the area, tying in even more local history with a modern symbol of the city.