Gallery of flags by design

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This is a gallery page containing specially selected image and media files. They have been chosen as highlights of a particular topic, but do not represent the full range of files that are available on Commons. For a wider selection of files connected with Gallery of flags by design, see Category:Gallery pages about flags.

This gallery uses as its organizing rubric a set of terms and concepts derived mostly from the Western heraldic tradition. The main sets of these terms are five: #Divisions of the field, #Variations of the field, #Charges, #Variations of Charges, and #Variations of lines. (The sixth set, #Overall Shape of the Flag (Nonrectangular variants) is mainly not derived from heraldic tradition.) The advantage of this approach is that flag design (vexillography) in Greater Europe and its former colonies is largely an adaptation of the conventions of Western heraldry used to decorate shields as markers of identity. The heraldic tradition provides an elaborated and intricated set of terms whose scope is far greater than those that have been developed from the study of flags alone, without reference to the traditions from which it derives. This set of terms allows us to recognize, and thus think and discuss flag elements, and to parse complex designs into their constituent components. A disadvantage is that it is less appropriate to flag designs that derive from other traditions, such as Japanese prefectural and municipal flags, Liberian county flags, and newer genres of design derived from corporate logos, etc.

The purpose of the gallery is to serve as an aid to the practice of flag design and for the study and teaching of flag design, flag history and geography, etc. Items have been selected because they are the most well known, the most representative, or particularly unique, interesting, well-executed or illustrative examples of the incorporation of particular (often heraldic) elements into flag design. The aim is to sketch out a space of possibility for design with these elements rather than to provide an exhaustive listing of all instances.

For the purposes of identification, where possible, links will be provided to more specialized galleries and category pages that have more comprehensive listings. This latter work is ongoing.

Divisions of the field[edit]

Undivided[edit]

Plain[edit]

Charged[edit]

Vertical[edit]

Biband, vertical (Party per pale)[edit]

Triband, vertical (Tierced in pale)[edit]

Multiband, vertical[edit]

Horizontal[edit]

Biband, horizontal (Party per fess)[edit]

Triband, horizontal (Tierced in fess)[edit]

Multiband, horizontal[edit]

Tripart (aka 'Tribar', coupé mi-parti))[edit]

Multipart[edit]

For 'multibar' or 'polybar' flags see #Charges>#Ordinaries>#Sides (Flanks, flanches)>#Side dexter (adextré, adiestrado)

Diagonal (Per bend)[edit]

Diagonally bisected[edit]

Diagonally trisected etc.[edit]

For other diagonally trisected, quadrisected, etc. flags, see #Charges > #Ordinaries > #Bend below. See also #Variations of the field > #Stripes > #Diagonal (bendy).

Party per bend and demi-bend[edit]

Quartered (Per cross)[edit]

See also Gallery of quartered flags#Orthogonal

Quadrisected off-center (Per cross asymmetric)[edit]

Diagonally quartered (Per saltire)[edit]

Triangle (Per chevron and/or Per pile throughout)[edit]

Wedge (Per chevron)[edit]

See also #Charges > #Gusset below; (For [triangle + biband] see #Divisions of the field > #Per pall, below)

Pile throughout[edit]

See also #Chevron and #Concave kite ('arrowhead', 'dart', 'V')

Triangular panel / heraldic esquire[edit]

See also #Divisions of the field / #Diagonal (Per bend)

Per pall[edit]

Trapezoid[edit]

Pentagonal partition of field[edit]

Wave[edit]

Horizontal[edit]

Angular horizontal ('Party per bend sinister, inclined in the flanks per fess')[edit]

Vertical[edit]

Diagonal[edit]

See also #Variations of lines > #Wavy/undy and #Enarched/embowed
Note: the variation of line producing this division of the field is known as serpentine in South African and other heraldic nomenclatures.

Tau (t-shape)[edit]

Gusset[edit]

For a more complete listing, see Category:Flags with gussets

Other divisions of the field[edit]

Variations of the field[edit]

Stripes[edit]

This list is incomplete - for a more complete listing refer to Gallery of striped flags

Horizontal (barry)[edit]

For rainbow flags, see #Divisions of the field > #Horizontal (Per fess) > #Multiband, horizontal

Vertical (paly)[edit]

Diagonal (bendy)[edit]

Chevronny[edit]

Checkered (Chequy)[edit]

Checkering (Chequy) as variation of charge[edit]

Lozengy[edit]

(For lozenges as #Charges see #Diamond (rhomboid/lozenge))

Mascles[edit]

Rustré[edit]

Gyronny[edit]

Of six[edit]

Of seven[edit]

Of eight[edit]

Of ten[edit]

Of twelve[edit]

Of sixteen[edit]

Of twenty-four[edit]

Of twenty-eight[edit]

Ray[edit]

For the Flag of the Seychelles and similar, see #Divisions of the field > #Triangle (Per chevron and/or Per pile) > #Pile

Semé[edit]

Fur tinctures[edit]

NB: In European heraldry, 'furs' such as ermine and vair are technically tinctures (colors) and not variations of the field. However, in form they resemble variations of the field and so are placed here.

Ermine[edit]

System-search.svg See also category: Flags with ermine fur-skins.

Vair[edit]

NB: Like the ermine above, in European heraldry the vair is technically not a variation of the field but a 'tincture' (color) of a particular type - a 'fur'.

Vair ancien/ondé (Wolkenfeh)[edit]

See also #Nebuly, below.

Endenté (barry indented / dantelado / trianglé)[edit]

See also #Charges > #Shapes > #Triangle
See also Japanese uroko pattern

Charges[edit]

Ordinaries[edit]

Cross[edit]

Symmetric[edit]

See also Category:Flags with crosses (symmetric) and Flags with saints' crosses

Symmetric cross couped[edit]
Symmetric + Saltire[edit]

See also #Saltire below

Nordic / Latin / Offset / Asymmetric[edit]

See also #Overall Shape of the Flag (Nonrectangular variants), below, for swallowtail variants.
For a fuller list see Nordic cross flag

Nordic/Asymmetric + Saltire[edit]