1 Jan 2013

Brazilian Capital Cities Flag

2013 just started (by the way, Happy New Year to everybody!), and I'll present the new blog series: flags for the Brazilian states' capital cities, after 2012 Brazilian state flags. For now, let's take a look at the current flags:



















Aracaju has a complex coat of arms, and it's too reminiscent of state flag. Belém and Belo Horizonte are two bad flag (although Belém is worse than BH). Boa Vista is excellent: simple, effective, and reminiscent of state flag just right. Brasília flag (actually the Federal District one) is simply beautiful; Cuiabá is apparently inspired in Brasília, but the writings is your sin, needing only small changes.

Campo Grande, Curitiba and Goiânia follows a contemporary Brazilian fashion that doesn't make me happy: they are practically indistinguishable with the many other cities that adopts this pattern. Florianópolis and Fortaleza, in other hand, uses better patterns but its quality is eclipsed by the complex coat of arms.

João Pessoa and Macapá has two excellent coat of arms, proving that a good flag can still be made with traditional shapes and figures. You can see my proposals to Maceió here, and Natal here. The kind of coat of arms present in Manaus flag, with a rococo baroque appeal, seems to me out-of-fashion for centuries, anti-heraldic (presence of full scenes), and chronologically wrong: Portugal only adopted that flag a century after Brazilian independence.

Palmas intelligently bases it coat of arms in beautiful state flag, with an amazing result. Porto Velho flag is also very original and interesting. In other hand, Porto Alegre, Rio Branco and Vitória follows the same pattern of Belo Horizonte, and obtains the same poor result, not so different of São Luís, Rio de Janeiro and Teresina.

Recife flag idea is good, but the over-complexity undertakes the result. Salvador has an excellent heraldic flag, if you think that city's name can be translated as "Savior". Lastly, São Paulo, my home city, with a curious mix of the Order of Christ's cross and the Scandinavian cross flags, but compromised by the coat of arms.

If I counted correctly, there are seven flags that I'll keep integrally (Boa Vista, Brasília, João Pessoa, Macapá, Palmas, Porto Velho and Salvado — if you notice, the five newest capitals are here), two flags I already posted (Maceió and Natal), seven flag I had finished during my vacations, and more eleven flag that I still need to do. So there's more 18 flags to be published!









It's a good opportunity to subscribe the blog, and therefore doesn't lose any future post of the series. You can choice between the Google feeds (becoming a blog member) or subscribe directly from your e-mail (Google account doesn't required in this case).
As it'll last many months, I'll mix the Brazilian capital cities with many other designs, including a birthday special I'm yet preparing.

1 comment:

Every comment is greatly welcome!