​3 Tips for Making Your Custom Flag Stand Out

A custom flag is a great way to bring attention to your business, group, or event. In order to make your flag as effective as possible, please take the following 3 tips into consideration. 

1. Colors

You want to use bold, complementary or triadic colors for your flag. The people over at Coolors.io made this easy with their interactive color palette generator at https://coolors.co/generate. Colorbook.io has a generator also at https://www.colorbook.io/pages/colorschemegenerator.

Bold colors are the most visually appealing on a custom flag, as long as they complement one another. Text and background colors should contrast, making the text easier to read (and retain). When choosing a background for your flag design, don’t use anything that will make it difficult to focus on the main message. For example, using bright pink in a design may distract the person from the message that is being sent via the text on the design. Black contrasts well with any light color, and white works well with colors having a dark value.

The five most legible color combinations for retail sign or flag are:

1. Black on Yellow
2. Black on White
3. Yellow on Black
4. White on Blue
5. Green on White

Complementary colors are pairs of colors that when mixed together they cancel each other out producing a grayscale color like white or place. When complementary colors are placed next to each other, they create the strongest contrasts for those two colors. Complementary colors are opposite to each other when looking at the color wheel. Some examples of complementary colors are green and red or orange and blue.  If you take a second and think about some of your favorite sports teams and universities, they employ the same color patterns.  

Triadic colors are a color scheme made up of three colors that are evenly spaced out on the color wheel. The most basic triadic colors are the primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) and the secondary colors (orange, purple, and green).  Utilizing these guidelines to create a custom flag is a sure way to come up with something aesthetically pleasing. 

2. Fonts 

If your flag is going to be seen from a distance and/or while waving, stick with sans-serif fonts. Sans-serif fonts are a category of fonts that don't use serifs. Serifs are the small lines at the end of characters or letters. Popular sans serif fonts include Helvetica, Avant-Garde, Arial, and Geneva. Serif fonts include Times Roman, Courier, New Century Schoolbook, and Palatino.

When Choosing a sans-serif font, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• According to most studies, sans serif fonts are more difficult to read. Opt for a simple typeface over one that’s fussy or hard to read at a glance.
• Avoid using more than two different fonts. Choosing two fonts that complement each other can make your message stand out.
• Most importantly, use fonts that are clearly legible when viewed from a distance and avoid fonts with elegant, thin strokes.

3. Text 

Less is more. Billboard design professionals recommend no more than seven words on a billboard, and those are a minimum of 10' x 40' and don't wave. A mix of upper- and lowercase letters is considered easier to read than words made up entirely of capital letters. Since viewers may only have a few seconds to get your message, increase the readability by not overusing capital letters on your flag or billboard.

Text size creates an easy-to-follow visual hierarchy. The largest type grabs your attention first, so make this the primary message you want to get across. Then as you read on, you take on the subsequent messages according to their size and placement in the design. Remember that most people read left to right from top to bottom. So, making your top line largest and working the sizes down from there can be a simple way to communicate the importance of the information on your custom flag.

Ready to make your own flag?