“Only the simplest designs really function well,” says Kaye, who is the secretary of the North American Vexillological ...

Public reaction to the 10 finalists has been mixed, to say the least, so we turned to local design experts. They had some ...

for Illinois being the 21st state, and a letter “I” made from the negative space. Other state symbols that show up across some of the finalists include a butterfly, for the official state ...

They range from serious — incorporating principles of flag design and the key symbols of Illinois such as its waterways and agricultural roots — to silly, such as a Chicago hot dog.