Flags of The World

Flags are icons for countries. They use symbolism to represent ideals and characteristics of the country they fly for. They are easily recognizable and identifiable by people around the world, and they provide something for people in each country to rally behind or protest with. Since they are so iconic, flags often end up being the subject of infographics.

1. Countries of the world are have varied cultures, but there are still trends in the flag world. Combining all flags of the world by color shows that red and white are extremely common colors.
   

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2. You might expect the biggest flag in the world to be from Texas, but it’s actually the Romanian flag.
   

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3. Since flags represent countries, sometimes they are used in visualizations to indicate their country. Eurovision song contest winners uses flags to make up a treemap.
   

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4. And sometimes they are used in regular maps as an artistic interpretation. The South American Flag Map helps to reveal some of the shared history between the countries that make up the continent.
   

   by thedavefoster.
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5. Ironically, many times the flag for a country isn’t made in the country it represents. I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag takes a look at how many star spangled banners are made in China.
   

   by Lauren.Salomonson.
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6. Despite the American flag often being made outside of the US, it still has a set of rules and traditions for how to use it. United States Flag Laws shows some of those rules.
   

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7. And there are strict rules about how to fold the American flag as well.
   

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8. The American Flag has a long history behind it, and Our Flag takes a look at its evolution.
   

   by mikewirth.
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9. America doesn’t have the only flag with a long history. The Union Jack is much older and has evolved from the merging of several different flags.
   

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10. South Korea also has a lot of meaning behind its flag. All of the symbols and colors on the flag represent different South Korean ideals.
    

    by obangfact.
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Flags are a complex visual language that uses iconography, colors, and geometry to mean different things. In a way, they are almost the official infographics of a country.   Drew Skau is Visualization Architect at Visual.ly and a PhD Computer Science Visualization student at UNCC with an undergraduate degree in Architecture. You can follow him on twitter @SeeingStructure