First, a little background. The Danish flag is the oldest flag in continuous use in the world. According to legend, it fell from the sky in 1219, during the Battle of Valdemar in Estonia.
If you go to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, you can visit the place where the Danish flag supposedly fell to Earth. The Estonians know a good tourist attraction when they see one.
The other Nordic flags – the Swedish flag, Norwegian, Finnish, Icelandic, are all based on the Danish flag. They all have similar designs with a cross on a solid background.
The Danish flag is supposed to be something that unites Denmark.
So it was a bit of a shock a couple of weeks ago when the FDF, which is kind of a Danish boy scouts or girl scouts organization, said they were thinking about removing the Danish flag from their logo.
They said the flag logo was too old-fashioned and nationalistic, and it wasn’t helping to attract the kids of today. That was a bit of a shocker.
Well, not the fact that the logo was outdated. It’s shaped like a shield. It looks like a sticker you’d put on your car to show it has car insurance.
I can see that kids of today wouldn’t be attracted by it. Not that the kids of today are attracted by anything that doesn’t have a screen and show YouTube.
Yet the idea that the Danish flag is nationalistic, and maybe even exclusionary, is new to Denmark. Granted, the flag is popular with right-wing parties. But it’s popular with everyone.
The truth is, Denmark is changing. It’s becoming more international. One out of five babies born in Denmark today does not have an ethnic Danish mother.
That includes people like my kid, kids with mothers from other European countries, and also kids with moms from China, India, Africa, and the Middle East.
The question is, can the Danish flag represent them?
Personally, I think it can. One of my favorite Danish flag moments is when the young Danish-Moroccan singer Basim was performing at a national music contest – he’s a very upbeat and positive performer – and just at the peak of a really good song, a giant Danish flag dropped down behind him. It was a great moment.
Because it’s so simple, just two colors, the Danish flag is one of the most powerful and flexible symbols ever from a graphic design sense.
So seems to me that in a country full of gifted graphic designers, the FDF could commission a more contemporary logo that still uses the flag. Something that would appeal to kids.
That will take them through the next 20 years or so. The next big challenge will probably be that the flag has a big cross on it, in a country that less and less Christian.
But for the moment, I think we need to figure out ways to make clear that the Danish flag represents everyone in Denmark. After all, everyone has a birthday.