Pride Flag Redesigns
I decided to try redesigning pride flags from simply being horizontal bands, and I came up with some concept ideas. While the colors themselves have become iconic/symbolic, and the horizontal band theme provides consistency (people know they are looking at a pride flag), I feel like they all might appear too similar and generic if they are all horizontal bands, and people who are colorblind and have difficulty telling apart certain colors might have difficulty. With specific designs, people will have easier times remembering and distinguishing different pride flags instead of just having to memorize colors. I preserved the original color schemes as I think they are already iconic representations of their respective identities/communities, and so people with prior knowledge will already know what each flag represents. Also, the original pride flag can stay as horizontal bands, as it is the original, it is iconic and the most recognizable, and it is a natural phenomenon. Plus, if the more specific pride flags have their own non-horizontal band designs, then that makes the original pride flag more distinct in its simplicity and enhances its symbolism as something that is broad (like a rainbow stretching across the horizon) and all-inclusive, as opposed to the more specific flags.
Aromantic flag: The flag makes the shape of an arrow, which is a symbol of aromantic people, as "aro" (a shortened form of aromantic) sounds like "arrow." The colors mean the same things they do in the standard aromantic flag designed by Cameron Whimsy.
Asexual flag: The purple is symbolic of the asexual community, and the triangle is a reference to the logo of AVEN (the Asexual Visibility and Education Network), though it is flipped. The white-to-black gradient is similar to the one in the AVEN logo, and also represents the spectrum of asexual orientation. This gives it a resemblance to the letter A (for asexuality), and it can resemble a pyramid pointing to the sky, symbolizing boldness and progress.
Bisexual flag: The colored stripes represent similar things to what they do in the original bisexual flag. The pink stripe represents same-gender attraction, the blue stripe represents different-gender attraction, and the the purple stripe represents attraction regardless of gender or sex. It could also be interpreted as attraction to women, non-binary people, and men, similar to the pansexual flag. Since the flags are tilted, the top and bottom stripes become triangles, referencing the biangles symbol, while not directly including it as to not alienate those who do not want a connection with the Nazi-associated pink triangle. It A double crescent is a symbol of bisexuality, designed by Vivian Wagner, and I modified it into a circular moon with both a waxing and a waning crescent. Just as the phases of the moon wax and wane, so can sexual attraction, and as the phases of a moon are a spectrum, so too is sexuality. People can change the phase of the moon in order to best suit their personal identity. They can remove the blue or pink crescent, or they can increase or decrease the size of a crescent. For example, a man who is more attracted to men can have a variation of the flag where they increase the size of the pink stripe since they are more attracted to people of the same gender.
Lesbian flag: The modern standard lesbian flag was designed in 2018, an inverted version of a flag from 2017, and is known as the "sunset" flag, so I redesigned it to look more like a setting sun.
MLM flag: The standard MLM flag was designed in 2019, and is referred to as the "ocean gay flag," so I made the three bottom stripes wavy to symbolize ocean waves, and I added the symbol for Uranus as "uranian" is a word used to describe gay men. Also Uranus is the personification of the sky, and the top three stripes represent the sky over the ocean waves.
Non-binary flag: The flag itself is not binary, as it is divided into four sections, while binary is a system that writes all numbers as a combination of zero and one, so a binary flag would have only two colors. The flag is arranged as a quadrant to represent gender as a space with multiple dimensions. The circle in the center represents the circle in gender/sex symbols, and it has nothing attached to it to represent the fact that it is a formless template that can be modified to represent any different gender identities. It can be kept to be an agender symbol, or it can be modified into the asteroid symbol, the comet symbol, the genderfluid symbol, the male and female symbol, the transgender symbol, etc. People can modify the flag to align with their specific identity. The circle in the center is similar to the intersex flag, which I did not redesign because it is already not composed of horizontal bands. Note, I was looking at other pride flag redesigns and found that u/Locus8 made a similar redesign, this is a coincidence as I did not see their version before making mine, but I will still credit them.
Transgender flag: The background gradient represents the gender spectrum. Alternatively, it could also represent the spectrum of sex, and the center symbol would represent gender identity and how it can differ from sex assigned at birth. The center symbol is a circle split into three equal parts, representing male people, non-binary people, and female people. Since the parts are equal, it represents how all gender identities should be treated equally and should be marginalized. Trans males, trans females, and non-binary people should all be equally respected within the transgender community and so are given equal space. The way the parts curve from top to bottom can represent transitioning.
Finally, as the queer community is diverse and many people have multiple identities, this is accommodated in the fact that each flag has a unique background, color scheme, and symbol, which can be mix and matched to suit each individual person. Edit: u/Melodrama_queer suggested to rotate the trans flag symbol 90 degrees and I think it might be better.
