![[Bridgewater, Nova Scotia]](../images/c/ca-nsbrw2.gif)
Last modified: 2023-09-02 by rob raeside
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image located by
Minh Tan, 26 August 2023See also:
Bridgewater has a new flag. It's from an Aug 23 pay-walled story in the local
Lighthouse Now news source.
In spring, residents were asked to vote on
3 new flag designs.
All had the Town's wordmark logo. The choice chosen was the inevitable outcome
of a flag with a lot of text in it, then. The chosen flag highlights the LaHave
River with all the blue, rather than the green land on which the town is based.
The Facebook post with the whole story is at
https://www.facebook.com/BridgewaterNS:
In early May, 2023, the Town
of Bridgewater (the "Town") requested people to vote on one of three new flag
designs. One such means of outreach was on Facebook like in this post. All three
designs had the Town's wordmark logo on it as shown below. When questioned why
there was text (lettering) on the flag, or at least why there wasn't an option
without text as per the good flag design principles in Good Flag, Bad Flag, the
Town replied that it was actually in a report and discussed at a "Town Council
Discussion Session". When questioned why staff had ignored it, Patrick Hirtle,
the Bridgewater Communications Manager, responded that "staff didn't ignore it
at all". Rather, they deemed their situation to be an exception allowed for by
Good Flag, Bad Flag principles because they had been authorized "to utilize
approved Town of Bridgewater branding in the development of a new flag --
something that was approved by Council in 2015". As such, Town Council chose the
three designs shown for voting on, all with text, from among eight choices, some
of which had no text. In late August, 2023, the winning design was revealed.
TEXT FROM SCREEN CAPTURED FACEBOOK CONVERSATION ATTACHED TO SUPPORT SUMMARY
GIVEN
Bruce Walsh
A new flag would be great but there is a reason that
wording is excluded from flag design. There is information on that here along
with the elements that make a flag work.
https://nava.org/good-flag-bad-flag ... Go back to the drawing board please.
Town of Bridgewater
This exact document was actually referenced in the
staff report that went to a Town Council Discussion Session on the topic.
Bruce Walsh
Town of Bridgewater makes sense and thanks for getting back,
but why did the staff ignore it?
Patrick Hirtle - Bridgewater
Communications Manager
Bruce, with respect, staff didn't ignore it at all.
Eight different options were presented to Council in the report as a
starting point for discussion and direction. Some included no words (Town of
Bridgewater symbol only), some included the Town of Bridgewater brandmark with
wording.
All designs followed the basic tenets of the NAVA guide: simple,
meaningful symbolism in colours and patterns, basic colours (all colours are
from the existing and approved Town of Bridgewater branding guide), distinctive
design (this is subjective, but the designs are certainly distinct among other
municipal flags in Nova Scotia. The fifth principle discourages the use of
lettering, however the guide also notes that there are exceptions to every rule,
providing it is done with purpose and caution. The purpose, in this case, was to
utilize approved Town of Bridgewater branding in the development of a new flag
-- something that was approved by Council in 2015.
Council ultimately
asked staff to seek public feedback on three of the eight concepts in the
report, which were included in the survey and all of which use the wordmark
branding.
Minh Tan, 26 August 2023
![[Bridgewater, Nova Scotia]](../images/c/ca-nsbrw-l.gif)
1:2 image by
Eugene Ipavec
Source: Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18
Text and image(s) from Canadian City Flags, Raven 18 (2011), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright. Image(s) by permission of Eugene Ipavec.
The flag of the Town of Bridgewater has a white field with a broad
blue saltire (X-shaped cross). The width of the saltire's bars is one-fourth the
height of the flag. In the centre is a white section, half the width of the flag,
creating an unusual form of the Canadian pale design. It bears a red Canadian
maple leaf, over three-fourths the height of the flag. The blue bars in the hoist
and fly panels are connected by red trapezoids whose longest sections border
the central section. Surmounting the maple leaf is the town seal, slightly less
than half the height of the flag: a yellow ring, bordered by a rope on the outside
and black dots on the inside, and inscribed TOWN OF BRIDGEWATER
N.S. above and INCORPORATED FEB. 13, 1899 below, all in black
sans-serif letters. Inside the ring is a naturalistic depiction of the early settlement,
showing two buildings in brown with smoke rising from one chimney
into a white sky, with a row of trees and rolling hills in green rising from a
broad blue river, which in turn is spanned by a bridge in yellow running from
the upper right to the lower left.
Rob Raeside, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
John and Judith Scott.
Rob Raeside, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
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