The NZFlag.com Trust adds more new designs

The Trust behind the www.nzflag.com campaign to change New Zealand's flag has added a further 4 new flag designs to its website, bringing the total number of new designs to 11.

The Trust has consistently stated that the stylised silver fern design it has used as the symbol for its campaign is not being promoted as a new flag for New Zealand. The 4 new designs are highlighted to stimulate further debate and thinking amongst New Zealanders www.nzflag.com/newdesigns.cfm.
Included are new designs by Michael Smythe and Donna Cross, as well as additional new designs by Dick Frizzell and Jeffy James.

Michael Smythe is a professional industrial and graphic designer who has been a strong advocate for New Zealand "contributing its own fresh 'voice' to an increasingly homogenised world". Michael's New Zealand heritage dates back to Major Cyprian Bridge of the 58th Regiment and to a 19 year old German surveyor who arrived in Christchurch in 1876. He was recently awarded the 2004 Outstanding Achievement Award by the Designers Institute of New Zealand.

Michael Smythe's koru design is based on the koru designs of one of New Zealand's most esteemed artists Gordon Walters. Smythe not only creates four variants of the design using different colours www.nzflag.com/designs_smythe.cfm.

Freelance illustrator and designer Donna Cross' 'Land of the Long White Cloud' www.nzflag.com/designs_cross.cfm flag design "has a fresh and modern aesthetic. Land, sea, sky, growth, biculturalism and a real sense of belonging to the Pacific is encapsulated in this flag."

Dick Frizzell's "Silver fern" www.nzflag.com/designs_frizzell_silverfern.cfm is his third design, following the earlier "Silver Fern Night Sky" and "The Waves" designs. Frizzell notes "To give the fern flag idea more shape and depth, I've added the green side bars, and the white spacers. I think it makes the fern look less like a logo and obviously backs up our 'clean green' image."

Jeffy James' second design follows his earlier "Aotearoa Flag 1 - Southern Cross" and is titled "Aotearoa Flag 2 - Koru" www.nzflag.com/designs_jeffyjameskatoa.cfm. James notes "I tried to look beyond the short-term expectations for a new flag, envisaging what Aotearoa/New Zealand will stand for in a hundred or more years' time. I was looking for the essence of our culture, something simple and striking, one icon that would represent us all. In the end it came down to the koru. Nothing else was needed."

Over Seventy prominent Kiwis across a range of disciplines including local government, sports, the arts, education, religion and business are leading a referendum on a new national flag. The www.NZFlag.com Trust has sought the support of such a broad range of New Zealand leaders to show, by their support and widely differing backgrounds, that the campaign has engagement with all sectors of New Zealand society.
Their names, photographs and endorsements appear on the www.nzflag.com website http://www.nzflag.com/endorsements.cfm and include Olympic gold medallist, Barbara Kendall; world champion squash player Susan Devoy; musician, Neil Finn; businessman Stephen Tindall, and Richard Taylor of Weta.

The www.NZFlag.com Trust, established in February 2004 seeks to gather around 300,000 signatures early in 2005 to hold a referendum asking New Zealanders to have their say on whether New Zealand should change its flag.

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