And The Winner Of The New Scottish Flag Design Competition Is …

In amongst all the political fervour surrounding the debate on Scottish independence, and the inevitable waving of a Scottish Flag of every size and shape, comes another flag story. And this particular flag event could well be received with some astonishingly underwhelming responses.

In the run-up to next year's decision on whether or not Scotland will prise itself away from its traditional links to English identity, the National Theatre of Scotland is launching a kind of 'political variety show' that will tour around the country just a few weeks prior to people handing in their voting slips. The production will be directed by the Scottish impresario, David MacLennan, who said, "The show will feature polemic, music and most definitely comedy. The idea is very much to take it out on tour right around the country, into community centres and village halls, and we want to make it right up to date, so I think we'd be looking at performances next August and September."

But that's not the real reason for the headline above this item. It might be in Mr MacLennan's interest to gauge people's opinion of the Scottish Flag design while he's no doubt holding it aloft over his village hall productions. Because there's another event in Scotland at round about the same time - the Edinburgh Festival. And for this world-famous event, someone has designed another flag, to apparently challenge the global recognition of the blue Saltire design of the Scottish Flag.

The contemporary 'British' artist Peter Liversidge has been commissioned to produce a flag that will welcome visitors to the Edinburgh Art Festival. It will fly above prominent buildings in the city and the intention of the organisers is to 'allow people to witness art outside of the gallery'. Really? Have you seen this stunning work of art yet? It comprises, wait for it, the word 'HELLO', displayed in black block capitals (probably in a Helvetica or Univers sans serif font - it's difficult to be more precise when seen fluttering in the breeze) on a pure white background. His explanation of the design is that it is 'a simple welcome across the rooftops - a buoyant, floating hello'.

Could this possibly be a contender for a new identity for the country if it does declare its independence next year? It's doubtful though. Not unless there's just a hint of dark blue added to it. And perhaps portrayed in Gaelic? If this is all that today's modern typographic designers are capable of, then let's just stick to the blue cross that we all know and love.

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