The Sky-Blue Waters Flag

How do we create a flag that represents the great state of Minnesota? We begin with the name. From the Dakota Sioux name of the state “Mni Sota Makoce“, meaning “The Land of Cloudy Waters,” sometimes interpreted as ‘Sky-Blue Waters,’ we begin with a bold French Sky-Blue field.

From our state’s motto, hailing back to the state’s French Canadian fur trader frontier history, “L’Etoile du Nord”, (Star of the North) we add our North Star. The eight-pointed North Star espouses a compass, reinforcing its name. It also shares numerical symmetry with our state’s eight representative districts.

Representing our more than 10,000 lakes and many great rivers we add two balanced, rippled bars. We trim each element in gold to represent our richness in culture, history, education, economy, community, and more!

The Minnesota Sky-Blue Waters Flag shares many benefits with other well-known flags by following the five basic principles of good flag design:

1. Simple design
2. Meaningful symbology
3. Uses a few basic colors
4. No Lettering or Seals
5. Be Distinctive or Be Relative

Benefits of the Sky-Blue Waters Flag:

• It is a highly visible, easily recognizable design, even from a  distance
• It is simple
• Uses symbology that honors our shared native and pioneer history
• Shares heraldry with existing Minnesota symbology
• It is horizontally symmetrical, which prevents accidental inverted display, as often happens with the old flag
• When displayed canted on a ceremonial flagpole, the North Star is clearly and centrally visible

Colors

• French Sky Blue (#77B5FE) In addition to the symbology of this color to the native name of the state, this bold shade of blue also honors the first European explorers (French Canadian fur traders) to meet the land’s native people.
• Sunglow Gold (#FFCC33) Is a vivid shade of gold that compliments the other colors well.
• Polaris White (#FFF6ED) This specific color holds significance in its exact color temperature. Can you guess why?