This flag was designed in May/July 2015 as part of the New Zealand Government call for alternative flag designs. It was selected for the longlist of flags in August 2015. The ‘First To The Light’ flag was intended to be a ‘new’ symbol that expressed our NZ identity while avoiding the use of Southern Cross, Koru, Kiwi, Fern motifs (that many others have explored).
Other flag designs by Aaron Dustin are viewable here.
A flag becomes a symbol that represents a nation, people, and actions on the world stage. Ultimately a flag carries a story utilising a very efficient balance of colour and form.
An assemblage of ‘kiwiana’ motifs and icons, while potentially popular, will be ultimately just introverted illustration.
The ‘First To The Light’ flag was designed to reflect distinctly powerful and fundamental visual elements from New Zealand culture. The challenge was to break down multicultural elements into the most simple shared forms.
The 'First To The Light’ flag design is based upon the primary shapes of triangle & chevron which are drawn from tāniko weaving patterns. The shapes and colour positioning suggests a landscape of alpine ranges, red earth, and black sky which refers to the Maori mythology of Rangi & Papa. The red triangle with white stripe is an iteration of elements of our existing flags (tip of our existing Stars, Union Jack parts, Commonwealth Games 74 logo).
International flags need to function in a broadcast-based, visually busy environment. The design needs to be simple and have good cut-through. Generally strong shapes and high contrast works best.
There is a super easy way to draw this flag perfectly every time.
Take a piece of paper (preferably at flag ratio of 2:1) and fold in in quarters as shown in the diagram. All key points to draw the flag are now available.
A flag should be capable of carrying many stories. The ‘First To The Light’ flag is designed to allow for interpretation and have capacity to represent varying ideas. That said the formal elements were originally designed to communicate a primary story, to which extended meanings could be attached. The primary story is 'first to the light’, as explained below:
Our mountains, volcanoes, our Southern Alps
forged on the Pacific Ring of Fire.
As eastern dawn breaks, they lift the dark sky
first to hold the light of new day.
This attempts to communicate the uniqueness of our land, light and position. The backbone of our country is formed out of the collision of two tectonic plates (which the white chevron shape refers to), while New Zealand is one of the first countries to see the dawn. I feel this is our ‘unique’.
Rangi & Papa
The concept references the story of the primal couple Rangi & Papa from Maori mythology.
Here’s some things to get involved with the project:
Fly the flag: buy it here, along with other First to the Light goodies. All proceeds go towards supporting the Red Peak cause.
Join one of several petitions, such as this.
Write about it like this, and this.
Use the high res First to the Light flag files. Personal use only.
Please note: the “First to the Light” flag (aka Red Peak) is copyrighted and you are free to use personally but it is not approved for commercial use or resale. If you have enquiries or are unsure of usage please email.
