Explore Flags by Layout Pattern

Flag geometry begins with how the field is divided. Choose a structural layout family below to inspect construction rules and proportions.

Flag layout families

Tricolor Flags (Vertical & Horizontal) (16)

Three vertical or horizontal bands of three distinct colors—the most influential republican flag layout in modern history, originating in the sixteenth-century Netherlands and eighteenth-century France.

Bicolor Flags (4)

Flags divided into two horizontal or vertical bands derived from medieval heraldic liveries, royal standards, or polar sun/ice counterchanging (Monaco, Indonesia, Poland, Ukraine, Texas, Greenland).

Nordic Cross Flags (5)

Flags featuring a Christian cross whose vertical bar is shifted toward the hoist, originating with Denmark's medieval Dannebrog and adopted across all five Nordic sovereign states.

Solid Field with Centered Emblem (7)

Minimalist flags consisting of a single primary geometric symbol—such as a sun/moon disc, couped Greek cross, or ring of stars—on an unstriped solid field (Japan, Bangladesh, Palau, Switzerland, European Union, Red Cross).

Canton Flags (3)

Flags that reserve the upper-hoist corner ('the canton' or 'union') for a distinct sub-design—such as a constellation of stars or a lone star—combined with a striped or bicolor field (United States, Chile).

Hoist Triangle & Chevron Flags (2)

Flags featuring an equilateral or isosceles triangle extending from the hoist across horizontal stripes, exemplified by the 1849 Cuban and 1895 Puerto Rican sibling designs.

Multi-Stripe Horizontal Flags (1)

Flags composed of alternating horizontal bands of two colors—often charged with a central row of stars or emblems—such as the municipal flag of Chicago.

Symmetric & Greek Cross Flags (1)

Flags built around a centered vertical-and-horizontal cross, including the Geneva Convention Red Cross protective emblem and St George's Cross lineages.

Saltire & Diagonal Cross Flags (1)

Flags built around diagonal corner-to-corner crosses (saltires), exemplified by St Andrew's Cross, St Patrick's Cross, and their counterchanged combination in the British Union Jack.