bemusedlybespectacled:

tips for people making identity flags: whether it looks pretty should be THE LAST thing on your list of priorities if you want it to be taken seriously as a flag

the first thing on your list should be: could I make an actual flag out of this, as in, physically sewing together strips of fabric? and if I can, would it be difficult or prohibitively expensive to do so and still have it be identifiable?

some things that will make it harder to do this:

• multiple shades of the same color. the trans flag works because there are only three colors and they are all distinct from each other (pink, light blue, and white). I could conceivably go out and buy any shade of pink and light blue to make a physical trans flag and still have it be identifiable as a trans flag.
• if instead I had to buy seven shades of blue, that would mean not only having to be sure that each shade was separate and distinct (I couldn’t just get any old blue), but also having to buy seven yards of fabric or seven skeins of yarn or seven skeins of embroidery thread. even if this were possible (for example, at most yarn stores it’s hard to find even two different shades of blue yarn in the same brand and size, let alone seven), it’s stupidly expensive.
• also, side note: different shades of the same color are also not great for people who are colorblind.
• colors that are uncommon. the hot pink stripe was removed from the original pride flag because it was hard to find hot pink fabric. colors that are easy to obtain are better for flags because they are more available. it would be hard to find yarn that DOESN’T come in the asexual pride flag colors (black, grey, white, and purple). colors like lilac, mauve, chartreuse, or peach are far more uncommon and likely would have to be specially dyed or ordered. 
• rule of thumb: the larger the box of crayola crayons needed to draw your flag, the less likely it is that someone will be able to physically make your flag. 8-count box? awesome. 72-count? not great.
• too many unique colors. the rainbow flag gets a pass on this because they were specifically going for a rainbow, and nowadays it is common to get fabric, yarn, or thread specifically in pre-made rainbow colors. none of the rest of you get a pass. the more unique colors you have, the more skeins of yarn I’m going to need to buy. 
• notice that I’m not saying you can’t have more than a couple of stripes. the trans flag has five stripes; however, it has only three unique colors. most other flags have no more than four stripes if each stripe is a unique color (the ace flag, the nonbinary flag, and the proposed new lesbian flag, among others).

like, please, by all means, go out and make new flags. but please be aware of what flags are for. they’re not meant to stay only on the internet – they’re meant to be seen and used by a lot of different people, and that means making them accessible. please take this into account in your designs.