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Garland, Texas (U.S.)

Dallas County

2:3 (usage) image(s) by permission of David B. Martucci
image(s) from American City Flags, Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright.

Current Flag
- Design
- Symbolism
- Selection
- Designer
Alternative flags
The logo

See also:

Current Flag

Text and image(s) from American City Flags, Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright. Image(s) from American City Flags by permission of David B. Martucci.

Design

Garland’s flag has a dark blue field with a narrow gold border. In the center of the flag is the circular city seal with a diameter of about 5 units on a field of 6 by 9 units. The seal also has a gold border, slightly narrower than the field’s border. The field of the seal is a light blue on which appears a large gold silhouette of Texas that, from top to bottom, covers about three-fourths of the field. Overlaying the state map is a very large dark blue ovoid G, bordered in gold, extending nearly the full width of the seal. Curved across the top part of the “G” is CITY OF GARLAND, and centered on the lower part is TEXAS, all in gold and an Arial-type font. A medium-size gold five-pointed star, edged in dark blue, is positioned over the center bar of the “G”, marking the city’s location on the state map.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

Symbolism

The two shades of blue (PMS 291 and PMS 285) and metallic gold are the official colors of the city. The large “G”, of course, is the initial letter of the city’s name, and the star, aside from denoting the geographic location of the city, suggests the nickname of Texas, “The Lone Star State”. The official 10:19 proportions are the same as the United States flag.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

Selection

Chosen by the city council.
Flag adopted: 12 October 1971 (official).
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

Designer

Jesse Green, a local graphic artist, designed the flag and seal.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

Alternative Flags

image(s) by permission of David B. Martucci
image(s) from American City Flags, Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright.

The official flag, while still in use in Garland, has been supplanted by the city’s “logo flag”, adopted in January 1994 apparently in an effort to present a more modern image. The city’s logo, designed by Dallas design firm Arthur Eisenberg & Associates, was gradually phased in to replace the city seal on letterheads, vehicles, signage, and flags used by the city. Today the logo flag is seen more often than the official flag.

The logo flag is a horizontal tribar of red, white, and blue stripes in proportions of 1:1.5:1. Centered horizontally on the center stripe is GARLAND in blue and an Arial-type font, about 0.375 units high on a field of 2 by 3 units. The first letter “A” in the name is without its crossbar— in its place are two thin blue curved lines sweeping up to the top of the next letter, “R”, where a small five-pointed red star is perched as if shot from a fireworks rocket. Below the city’s name is a thin red horizontal line. Below the red line, beginning at the base of the “R”, and terminating below the final “D”, is CITY OF GARLAND, TEXAS, in small blue letters. The blue is a medium blue, in between the shades of the two official blue colors adopted in 1971. As a result, the city’s name appears twice on this flag.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

According to Donna Irwin of the Garland Community Relations Department, both flags are in use. The official flag is the "Ugly G", displaying the city seal. The image she sent me shows the state map behind it, and is the flag shown both in the NAVA survey and in the recent AMERICAN CITY FLAGS book. The flag with 3 stripes is the logo flag and according to Ms. Irwin is seen more these days than the official flag, a trend, incidentally, that has occurred in some other cities like Grand Rapids, MI and Rochester, NY. The logo flag, by the way, is also shown in ACF and discussed there.
John Purcell, 22 July 2004

image by Fred Drews, 15 April 2020

This flag appears to use a current logo for Garland.

The logo

image located by Paul Bassinson, 31 December 2019

Source: https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1304564959/garland_vert.no_tag3.png
Paul Bassinson, 31 December 2019

This blog shows that the logo was produced in 2011 for the price of $78,000: https://www.getbrandwise.com/branding-blog/bid/55860/How-much-is-too-much-for-a-logo-design-Ask-the-town-of-Garland-TX
Masao Okazaki, 15 April 2020