What can be used on a flag to symbolize a country?

The national flag is one of the most important components for each state - it’s a face of the country. This is what people see and then can imagine what country they are talking about. It’s like a photo in your passport. As each person has his own features, with which he can be distinguished from others, so the flag should contain special details that symbolize the country.

If I was the designer of the flag of Russia, I would have made it not as 3 color stripes, but as an emblem. It could be a picture with landscape, where the field reaches for a horizon, on the sides is a forest and in the middle of the field many figures – people near small country houses. I choose these symbols just because for me Russia is a country with the most beautiful people and nature and we must show it. I think that we should get rid of stereotypes that symbols of Russia are bears, balalaika and vodka. I’m against templates. People should feel the atmosphere and warmth of the country when they look at the flag. In my opinion, it's silly to use only colored stripes on the flag of the country. Let's take the Russian flag as an example. Many people can mix up our flag with flags of Serbia, Holland or France. Almost no one remember (except for a citizen) stripe sequence on the flag.

Many people, especially children and teenagers, cannot distinguish one flag from another. That’s all because there is no originality. Why in the modern world the fashion touched everything, but bypassed the flags? This is a big omission. Imagine what the flag of the Netherlands will be, if they used Van Gogh's picture. I think that this can be a good variant of the style of flags to use the famous picture of the famous artist who lived in this country.

It’s very important to give the flag due attention, because as the proverb says, “good clothes open all doors.”