How to make a flag in 4 steps
- Pick a layout – bicolor, tricolor, Nordic cross, saltire, canton, chevron, border and more.
- Set your colors with the color pickers or one-click palettes.
- Add symbols and text – stars, suns, crescents, shields, mountains. Drag them on the flag, then fine-tune size and rotation.
- Download a PNG up to 4800px wide or a scalable SVG, or copy a share link that reopens your exact design.
Why this flag creator
- Real vector output: SVG files stay sharp at any size, for print, games or slides.
- Undo/redo, keyboard nudging and drag-and-drop on desktop and touch screens.
- Standard flag proportions: 2:3, 1:2, 3:5, 1:1 and 10:19.
- Private by design: your flag is drawn in your browser, nothing is uploaded.
Flag layouts explained
- Bicolor and tricolor – two or three equal bands, horizontal or vertical. Simple, bold and easy to recognize.
- Nordic cross – an off-center cross, used across Scandinavia. Great for a family of related flags.
- Saltire – a diagonal X cross.
- Canton – a rectangle in the upper hoist corner that often holds stars or a symbol.
- Chevron – a triangle from the hoist side that points forward.
- Border – a frame around a central field, ideal for a name or emblem (see the name flag maker).
Who uses a flag creator?
Students making a flag for a school project, writers and game designers inventing nations, teams and clubs, teachers making flag coloring pages, and streamers who want a waving flag GIF.
New to flag design? Read our flag design principles guide, or try the fictional country flag generator for instant ideas.
What a flag maker does (and what you get)
A flag maker is a design tool that builds a flag from three ingredients: a field layout (the stripes, crosses or panels behind everything), a palette of two to six colors, and optional charges – the symbols and text placed on top. Flag Maker Free draws all of this as vector graphics in your browser, so every export is crisp: a PNG from 600 to 4800 pixels wide, or an SVG that can be scaled to the size of a building without blurring.
Nothing you design is uploaded. The whole editor is a single page of HTML and JavaScript; your flag only exists on your device and, if you choose, inside a share link.
Choosing the right aspect ratio
The aspect ratio is height to width. It changes how a design feels more than most people expect, so pick it first.
| Ratio | Shape | Common use |
|---|---|---|
| 2:3 | Balanced rectangle | The most common ratio worldwide (France, Italy, Japan, most of Europe and Africa). Safe default. |
| 3:5 | Slightly longer | Germany and many commercial flags; also the standard size for 3×5 ft printed flags. |
| 1:2 | Long | United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Nigeria. Gives room for a symbol at the hoist. |
| 10:19 | Very long | The official U.S. federal ratio; useful when you want a flag that reads like a banner. |
| 1:1 | Square | Switzerland and Vatican City; also great for social media avatars and Discord server icons. |
If you plan to print a real fabric flag, match the ratio to the product: a 3×5 ft flag is 3:5, a 2×3 ft flag is 2:3. Mismatched ratios get cropped or stretched by the printer.
Picking colors that work
Most memorable flags use two or three colors. Vexillologists borrow a rule from heraldry: alternate a light metal (white or yellow/gold) with a darker color (red, blue, green, black, purple). Light-next-to-dark keeps boundaries visible from far away and on cheap printing.
- Red often stands for courage, struggle or revolution.
- Blue for sea, sky, freedom or loyalty.
- Green for land, agriculture, Islam or Ireland, depending on context.
- White for peace or purity; yellow/gold for wealth, sun or grain.
- Black for heritage, determination or mourning.
The one-click palettes in the editor are pre-tested combinations with enough contrast. If you type your own hex codes, check them at a small size: shrink the browser window until the flag is about 60 pixels wide. If two neighboring areas blur together, increase the contrast.
Symbols and text: less is more
A single strong symbol beats a crowded collage. Place it at the hoist (the side nearest the pole) or the exact center, and size it so it fills roughly one third to one half of the flag's height. Use the X, Y, Size and Rotate sliders for precise placement; the Center button snaps the selected layer to the middle.
Text is supported because people genuinely need it – team banners, school projects, name flags – but on a real flag it is hard to read and appears mirrored from the back. For a club or family flag, keep text to one or two short words in a heavy font such as Impact.
PNG or SVG?
- PNG is a pixel image that opens everywhere: Google Slides, PowerPoint, Word, Discord, Canva. Choose 1200px for screens and 2400–4800px for print or video.
- SVG is a vector file made of shapes. It stays sharp at any size, has a tiny file size and can be edited in Inkscape, Illustrator, Affinity Designer or Figma. Print shops and laser cutters usually prefer it.
Both downloads are free and watermark-free. If you are unsure, download both – they take less than a second.
Saving and sharing your design
Your latest design is kept in your browser's local storage, and a Restore last design button appears when you come back. For a permanent copy, press Copy share link: the entire design is encoded in the link itself, so it works without an account and anyone who opens it gets an editable copy. Bookmark it, paste it into a document, or send it to a teammate for feedback.
Free flag tools on this site
Each tool below loads the same editor with a starting point tuned for one job:
- Pride flag maker – rainbow and identity flag templates with adjustable stripe counts.
- Random flag generator for fictional countries – instant ideas for novels, tabletop games and maps.
- Country flag redesign tool – remix simple national layouts such as France, Japan or Sweden.
- Printable flag maker – prints on US Letter or A4 with a name line.
- Coloring page maker – black-and-white outlines for kids and classrooms.
- Animated waving flag maker – a looping GIF for streams, slides and Discord.
- Custom name flag – put a family, team or clan name on a flag.
Need ideas first? The flag design blog covers color meanings, flag sizes and step-by-step guides.