Talk abstracts

Summaries of each talk, with details of the speakers.

Double take: How similar flags confuse viewers and blur national identity

Dr Carlos A. Morales-Ramirez, West Chester University of Pennsylvania

National flags embody deep historical identities, yet closely matching designs often create modern cognitive confusion. Focusing on the flags of Cuba and Puerto Rico, this study examines how everyday observers navigate visually similar national symbols. Using survey data from non-expert university students, the research investigates recognition accuracy, reliance on guesswork, and how viewers interpret shared geometry. Findings reveal that while intentional design mimicry successfully signals a shared 19th-century anti-colonial heritage, extreme visual similarity creates cognitive barriers that blur national sovereignty. This work highlights the delicate balance between historical unity and contemporary visual distinctiveness.

Dr Carlos A. Morales-Ramirez is an Assistant Professor of Geography at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, co-editor of Middle States Geographer, and presenter of papers at ICV27 (London, 2017) and ICV31 (Paris, 2026).

Roundels: The visual grammar of the other flags in the sky

Michael Green, founder and CEO, Flags for Good

Modern vexillology was born of a design problem: the need to find a means of identifying ships at distance. When aircraft emerged in the First World War, bringing additional factors of speed and orientation, this posed an even more complex design challenge. How could nations adapt their markings to make them recognisable from any angle on a chaotic aerial battlefield? This presentation documents the visual language produced by that process and demonstrates how this vexillological grammar continues to evolve across military and civilian contexts today.

Michael Green is the founder and CEO of Flags for Good, Technical Editor of The Complete Guide to Flags of the World, 4th edition, and a two-time TEDx speaker.

The House of Flags Museum in America: Our journey to preserve history

Robert Williamson, curator and executive director, House of Flags Museum

The history of the USA is frequently rewritten, ignored and/or misunderstood in today’s news media and educational institutions. The House of Flags Museum was founded to help fill that void by using the nation’s flags to teach flag history and respect. Nearly 300 faithful replicas bring US history alive as we explore why and how certain flags were created. Some sixty flags, from earliest colonial times through the American War for Independence, recount the ‘Birth of a Nation’. This session will explore the museum’s 25-year journey from 2001 to 2026.

Robert Williamson is the curator and executive director of the House of Flags Museum in Columbus, North Carolina.