THE EVOLVING PRIDE FLAG
by Rima Sabina Aouf
MICROSOFT’S OPEN-SOURCE DESIGN FOR PRIDE FLAG INCORPORATES 40 COMMUNITIES. THE FLAG DESIGN IS A KALEIDOSCOPIC VERSION OF THE VARIOUS FLAGS REPRENTING 40 DIFFERENT LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITIES AND CAN EVOLVE TO INCLUDE EVEN MORE.
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icrosoft, which says the project was created by its LGBTQIA+ staff, released an earlier version of the flag during Pride month in June and has now updated the design and made it open source.
Images of the flag and its related assets are available for download through GitHub and Figma under Creative Commons licenses. This means people can not only access and use the finished file but edit and add to it to create their own version. Microsoft’s latest Pride flag design is open source
Microsoft’s design incorporates elements of flags from 40 different communities including ones that are widely known such as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual, which together make up the LGBTQIA acronym. The flag also includes other newer or lesser-known gender or sexual identities, from abrosexual to nonbinary and polyamorous to trigender. There is also a version that incorporates the “ally flag”, for straight people who are supportive of LGBTQIA+ communities
“We’ve long been believers in the power of democratic design – in people coming together to define their own narratives and futures – and we were so inspired and humbled by the global response to the flag design that we want to share it beyond our own borders,” Microsoft’s director of brand activation Aleksey Fedorov wrote in a Medium post.
Each flag is interpreted as a triangular, paper airplane-like graphic that slots into the main image, in which all the flags fan out from a central point.
“By open-sourcing it, we’re eager to see how you remix it as a way of continuing to create and define the future of our movement.”
“We wanted to show how large our community is,” said Andre Bazire, Microsoft’s director of global advertising and one of the creators behind the flag. “Intersectionality, solidarity, unity –
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Microsoft has made the design available in multiple formats, including versions sized for laptops and phone wallpapers.
