Updated: Ditmas Park’s ‘Friendly Urban Critters’ and ‘Ultra-Neighborhoody’ Feel Land It A Shout-Out In The Brooklyn Flag Project
Updated Monday 10:45am: We were super happy when we checked our inbox this weekend and saw that the artist behind this awesome flag emailed us! Our neighbor Beck McCoy is the woman behind the flag, and she’s a professional illustrator. Beck let us know she’s lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years – and was born and raised here.
Original post: After receiving drawings from talented artists across the borough, Brooklyn Based just unveiled the eight finalists for its Brooklyn Flag Project – and while Ditmas Park wasn’t among the winners, we did get a shout-out from the website for our “friendly urban critters” and “ultra-neighborhoody” feel.
In June, Brooklyn Based partnered with UncommonGoods to launch the project, for which they asked “design-minded folks from all over the borough to create a flag reflecting their neighborhood.” After the last of the designs were submitted, a team of panelists, including Former Borough President Marty Markowitz, Tina Roth Eisenberg – the graphic designer known as Swissmiss, and UncommonGoods founder David Bolotsky, narrowed down the entries to the eight finalists.
Originally, it was planned that UncommonGoods would produce the top three for sale – which Brooklyn Based announced has unfortunately fallen through.
UncommonGoods awarded cash prizes to the top three winners, but decided not to produce the flags for sale after all–they told us that they had hoped to see flags from a wider variety of neighborhoods, though we thought the entries from East New York, Bay Ridge, Flatbush, Coney Island and Ditmas Park nicely rounded out the multiple flags designed for Greenpoint and Fort Greene–locales that lots of graphic designers call home. Even if you can’t buy one of these to hang from your fire escape, we think it’s worth taking a peek at the winners. And, as a bonus, we’ve added in our favorite entry that didn’t win (we’re suckers for a squirrel).
That favorite entry? It’s this adorable drawing for a Ditmas Park flag, which includes some of our favorite things: coffee and bagels, a pretty tree (perhaps a London Planetree?), and, as Brooklyn Based said, some super friendly critters. Sadly, because the design wasn’t a finalist, Brooklyn Based didn’t know the name of the designer – and we’re hoping someone out there does! If this is your design, or you know whose it is, send us an email at editor@ditmasparkcorner.com.
The eights finalists included designers representing Prospect Heights, Bay Ridge, Greenwood Heights, Greenpoint, Fort Greene Bushwick, and Williamsburg, with Fort Greene snagging three of the eight titles.
Congratulations to all of the winners!
Image via Brooklyn Based.