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Some years ago, my late grandfather was a heraldic artist and I still have some of his reference books on the subject. I like to see how the designs were made, why some elements were placed in the way they were and what the symbols meant.

He often did work on ecclesiastical jobs such as boards they had outside churches and cathedrals which he used to signwrite.

I have been interested in the heraldic type of art but my interest has mainly been the designs of the US military insignia of WW2 both the sleeve insignia for uniforms and the air force squadron patches and the artwork painted on the aircraft, I used to paint my own versions of the old air force squadron patches and plane artwork for my own jackets and for friends of mine.

Years ago a friend of mine sold me an old Thunderbird Squadron patch which he had picked up in the US, it was a more 'native' style of design and I still have that one. I had also seen a Thunderbird symbol on a B17 Flying Fortress nose and I liked the visual style of that.

My thoughts recently was that the Thunderbird was such a powerful iconic image that it would make a good flag design for the American Indian people, for their own flag. It has turned up in crop circle designs too, so the reason for that maybe revealed in time to us.

So I thought about what we could do as an alternative to the 50 state flag and one that is simple and has impact?

Some of the current state flags have ornate detail and having been interested in what I have seen of the diverse designs of jewelry being made by the Navajo and Zuni people recently, there was often simple but effective iconography performed. If I was designing a flag, simple works best.

I have worked in brand identity and design in my work in the last 20 years, so what could I do to provide a simple but effective visual statement I wondered?

I like the First Nation flag and this has the symbology of many aspects of Indian heritage in that. So that was an inspiration, heritage.

I remember from years back looking at versions of the early US flags and seeing the variety of the designs.

For me, a flag has to fulfil a basic shopping list, it has to be colourful, has to have impact and I find the best ones have simplicity. A 'too visually busy' flag distracts the eye.

So a flag for the Thunderbird nation? Had to be a Thunderbird but with some connectivity to the 50 state flag so that the association with the country it came from was obvious but different.

I put together a couple of ideas that might be attractive and have the impact I would find would be fitting the brief, one with stars and one without. It was tricky to fit the stars on and I did it by eye, not by measuring! So apologies if some are not quite right.

I hope that these might be something that might be usable.

A thought on those of you who make items for sale, I have a number of years of experience in marketing , business development and sales and my concern is that the Indian crafters should have some sort of brand symbol that reinforces the statement that this item was made by someone with the heritage of many generations and is therefore authentic and not a copy made elsewhere. Perhaps this design might fit that requirement?

Of course buying directly from the maker is one guarantee, but this icon might help to reinforce the heritage. I like the fact that somebody with that heritage has made an item, it has their vibe in it.