Minnesota flag commission chair defends final design, shares what experience was like

After combing through some 2,000 submissions, enduring weeks of heightened public scrutiny (and memes), Luis Fitch is nearly ready to hang up his hat as chair of the State Emblems Redesign Commission.

Fitch joined Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer the day after the commission announced its final flag design to defend how it arrived at a new one and talk about what surprised him during the process.

“I got in thinking that I was going to help define the flag as a designer,” said Fitch, who is an internationally known artist and founded a Minneapolis branding agency. “The reality is, for me, it was one percent design and 99 percent politics.”

The panel still has to write up and approve its final report to the Legislature. Fitch wouldn’t guess whether there will be a serious effort next year by lawmakers to undo the commission’s pick.

“I have no idea what's going to happen. Again, because I don’t know anything about politics, it’s hard for me to predict anything,” Fitch told Wurzer.

You can hear the full conversation using the audio player above.