Of the many poly flag designs in circulation, none butters my muffin. The pi symbol never hit for me and the infinity/heart symbol is cumbersome, unclear, and cheesy.

There have been oodles of redesigns. In short, I don't like them because they use the infinity heart or they lose the spirit of the original which, while hideous, deserves recognition as the OF.

My \"Polycule\" Redesign

Elements of the Redesign

Colors
Jim Evans' original poly flag design, by his own admission, was made on MS Paint. At that time, the community was more focused on anonymity and obscurity because of social stigma (ew to that). While maybe rudimentary, the thought behind the design still holds value. Here's his original rationale:

The poly pride flag consists of three equal horizontal colored stripes with a symbol in the center of the flag. The colors of the stripes, from top to bottom, are as follows: blue, representing the openness and honesty among all partners with which we conduct our multiple relationships; red, representing love and passion; and black, representing solidarity with those who, though they are open and honest with all participants of their relationships, must hide those relationships from the outside world due to societal pressures.

The symbol in the center of the flag is a gold Greek lowercase letter 'pi', as the first letter of 'polyamory'. The letter's gold color represents the value that we place on the emotional attachment to others, be the relationship friendly or romantic in nature, as opposed to merely primarily physical relationships.

I spent a lot of time selecting hues that feel as bright and present as those chosen by Evans but that have a much more apparent visual harmony with each other.

• Black (#011118) – It's important to me (and to all of us, I think) to have spaces (like this subreddit) where we find the solidarity that is generally absent in the mono world around us. Not a true black, I hope this evolution of the color in the design can show the shadow of stigma lifting for the community.
• Blue (#2B85B8) – Openness and honesty are foundational to the poly experience. A cooler, gentler blue makes that honesty a little easier to take in.
• Red (#FF262E) – Love! Passion! Both great. And this red pushes just slightly in the direction of a coral or salmon to create a more harmonious combination and to remind us that one of the often overlooked benefits of polyamory (and relationships in general) is that they're fun.
• Yellow (#FFF667) – Gold is old. In many cases in our relationships, a small and lovely gift like a vase of buttercups or yellow roses can feel far more valuable than gold. The yellow of the symbol reminds us that we create the value of our emotional attachments.

The Polycule
A new symbol and icon that feels distinctive, fresh and timeless. I wanted to create something that honors the 'love heart' (as "amory" is in our name), but a heart on its own or awkwardly combined with another symbol feels heavy-handed and lackluster. Symbolically, the Polycule works two ways.

1. A ring of five hearts, each representing five core aspects of polyamory: love, openness, honesty, commitment & consent.
2. Just as we do in our relationships, a cluster of hearts stands in communion, distinct individuals that create a larger, cohesive unit (even if that unit is only two hearts big!).

I hope you all like it as much as I do.

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EDIT: Thank you SO MUCH for your feedback and support. I've created SVG vector files of both the flag and the Polycule symbol so you can make this design completely your own and show your pride in polyamory in a way that feels best to you! They're available for download from a Google Drive folder here.