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House Style Flag (The Netherlands)

image located by Dave Fowler, 25 January 2018

Flag

See also:

Flag

Wim Schuurman has informed me that this is a generic flag for Dutch governmental agencies.
Dave Fowler, 26 January 2018

This is indeed the flag of the Royal government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (generic).

The logo is called the Rijkslogo and has been in use since 2008. It was designed by Studio Dumbar (official website: https://studiodumbar.com).
The type font is Rijksoverheid Serif (for written display when having the title of a a government office).
Here's the complete set of elements that make up the logo: https://www.rijkshuisstijl.nl/basiselementen
The colors are seen here: https://www.rijkshuisstijl.nl/basiselementen/kleur/logokleuren
Logo specifications are found here: https://www.rijkshuisstijl.nl/basiselementen/logo/specificaties-logo
The Heraldic explanation and background is found here: https://www.rijkshuisstijl.nl/basiselementen/documenten/verzamelingen-afbeeldingen/2014/06/01/achtergrondartikel-heraldiek-en-ons-logo
Source: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijkslogo
Esteban Rivera, 26 January 2018

As I reported earlier, this blue and white flag is for every department of the central Netherlands government. All flags (and emblems) that were in use, will gradually disappear and be replaced with this new flag. There are five different shades of blue in the new flags.
Maxim van Ooijen, 24 Oct 2009

From http://nl.rgnbrandidentityservices.com/news/rijksoverheid/:
4 January 2011 - One government, one logo

In 2000 the then prime minister Balkenende presented the State logo. The logo was developed as replacement for 175 logo's of various participating ministries and governmental services, with the main objective to give the national government one recognisable face. The deadline for government-wide rebranding was 1 January 2011.

The logo is implemented as a dark blue ribbon with the National arms modern on it near the lower end, usually on a white background. For flags it's placed on the white of a flag with a 3rd white at the hoist and 2/3rd usually light blue in the fly. For unexplained reasons, however, sometimes several such flags will fly in a row, with each subsequent flag using a darker shade of blue. The same source shows an example of this in the top corner, a thumbnail clickable for a full-size picture showing a row of four.

The House Style Flag
Looking around a bit further - well: quite a bit - lead me to this: https://www.rijkshuisstijl.nl/communicatiemiddelen/bewegwijzering/vlaggen. It's the page of the government about flags. It's recognisably a page of the government because it bears the State logo. I don't know what part of the government publishes it, though, as it bears the State logo.

(Translation below)
"Vlaggen

De huisstijlvlag is de corporate vlag van alle departementen en diensten. Er mag iedere dag mee worden gevlagd. De vlag gebruik je als een soort gebouwmarkering. Maar de huisstijlvlag is ondergeschikt aan officiële vlaggen, zoals de Nederlandse vlag.

Vlakverdeling vlag
De huisstijlvlag bestaat uit 3 vaste basiselementen: een wit vlak, een kleurvlak en het beeldmerk. Er staan geen woordmerken op de vlag.

* vlakverdeling rechtformaat vlag
De vlag bestaat uit 3 gelijke vlakken. Het vlak aan de stokzijde is wit en bevat het beeldmerk.
* vlakverdeling hoogformaat vlak
De hoogformaat vlag bestaat uit 2 gelijke vlakken. Het vlak aan de bovenkant is wit en bevat het beeldmerk. Het vlak aan de onderkant is in hoogte te verlengen.

Het beeldmerk

Binnen het witte vlak staat het beeldmerk op een centrale positie.
[Illustration showing wide flags and high flags in 5 shades of blue.]

Formaten

De meest gangbare formaten van de huisstijlvlaggen zijn:

* rechtformaat vlag van 150 x 225 cm
* rechtformaat vlag van 200 x 300 cm
* hoogformaat vlag van 300 x 100 cm

Andere formaten zijn mogelijk zolang de verhoudingen (1:3 of 2:3) gelijk blijven.
Kleuren vlag

De kleurvlakken op de vlaggen zijn altijd in de 5 logokleuren . De keuze van de logokleur hangt af van het aantal dat tegelijkertijd wordt gevlagd:

* 1 vlag
blauw 1, 2 of 3
* 2 vlaggen
blauw 1, 2, 3 of 4 met op- of aflopende kleur
* 3 vlaggen
blauw 1, 2, 3 of 4 met op- of aflopende kleur
* 4 vlaggen
blauw 1, blauw 2, blauw 3, blauw 4
* 5 vlaggen
blauw 1, blauw 2, blauw 3, blauw 4, blauw 5
* 6 of meer vlaggen
een combinatie van de reeks hierboven. Elke kleur moet minimaal één keer worden gebruikt. Voeg steeds een vlag in op- of aflopende kleur toe."

Which translated as:

Flags

The house style flag is the corporate flag of all departments and service. It can be flown every day. You use the flag as a kind of building mark. But the house style flag is subordinate to official flags, like the Dutch flag.

Layout

The house style flag consists of 3 fixed base elements: a white area, a colour area and the logo. There are no wordmarks on the flag.

* layout straight format flag
De flag consists of 3 equal areas. The area on the staff side is white and contains the logo.
* layout high format flag
The high format flag consists of 2 equal areas. The area on the upper side is white and contains the logo. The area on the lower side can be adjusted in height.

The logo

Inside the white area the logo stands in a central position
[Illustration showing wide flags and high flags in 5 shades of blue.]

Sizes

The most common sizes of the house style flags are:
* straight format flag of 150 x 225 cm
* straight format flag of 200 x 300 cm
* high format flag van 300 x 100 cm

Other sizes are possible as long as the ratios (1:3 or 2:3) remain the same.

Colours flag

The colour areas on the flags are always in the 5 logo colours. The choice of the logo colour depends on the number that is flown at the same time:

* 1 flag
blue 1, 2 or 3
* 2 flags
blue 1, 2, 3 or 4 with colour going up or down
* 3 flags
blue 1, 2, 3 or 4 with colour going up or down
* 4 flags
blue 1, blue 2, blue 3, blue 4
* 5 flags
blue 1, blue 2, blue 3, blue 4, blue 5
* 6 or more flags
a combination of the series above. Each colour has to be used at least once. Always add a flag in a colour going up or down."

(Again, I've been careful to retain the errors, such as the one that tells us the Dutch flag is subordinate to official flags. I probably added some additional errors in translation, but then, it's not an official translation, just an indication of the meaning. This is the reason I included the original. I don't know whether we want all of this on the site, and there may be copyright issues, but it might give a better impression of what is going on.)

There we have it: The flag is called the "House Style Flag", and it the corporate flag of all departments. It has ten versions, of which five are high flags. The description is conflicted and imprecise, but the general idea is clear.

Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 3 March 2018