In the heart of Old Glory‘s overarching concept is the idea that the symbolism of the American flag is full of contradictions. “It was planted on the moon, but it was also used by rioters during the January 6th protests in 2021,” Harry adds. “In some cases, it represents hope and prosperity, and in other cases, it represents despair and tyranny; but for some, January 6th also represented hope and prosperity — confusing and contradictory, right?” Naturally, the project’s imagery reflects this ambiguity, with images of Nicki Minaj saluting the flag alongside shots of military trucks with the flag on their roofs. The flag has come to stand for nationalism, militarism, democracy, pop culture, and a million other things depending on your perspective and personal beliefs.

The images are accompanied by detailed text passages that offer informed insights into the subject, with Harry explaining that this writing was taken from his previous studies: “My dissertation used critical theories to explore how places like art galleries or military bases shape the meaning of the flag, and conveniently left me with over 5,000 words of written content to use – a graphic designer’s dream.” Coupled with the images, the text offers snapshots of the subject that readers can peruse in any order, and all of this content is presented on cotton US stationery.

Little details like these were important to Harry when creating Old Glory and he recalls that he “went to extremes to get nerdy with the reasoning.” For example, when working on the layout, he used only inch measurements and a 13-column grid to reference the 13 stripes on the flag. He also chose red, white, and blue as the color palette for the project and selected Gotham (a typeface used in political campaigns since John F. Kennedy in 1960) and ABC Diatype as his fonts. “GT America by Grilli Type was obviously a very good contender, but I had to make a visual compromise,” he adds.