A new symbol and the fluid pride flag celebrate the diversity and unity of all sexual and gender identities within the LGBTIQA+ community, promoting an inclusive, diverse, and fluid vision of the movement for rights and equality through a new visual system.

Access to Pride Flows Design System

Design System Configurator

  • A research project through design conceived by the Toormix design and branding agency, aiming to investigate the symbols and graphic codes of the LGBTIQA+ movement(1) and sexual and gender dissidences(2).

    The goal is to reflect the richness of all identities through a new graphic system that is identifiable, multiple, and adaptable.

    This project explores the boundaries and confluences between different groups and identities, as well as their combinations, orientations, and gender questionings present among people who identify within the LGBTIQA+ community. It seeks to design a visual system that can unify diverse struggles under a new inclusive symbol, open to everyone, free to use, flexible, and customizable.

    In a political and social context where extreme conservative positions are gaining followers, the economic system seeks to profit from the use of LGBTIQA+ symbols, and states use them for self-promotion. We believed that an exercise of this nature could be interesting to reflect on the rights of sexual and gender dissidents and thus celebrate June 28th, LGBTIQA+ Pride Day.

  • The project begins by studying the multiple flags designed throughout history to make each identity within the LGBTIQA+ community visible.

    This diversity has led to the use of various languages and symbols which, although rich and representative, can sometimes appear fragmented and potentially divide the movement’s symbolism, possibly weakening it. The struggle for LGBTIQA+ rights and sexual and gender dissidences has been expressed over recent decades through a wide range of iconographies and multiple rainbow flags, combining various colors according to the expressed identity. This underscores the need for a unified representation that not only respects all this diversity but also integrates it coherently and visibly, allowing for the visualization of group and individual identity through a system that simplifies intricate designs into a more streamlined, functional, and flexible approach.

    The project addresses both the identities and orientations represented by people in the LGBTIQA+ community and sexual and gender dissidences in general, highlighting not only the diversity of experiences but also the resistances and movements seeking to transform social and political structures that perpetuate discrimination and marginalization.

    We know this is a sensitive topic with diverse viewpoints. There will surely be favorable opinions, more critical ones, and indifferent ones as well. However, from our professional practice, we wanted to conduct a special exploratory exercise for Pride Day 2024 and contribute our bit to this celebration by making a lot of resources available to everyone. We recognize we’re venturing into controversial territory, but we consider it more important to spark conversation and embrace challenges than to shy away. And we love our profession 🙂

  • The main goal is to create a common visual universe that unites different identities and causes through a systematized and shared visual environment.

    We aim to develop an ordered, flexible, adaptive, and customizable graphic system that brings diverse movements together under the same umbrella and facilitates their growth. This involves using a shared language and collaborating to integrate all these efforts under one flag or flag system, similar to how the Wiphala was used for indigenous movements in South America.

    The key questions guiding this project are:

    • “Could we create a simplified, common design system to help unify the various identities within the LGBTIQA+ community and sexual and gender dissidence under a single, streamlined graphic framework?”
    • “Could we build a system in which all groups feel comfortable and which facilitates identification for people both inside and outside the community?”
    • “Could a single graphic system provide a solution for global representation of the entire spectrum while also having the ability to illustrate just one specific identity or even a combination of two?”
    • “Can we create a symbol that combines the same graphic exercise and can have a broader application beyond flags?”

    This version maintains the core meaning while reducing repetition and varying the language used to describe the concepts.

  • We start with the Stonewall riots that took place in the early hours of June 28, 1969, in New York, when police raided the “gay” bar Stonewall Inn, frequented by people from the LGBTIQA+ community

    We understand the community including gay and trans individuals, Black people, and others who at that time were on the margins of society. The resistance and confrontations that followed, led in part by trans figures like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, lasted several days and marked a turning point in the LGBTIQA+ rights movement, catalyzing the formation of numerous activist groups and the beginning of the modern gay liberation movement. In 1978, following the assassination of activist Harvey Milk, artist Gilbert Baker, along with Lynn Segerblom and James McNamara among others, designed the first rainbow flag as a symbol of hope and diversity for the LGBTIQA+ community. Both events are extremely relevant in the history of the struggle for the rights of people in the LGBTIQA+ community or sexual and gender dissidence, as Stonewall inspired modern activism within these identities, and the rainbow flag became a global emblem of pride and solidarity. Since then, many versions of flags and symbols have been incorporated into the movement’s iconography.

  • We analyzed various flags and symbols that have emerged over time to identify the struggles for equal rights and treatment of people under the umbrella of sexual and gender identity

    We start from the rainbow flag created in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, Lynn Segerblom, and James McNamara among others, up to the most recent versions. Among the adaptations of the rainbow flag that we have considered most important and that have had a more significant impact on the LGBTIQA+ community are the following:

    • The Philadelphia flag (2017) adds black and brown stripes to the traditional rainbow flag to recognize and make visible Black and people of color within the LGBTIQA+ community, highlighting the importance of intersectionality (3) and the fight against racism within the movement.
    • Daniel Quasar’s “Progress Pride Flag” (2018) incorporates a chevron (5) with black and brown stripes, along with blue, pink, and white stripes, to represent Black, people of color, trans, and non-binary individuals, symbolizing progress towards greater inclusion and equity within the LGBTIQA+ community, and emphasizing the need to continually advance rights and visibility.
    • The Pride and Social Justice flag by queer activist Moulee (2018) integrates various symbols representing multiple identities and struggles within and outside the LGBTIQA+ community with the purpose of uniting the LGBTIQA+ struggle with social justice in general, recognizing that oppressions based on gender identity and sexual orientation are linked to other forms of discrimination such as racism and classism, promoting an intersectional understanding of oppression and resistance.
    • Valentino Vecchietti’s “Unity Pride Flag” (2021) adds a yellow triangle with a purple circle to the “Progress Pride Flag” with the purpose of including and making visible intersex people within the LGBTIQA+ community, addressing intersectionality and underlining the need to recognize all identities and experiences in the struggle for rights and visibility.

  • After analyzing the flags that have had the most significant impact as symbols of the LGBTIQA+ community’s struggle, we believe it was necessary to make decisions to include all meanings and identities in a single visual system and language.

    To achieve this, we decided to test the following elements:

    • The use of gradients to break rigid boundaries between identities, symbolizing the fluidity and intersectionality of gender and sexuality experiences. Their use is intended to represent the different layers of identity, allowing a smooth transition between different aspects of gender and sexuality, breaking boundaries and allowing each person to adjust their point of intersection.
    • The use of gradients allows for an inclusive and adaptive representation that resembles the spectrum of the rainbow in nature, where color bands intertwine.
    • A simplified system of only two stripes is developed (which simplifies the concept of stripes to its maximum expression and also resembles the equal sign =) to create the base grid structure of the flags. These two stripes symbolize the base of the rainbow from its beginning to its end, considering the color directions in “unique” identities and allowing the creation of combinations of “different” rainbows for complex identities and complete versions. This decision allows combining identity characteristics in a single flag. For example, a trans lesbian person could combine the trans flag on the top and the lesbian flag on the bottom.
    • The use of stripes allows us to combine and specify identities, but also to create a common visual universe despite the uniqueness of each resulting flag. In this sense, we have inclusive flags that use the entire color spectrum of each identity, and at the same time, the same system allows illustrating just one of them or a combination of two.
  • Intro

    A research project through design conceived by the Toormix design and branding agency, aiming to investigate the symbols and graphic codes of the LGBTIQA+ movement(1) and sexual and gender dissidences(2).

    The goal is to reflect the richness of all identities through a new graphic system that is identifiable, multiple, and adaptable.

    This project explores the boundaries and confluences between different groups and identities, as well as their combinations, orientations, and gender questionings present among people who identify within the LGBTIQA+ community. It seeks to design a visual system that can unify diverse struggles under a new inclusive symbol, open to everyone, free to use, flexible, and customizable.

    In a political and social context where extreme conservative positions are gaining followers, the economic system seeks to profit from the use of LGBTIQA+ symbols, and states use them for self-promotion. We believed that an exercise of this nature could be interesting to reflect on the rights of sexual and gender dissidents and thus celebrate June 28th, LGBTIQA+ Pride Day.

  • Challenge

    The project begins by studying the multiple flags designed throughout history to make each identity within the LGBTIQA+ community visible.

    This diversity has led to the use of various languages and symbols which, although rich and representative, can sometimes appear fragmented and potentially divide the movement’s symbolism, possibly weakening it. The struggle for LGBTIQA+ rights and sexual and gender dissidences has been expressed over recent decades through a wide range of iconographies and multiple rainbow flags, combining various colors according to the expressed identity. This underscores the need for a unified representation that not only respects all this diversity but also integrates it coherently and visibly, allowing for the visualization of group and individual identity through a system that simplifies intricate designs into a more streamlined, functional, and flexible approach.

    The project addresses both the identities and orientations represented by people in the LGBTIQA+ community and sexual and gender dissidences in general, highlighting not only the diversity of experiences but also the resistances and movements seeking to transform social and political structures that perpetuate discrimination and marginalization.

    We know this is a sensitive topic with diverse viewpoints. There will surely be favorable opinions, more critical ones, and indifferent ones as well. However, from our professional practice, we wanted to conduct a special exploratory exercise for Pride Day 2024 and contribute our bit to this celebration by making a lot of resources available to everyone. We recognize we’re venturing into controversial territory, but we consider it more important to spark conversation and embrace challenges than to shy away. And we love our profession 🙂

  • Objective

    The main goal is to create a common visual universe that unites different identities and causes through a systematized and shared visual environment.

    We aim to develop an ordered, flexible, adaptive, and customizable graphic system that brings diverse movements together under the same umbrella and facilitates their growth. This involves using a shared language and collaborating to integrate all these efforts under one flag or flag system, similar to how the Wiphala was used for indigenous movements in South America.

    The key questions guiding this project are:

    • “Could we create a simplified, common design system to help unify the various identities within the LGBTIQA+ community and sexual and gender dissidence under a single, streamlined graphic framework?”
    • “Could we build a system in which all groups feel comfortable and which facilitates identification for people both inside and outside the community?”
    • “Could a single graphic system provide a solution for global representation of the entire spectrum while also having the ability to illustrate just one specific identity or even a combination of two?”
    • “Can we create a symbol that combines the same graphic exercise and can have a broader application beyond flags?”

    This version maintains the core meaning while reducing repetition and varying the language used to describe the concepts.

  • Context

    We start with the Stonewall riots that took place in the early hours of June 28, 1969, in New York, when police raided the “gay” bar Stonewall Inn, frequented by people from the LGBTIQA+ community

    We understand the community including gay and trans individuals, Black people, and others who at that time were on the margins of society. The resistance and confrontations that followed, led in part by trans figures like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, lasted several days and marked a turning point in the LGBTIQA+ rights movement, catalyzing the formation of numerous activist groups and the beginning of the modern gay liberation movement. In 1978, following the assassination of activist Harvey Milk, artist Gilbert Baker, along with Lynn Segerblom and James McNamara among others, designed the first rainbow flag as a symbol of hope and diversity for the LGBTIQA+ community. Both events are extremely relevant in the history of the struggle for the rights of people in the LGBTIQA+ community or sexual and gender dissidence, as Stonewall inspired modern activism within these identities, and the rainbow flag became a global emblem of pride and solidarity. Since then, many versions of flags and symbols have been incorporated into the movement’s iconography.

  • Analysis

    We analyzed various flags and symbols that have emerged over time to identify the struggles for equal rights and treatment of people under the umbrella of sexual and gender identity

    We start from the rainbow flag created in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, Lynn Segerblom, and James McNamara among others, up to the most recent versions. Among the adaptations of the rainbow flag that we have considered most important and that have had a more significant impact on the LGBTIQA+ community are the following:

    • The Philadelphia flag (2017) adds black and brown stripes to the traditional rainbow flag to recognize and make visible Black and people of color within the LGBTIQA+ community, highlighting the importance of intersectionality (3) and the fight against racism within the movement.
    • Daniel Quasar’s “Progress Pride Flag” (2018) incorporates a chevron (5) with black and brown stripes, along with blue, pink, and white stripes, to represent Black, people of color, trans, and non-binary individuals, symbolizing progress towards greater inclusion and equity within the LGBTIQA+ community, and emphasizing the need to continually advance rights and visibility.
    • The Pride and Social Justice flag by queer activist Moulee (2018) integrates various symbols representing multiple identities and struggles within and outside the LGBTIQA+ community with the purpose of uniting the LGBTIQA+ struggle with social justice in general, recognizing that oppressions based on gender identity and sexual orientation are linked to other forms of discrimination such as racism and classism, promoting an intersectional understanding of oppression and resistance.
    • Valentino Vecchietti’s “Unity Pride Flag” (2021) adds a yellow triangle with a purple circle to the “Progress Pride Flag” with the purpose of including and making visible intersex people within the LGBTIQA+ community, addressing intersectionality and underlining the need to recognize all identities and experiences in the struggle for rights and visibility.
  • System

    After analyzing the flags that have had the most significant impact as symbols of the LGBTIQA+ community’s struggle, we believe it was necessary to make decisions to include all meanings and identities in a single visual system and language.

    To achieve this, we decided to test the following elements:

    • The use of gradients to break rigid boundaries between identities, symbolizing the fluidity and intersectionality of gender and sexuality experiences. Their use is intended to represent the different layers of identity, allowing a smooth transition between different aspects of gender and sexuality, breaking boundaries and allowing each person to adjust their point of intersection.
    • The use of gradients allows for an inclusive and adaptive representation that resembles the spectrum of the rainbow in nature, where color bands intertwine.
    • A simplified system of only two stripes is developed (which simplifies the concept of stripes to its maximum expression and also resembles the equal sign =) to create the base grid structure of the flags. These two stripes symbolize the base of the rainbow from its beginning to its end, considering the color directions in “unique” identities and allowing the creation of combinations of “different” rainbows for complex identities and complete versions. This decision allows combining identity characteristics in a single flag. For example, a trans lesbian person could combine the trans flag on the top and the lesbian flag on the bottom.
    • The use of stripes allows us to combine and specify identities, but also to create a common visual universe despite the uniqueness of each resulting flag. In this sense, we have inclusive flags that use the entire color spectrum of each identity, and at the same time, the same system allows illustrating just one of them or a combination of two.

The project concludes that it is possible to develop a visual system that unifies the collective struggles in an inclusive and fluid manner with a new flag and a new symbol.

  • The Fluid Pride Flag

    A new flag proposal to visually represent the various struggles of the LGBTIQA+ community and sexual and gender dissidences without defined stripes, where the colors of all these flow and blend together.

    The Fluid Pride Flag

    A proposal for a flag that visually represents the various struggles of the LGBTIQA+ community and sexual and gender dissidences without stripes defined by a single color, where different shades flow and blend together, creating a continuous spectrum that symbolizes the interconnected and fluid nature of all of them. This representation seeks to encompass the widest possible spectrum of people and in which everyone can feel included. The use of fused colors is proposed to reflect how traditional boundaries blur and how an inclusive and intersectional vision of diversity is reflected. The lack of limited and independent color stripes represents how experiences and identities are not rigid but intertwine and support each other.

    The arrangement of colors and their continuous flow promotes an intersectional vision, showing how different aspects and layers that define identity overlap and influence each other. The Fluid Pride Flag celebrates the diversity and unity of all sexual and gender identities within the LGBTIQA+ community, promoting an inclusive, diverse, and fluid vision of the struggle for rights and equality.

    Read

  • The symbol of your fight

    The rainbow in its simplest form, which is also the sign of equality folded into a double arc. A clear and simple identity that, at the same time, transforms by adapting the gradient color of each struggle or all of them at once.

    The symbol of your fight

    As a final reflection of the research process, we asked ourselves if it would be worthwhile to create an icon and a symbol to help us visualize the struggle and identify ourselves. We believed that it could be valuable to create a symbol akin to a “brand,” not for commercial purposes, but to create an iconographic identification. For example, the antifascist struggle has its circle with two flags waving, personalized according to the type of resistance; why shouldn’t the fight for LGBTIQA+ rights have a symbol that identifies and unifies it under a “logo”? This symbol could be common but should be equally adaptable, depending on the struggle to be visualized and defended. With this, we aim to open the debate based on the work done in this research project around design.

    Starting from the premise that it would be worthwhile, we wondered what this symbol could be and how it could be visualized. At this point, we thought it would be worthwhile to look back and refer again to the rainbow, as it is the original symbol of the struggle, but seeking a more iconic visualization and reducing it to its minimal expression (two stripes) to aid its applicability, reducibility, and iconic sense. By geometrizing and synthesizing the rainbow to the minimum necessary stripes, the symbol will have two sections, allowing for the combination of identities.

    At this point, and to conclude, we propose “folding” the flags we have designed with two stripes and shaping them into an arc, a semicircle as a maximum synthesis of the rainbow, allowing people to create a personal rainbow representing their struggle and dissident identity. This personalization would give us a symbol that helps us identify beyond flags and can even be applied without color.

    Read

This project, developed by the Toormix team, 85% of whom identify as LGBTIQA+, was validated through a process of exchanging opinions with other identities. It is not a definitive proposal but an open research and reflection project using design tools to offer a new perspective on the debate about flags and the systematization of symbols of the movement.

Collaborate

Since we consider this a living project that can and should evolve to include as many identities as possible, we encourage you to share your opinions or suggestions by emailing hello@prideflows.org. Feel free to use, print, or share the various flags or the project with friends, family, and allies.

Happy Pride to all!

Downloads

All symbols and flags can be used under a Creative Commons (CC) license for non-commercial use and in defense of LGBTIQA+ rights

Glossary

    Colors

  • Black

    Recognizes the experiences and struggles of Black people within the community, emphasizing the importance of intersectionality and the fight against racism.

  • Brown

    Highlights racial and cultural diversity, giving prominence to people of diverse color within the LGBTIQA+ collective.

  • Purple

    Represents the intersex community, symbolically meaning the integrity and wholeness of intersex people.

  • Red

    Symbolizes love and life, representing the vitality and passion of the LGBTIQA+ community.

  • Orange

    Represents healing and sunlight, evoking energy and optimism.

  • Yellow

    Represents sunlight and vitality, symbolizing happiness and positivity. Represents identities outside the binary.

  • Light Green

    Evokes growth and renewal, represents hope and energy.

  • Green

    Evokes nature and vitality, representing connection with the earth and well-being.

  • Light Blue

    Is the color of traditional masculinity and represents trans and non-binary people, while also symbolizing peace and serenity.

  • Blue

    Represents harmony and trust, evoking tranquility and security.

  • Violet

    Is the combination of femininity and masculinity and symbolizes spirit and unity, representing strength and community.

  • Lavender

    Represents diversity and inclusion, symbolizing the blend of classic concepts of femininity and masculinity, as well as their eradication.

  • Pink

    Is the color of traditional femininity and represents trans and non-binary people. Celebrates femininity and the trans struggle, representing love and compassion.

  • White

    Represents non-binary identities, gender neutrality, and multigender people. Symbolizes purity, inclusivity, and acceptance.

  • Grey

    Represents asexual and agender identities, demisexuality, symbolizing neutrality and indifference towards gender.

    Concepts

  • (1) LGBTIQA+

    An acronym representing lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, intersex, queer, and asexual individuals, along with other identities and orientations not explicitly mentioned, through the inclusion of the “+” sign. This term encompasses the diversity of experiences and lives of those whose sexual and gender identities do not conform to traditional heteronormative and cisnormative standards. While LGBTIQA+ is one of the most inclusive acronyms to date, recognizing a wide range of identities and orientations, the field continues to evolve, and new terms or expansions may emerge to be even more inclusive and representative of human diversity.

  • (2) Sexual and Gender Dissidence

    This refers to the resistance and challenge to societal norms and expectations imposed on sexuality and gender identity. It encompasses the fight for visibility, recognition, and respect for various identities and orientations that do not conform to predominant heteronormativity and cisnormativity. It includes those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, asexual, and other non-conforming identities, and seeks to move beyond merely obtaining legal rights to deeply transforming social and political structures that perpetuate discrimination and marginalization. Sexual and gender dissidence promotes the creation of inclusive spaces and the development of theoretical and experiential approaches that question and confront imposed norms, proposing ruptures and transformations in the social and political order.

  • (3) Intersectionality

    This is the theory and study of overlapping social identities and the various systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination affecting each. It examines how different biological, social, and cultural categories such as age, gender, ethnicity, class, special abilities, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, caste, and nationality interact at multiple levels and simultaneously define one’s identity. The theory proposes that each element or trait of a person must be thought of as inextricably linked to all other elements to fully understand a person’s identity, using this multidimensional framework to understand how systematic injustice and social inequality occur.

  • (4) Pink Triangle

    In Nazi concentration and extermination camps, the pink triangle was used to identify homosexual prisoners (primarily men). These individuals were persecuted under this regime due to their sexual orientation, which was seen as a threat to the Aryan ideal. Prisoners had to wear the pink triangle on their uniforms to be easily identified, subjecting them to additional brutality and discrimination by guards and other prisoners. The pink triangle has since become a symbol of the struggle against the oppression and discrimination of LGBTIQA+ people, reclaimed and transformed into an emblem of pride and resistance.

  • (5) Chevron

    A figure in the shape of an inverted “V,” similar to an acute angle. In heraldry and design, it is commonly used as a distinctive symbol and can point up or down. In the context of flags and symbols, a chevron can be used to add a significant visual element, such as in Daniel Quasar’s “Progress Pride Flag,” where the chevron points to the right, symbolizing progress and inclusion.

  • (6) Intersex Circle

    The circle is a symbol used to represent intersex people, designed by Morgan Carpenter in 2013. Purple in color on a yellow background, it symbolizes the integrity and wholeness of intersex people, without the need for unnecessary medical intervention. This symbol seeks to raise visibility and affirm intersex diversity, promoting respect and acceptance of natural variations in the human body.