Bellingham flag artist believes graphic design can ‘change the course of history’

You may hate it, but you’ve definitely seen it: Bellingham’s city flag. Designed in 2015 by graphic artist Bradley Lockhart, the flag was officially adopted by the city two years later. Lockhart is used to fielding people’s strong feelings about the blue-and-white-waved, green-striped design, but you “can’t throw a rock in Bellingham without seeing it,” he said.

You’ve also seen, and may not know, Lockhart’s other designs — just by walking around downtown.

Design, Lockhart said, “can kind of do everything and anything.” Operating under the studio name Lariat Creative, his artistic efforts spread far and wide — from restaurants, bars, and other small businesses to local bands, university/elementary schools, and even in testifying before the Washington state Legislature.

A lot of his work has taken on social justice themes: Lockhart made a Pride version of the Bellingham flag to raise money for the Sean Humphrey House, he designed a comic for the Camp 210 sweep (one of his “most viewed pieces of art of all time”), and he is currently freelancing for nonprofit Children of the Setting Sun Productions, creating graphics and animations for documentaries and other projects that share Indigenous stories.

“Information is important, knowledge is important. Art and design are the main vehicles for spreading that stuff,” he said. “This stuff can change the course of history.”

Lockhart, 40, who grew up in Whatcom County, credits his career as a graphic designer to his love for playing music and the connections he made doing it.

“I’ve done every version of this place,” Lockhart said of Bellingham. “High school, community college, university, regular jobs, self-employed jobs, in-house jobs, hard jobs, easy jobs. I’ve met so many people, and honestly, most of it is because of music.” 

How music paved the way

With little money, Lockhart got his start designing “crappy little posters” promoting his high school band. Years later, from 2002 to 2009, Lockhart sang for Black Eyes and Neckties, a horror punk rock band. He “flunked out” of his first year at Western Washington University, rode the wave of the band’s success and started taking classes at Whatcom Community College. 

“It was something that I liked and something I was good at,” Lockhart said of design. He graduated from Western in 2011 with a design degree and landed a job at a liquor distribution company south of Seattle.

“I got a lot of free liquor, but it was basically just the most bottom-of-the-barrel thing you could possibly think of to do with a graphic design degree,” Lockhart said. He frequented Bellingham to perform (he’s been in three bands and done one solo project) and focused on freelance design gigs.

Bellingham is full of small-business owners, and Lockhart has ties to more than a few. He designed logos for The Shakedown, The Orion, Comics Place, Red Rum, Wild Buffalo and Redlight — all because he knew the owners through music.

“Everyone eventually needs design, especially entrepreneurs or self-motivated folks,” he said. “If I didn’t meet so many creative people, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.” 

Design can do ‘everything and anything’

In 2015, Lockhart started guest lecturing at local schools. Three years later, he began officially teaching digital illustration to design and art students at Western. Lockhart believes it’s important to “be a leader for these kids, especially because it’s the craziest f—— time in the world to be going to college.”

In the last year, he has noticed a shift in students’ perspectives.

“Tons of nonbinary students and trans students — their country is just actively trying to tell them they don’t exist,” Lockhart said. “They’re like, ‘Why are we learning Photoshop? Why are we learning Illustrator?’”

He invited guest speaker Daniel Quasar, a queer graphic designer from Portland who is best known for their “progress” Pride flag design, to talk to students. 

The progress flag combines various flags into one, representing the LGBTQ+ community with a focus on trans folks, Black and brown people, and an arrow pointing forward to signify a community in progress.

“I’ve heard from people all across the world tell me their stories and tell me how the flag has impacted their life in whatever way, small or large,” Quasar said. “It’s humbling and fascinating and amazing.” 

For students, having someone from the LGBTQ+ community come to their class made an impact, said Quasar, who noticed most questions focused on what it’s like to be queer in the industry. 

“Being queer is a political statement just in and of itself, just by existing,” Quasar told students. “The work that you do as a queer artist is going to have an impact because you are the one doing it. Leverage that because you have great power.” 

Lockhart used the class to remind students that Adobe Illustrator is a tool designers use to reach millions of people, the way Quasar has. Lockhart has noticed social media trends, too, like posting or sharing infographics about the Israel and Gaza conflict to spread information.

“People are creating these really well-designed, beautiful little graphics that are getting shared millions of times. People are swiping through and in a few minutes becoming very informed,” he said.

Flag design and vexillology

Lockhart’s Bellingham flag design was initially created for a Downtown Bellingham Partnership contest, which he won. Its popularity led to an endorsement by the Port and approval from local tribes.

The flag is broken up into four parts: its blue half circle represents Bellingham Bay, the two stars signify Lummi Nation and the Nooksack Tribe, the wavy lines depict Whatcom Falls and four green stripes illustrate the original local towns (Whatcom, Sehome, Bellingham and Fairhaven).

But not everyone liked the flag at first.

“I’ve literally had people who told me, ‘I hated you. I hated the flag,’” he said. “It’s like a ‘Parks and Rec’ episode — put ‘Twilight’ in the time capsule. Anything that’s something that someone slightly disagrees with, they’re gonna be so passionate.”

Vexillology, the study of flags, has five tenets for flag effectiveness: it is simple, uses meaningful symbolism, uses two or three colors, has no lettering and is distinctive.

“We can argue good design/bad design all day,” Lockhart said. But you can’t argue the effectiveness of a flag’s design, he said.

The positive support for the city’s flag is part of what inspired Lockhart to redesign the Washington state one (though he’s not the only person to do so).

“I’m a professional artist, and I can’t draw George Washington from memory,” Lockhart said of the current state flag, which is too detailed and intricate to reproduce, prompting conversations of a redesign in the Legislature.

House Bill 1938 “would create a committee to come up with the redesign by 2028,” according to Washington State Standard, and estimates show the redesign could cost $2.3 million. The bill, in committee in the House, has stirred up controversy, with some Republicans “deriding the bill as ‘un-American.’” 

“I’ve never seen a Washington state flag on a garbage truck. I’ve never seen a Washington state flag tattooed or baked into a cookie or turned into a neon sign or painted as a mural at someone’s home, like all of the hundreds and hundreds of ways people have used the Bellingham flag,” Lockhart said. “They didn’t do it because they were forced to. They did it because they wanted to.”

Lockhart sells his merchandise at nwcornergoods.com. His graphic design work can be found at lariatcreative.com.

Jaya Flanary is CDN’s designer/digital editor; reach her at [email protected]; 360-922-3090 ext. 106.