Alex Tomy
Maine East High School
he/him/his
Student Design: The Harmony Flag
- How does the flag you designed represent who you are and what you care about? (2-3 sentences)
As a whole, the flag is representative of Cook County, the place I’ve lived for the past 15 years of my life. Individually, each part of the flag represents some important part of Cook County; whether it be the blue representative of the police force, Lake Michigan, and sky or the white representing the snow and rivers of Cook County. One element in particular that I really like is the star in the middle, a homage to the iconic star on the Chicago flag. - Why did you decide to join the Flag 2021 competition? (2 sentences)|
A teacher that taught my friends (Om and Jaylen) posted about this competition, and they in turn let me know about it. As someone who has long been interested in graphic design, I was excited to hear about such a unique and rare opportunity so I drafted and submitted a design. - What did you learn about Cook County that surprised you? (1 sentence)
Reading the “Cook County By The Numbers” page helped me learn a lot of surprising facts about Cook County. For example, I was surprised to learn that 1.5 million people received care at Cook County hospitals and there are 9 total regions of the Cook County Forest Preserves. - Tell us a short story about your collaboration with your flag mentor/partner(s). (3-5 sentences)
Working with my mentor, Denny, was very fun and insightful. His feedback improved by design a great deal from what I started with. In one meeting, we were going over alternate colors and I was blown away with how much better the flag looked after a color change suggestion from Denny. Overall, it was a great experience and I hope to maintain a connection with him even after this competition.