UC Santa Barbara

In the 1999 movie Office Space, a waitress is required to wear “15 pieces of flair” (colorful buttons) on her uniform.  She is instructed that they should show her personality and that this was an opportunity to express herself.  We live in a culture where we are surrounded by such symbols and where this type of visual communication is commonplace.  Not surprisingly, the “flair” style of symbolic expression not only permeates our daily lives, but also has become commonplace in the formal system of symbolism used within the US government.  The flags, seals, logos and other graphical emblems used throughout the government are awash with a plethora of symbols which are frequently combined with the intent of communicating something about the agency or program they represent.  This paper will examine one small subset of these symbols -- the crew patches designed for Space Shuttle missions by their crews.  It will examine the variety of symbols used, with special emphasis on the use of flags as “flair”.