NEW South Dakota State Flag????

South Dakota is talking about adopting a "new: state flag, as the "old" state flag isn't really much of a flag at all, simply the state seal on a blue background with a little sunburst behind it. Spearfish artist Dick Termes designed the flag that is currently being voted on, this design:

I thinks its a great design, its simple, easy to see and recognize from a distance, makes use of a simple yet distinguished color palette and carries a fair amount of symbolism that is of cultural significance to the state.

Note: this is my rendition of Mr. Termes design. The intellectual property is his, I've just done some redesigns. None of this is meant as a challenge to his work yada yada legalese basically I'm not claiming I did anything other than change a few things for the sake of discussion and illustration.

After hearing a few criticisms of the design, I took it into my image editor and played around with it. One criticism was that the medicine wheel in the center was at the wrong angle and that without the colors of the four directions it loses some of its meaning, so here is my first idea:

Unfortunately, it starts to get a little busy with all the colors right in the middle, maybe if we tried moving the colors out to the field?

Now that is distinctive... but unless I change the color of the medicine wheel, its going to look like we are the state of X-men! I also kind of miss the blue field, which reminds me of the beautiful clear blue skies in South Dakota. 

But what is the most important thing this state has to offer?

Short answer:

Me.

So lets give this puppy a REVELCAL makeover: 

Theeeeere we go, much better. You know something is missing, and that big green ring seems to be just calling out for something...what is it? Oh I know! 

GOATSE'D.

But seriously, there were a lot of suggestions as to what should and shouldn't be on our flag, so I listened to popular opinion and I think I've come up with a flag that South Dakotans will be able to vote into use, unanimously. 

Pay me now, you can thank me later.