^ yeah, IL's current state flag is terrible.
yet another dumb old "seal on a field" design.
why do so many states go down that stupid, lazy road for their flag designs?
here's a chicago mag article from several years ago about how IL's flag sucks:
The Illinois Flag Is Terrible
this alternative state flag for IL was designed about 100 years ago for the state's centennial, but it was sadly never adopted.
designed by the same dude who designed chicago's awesome flag, the 21 stars represent that IL was the 21st state in the union.
it's perhaps a bit too simplistic, but it's still light years better than IL's current crap-tacular flag.