Switzerland

Specification

The national flag is unusual among sovereign-state flags because its field is square. The white cross sits at the center without touching the edges. Swiss federal visual guidance defines the cross through proportional construction rather than a font or glyph.

Reference colors

Construction notes

Begin with a square field. Center the cross on both axes. Its four equal arms form a Greek cross, and the horizontal and vertical limbs use the same width. For production work, consult current federal corporate design guidance before treating a screen color as a manufacturing standard.

Historical record

The white cross on red developed from Swiss military and cantonal traditions. The modern proportions were settled by federal decree in 1889. The closely related Swiss maritime ensign is rectangular, so it should not be substituted for the square national flag.

Source trail

This starter record is structured around Swiss Confederation flag and corporate design guidance. A later editorial pass will add document-level citations, archived editions, and a change chronology.

Specimen description

The specimen has a square red field with a centered, upright white cross. Its four equal arms extend upward, downward, left and right. The cross is free-standing: none of its arms reaches the flag’s edges, and red surrounds it on every side. This describes the existing illustration without replacing its artwork or provenance. The centered cross and square format are also described by Presence Switzerland.

What the 7:6 measurement means

The 7:6 relation describes the length and width of each projecting arm of the cross. Measure an arm outward from the edge of the central square to its tip, rather than from the center of the cross. An arm seven units long is six units wide. All four arms have the same dimensions. This explains the requirement that each arm be one-sixth longer than it is wide, described by Presence Switzerland.

The arm relation is separate from the square field’s 1:1 ratio. It does not, by itself, specify the overall cross size relative to the flag or the margins between the cross and the field’s edges. The imported construction notes should therefore not be treated as a complete production specification. No additional field dimensions, margin measurements or customary manufacturing proportions are asserted here; those require separately verified guidance.

Scope of the 1889 specification

The Swiss Federal Archives, in “The time after 1798,” dates the federal resolution defining the national emblem’s cross dimensions to 12 December 1889. Its account describes equal arms, each one-sixth longer than wide, on a free-standing white cross.

Read the imported “Form established: 1889” and “modern proportions” statements in that limited sense: the resolution concerns the emblem and its cross dimensions. They should not be read as establishing a complete flag manufacturing specification or as an unqualified national-flag adoption date. The square flag format is separately supported by Presence Switzerland’s description. The historical citation here is to the Federal Archives’ account, not to an independently examined original decree.

Screen color references

The imported swatches display red as HEX #DA291C / RGB 218, 41, 28 and white as HEX #FFFFFF / RGB 255, 255, 255. These are screen-rendering references for this record.

The retained provenance for artwork asset_2a9f7ae9c57e88e278706a45 describes a Pantone 485 rendering. That description does not establish the displayed RGB values as a universal manufacturing standard. The supplied asset and legacy source trail do not document print processes, textile dyes, substrates or production tolerances. No official print or textile specification is added here, and the existing artwork, credit, licensing description and source URL remain unchanged.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Swiss flag square, and why might I see a rectangular version?

The national flag described by this record is square, with a 1:1 hoist-to-fly ratio. Switzerland also has a rectangular maritime ensign, so a rectangular version may represent that distinct flag. Presence Switzerland describes the square national flag and discusses the maritime exception under “A few exceptions”. No maritime ratio or additional usage rules are specified here.

Verified references supplementing the imported source trail

• Presence Switzerland, “Swiss flag” — Characteristics: square field, centered cross and arm proportions.
• Swiss Federal Archives, “White on Red: the Swiss Cross” — The time after 1798: account of the 1889 resolution and cross dimensions.
• Presence Switzerland, “The Swiss flag – a plus for the country” — A few exceptions: rectangular maritime flag. Used here only for that distinction, not its historical dates.