The emblem on the flag is coloured white; it is a depiction of the world map in the azimuthal equidistant projection (centred on the North Pole and the International Date Line), surrounded by a pair of olive branches.

The emblem depicts a azimuthal equidistant projection of the world map, centred on the North Pole, with the globe being orientated to the International Date Line.

The azimuthal equidistant projection used in his design was heavily influenced by the maps created during World War II by Richard Edes Harrison, a popular cartographer working for Fortune and Life.[6][7].

The blue that appears in the background of the insignia was chosen to be "the opposite of red, the war colour",[8] although the exact shade has never been officially specified by the United Nations.

The projection that was used cut off portions of the Southern Hemisphere below 40 degrees south latitude, because that's where the Rand McNally map used as a model cut off, and the designers did not have time to find another map;[1] this was considered acceptable because Argentina, Chile and New Zealand were not yet planned to be members of the United Nations.

According to official explanations, the change was made to represent countries "as far as possible in their proper relationship to the cardinal points"[1] and "so the east and west were in balance".