We bet you didn't spot that France has changed its flag design

It's seriously rare to see a country change its flag, especially without announcing it to the world. But it seems France's recent flag modification has slipped under everyone's radar for a whole year. 

The blue on France's flag has been reverted back to its original shade of navy to honour the French Revolution. The change was initiated by President Emmanuel Macron last year when flags featuring its new navy shade were hoisted up at the presidential palace. The blue shade was originally changed to a lighter blue in 1976 to match the EU flag. (Looking for inspiration? Check out our guide to colour theory.)

It's hard to spot if you haven't got the two flags sitting next to each other, but if you properly squint you might be able to discern the difference between the two (it's hardly as exciting as when someone turned the Union Jack into an optical illusion, we agree).

According to euronews, the changing of the flags was only announced to the public via the book, Elysée Confidentiel. The book goes on to explain that Macron describes the lighter, EU-inspired flag as "not the real French Flag". "The President of the Republic [Emmanuel Macron] has chosen for the tricolour flags that adorn the Élysée Palace the navy blue that evokes the imagination of the Volunteers of Year II, the Poilus of 1914 and the Compagnons de la Libération of Free France," the book reveals.

The news has unsurprisingly spread like a wildfire, and plenty of people are talking about Macon's sneaky switch. Many people have taken to Twitter to flag up their feelings, with one user calling the new flag, "ugly", whereas another user conversely tweeted,  "The new French flag slaps". 

While it would have been fascinating to see a brand new design, this almost imperceptible change will have to do. If you want to have a go at coming up with your own flag design on Photoshop, then why not check out our top Adobe Creative Cloud discount page – and be sure to take a look at today's best Creative Cloud deals below.

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