Dead possum and a lonely Union Jack

Spend the morning in Design Studio III at the University of Auckland's Elam School of Fine Arts and you'll walk away with a good idea of what the future flag of New Zealand might look like - and there's only one Union Jack, on a black background.

"The flag now is too European and doesn't reflect the basis of society - the integration of cultures," says third-year student Jennie Ko.

"There has to be an action taken to make some changes. People need designs to refer to until the right option comes."

The 22 students in the third-year design programme have spent the past month creating just that type of conversation-starter. Their flags include everything from an all black flag with a fern leaf to images that incorporate koru and the southern cross.

Ms Ko, who migrated with her family from South Korea 10 years ago, designed a flag with a white kiwi silhouetted on a green and blue landscape. A koru shape, symbolising rebirth and continuity, appears in the design.

"I thought that was an ideal depiction of what we are as a country," she says.

Senior lecturer Bret de Thier says students such as Miss Ko represent the diverse face of New Zealand. His students hail from a variety of countries, but they have at least one thing in common: "They're all passionate New Zealanders."

He set the assignment after www.nzflag.com publicised plans to call a referendum on changing the flag's southern cross and Union Jack design. But Mr de Thier doesn't want the country to turn its back on the existing flag altogether. "Flags represent history," he says.

Student Julia Scott agrees. "We'll want them to hold on to something from the original," she says. "For many people it's what they've grown up with and to have something completely different - it'd be too abrupt."

Her design shows the southern cross on an angle as it appears in the New Zealand sky. The image also retains the current flag's colours.

Not all of the submissions have been presented with a straight face. One flag, by student Nova Jiang, depicts a dead possum on top of a road's yellow divider lines. "I just wanted to do something that wouldn't be taken seriously," she says.

But Luke Thompson says he isn't joking about his proposed black flag with a silver fern - even if it does bear a close resemblance to the All Blacks uniform.