The alternative designs were revealed by the Flag Consideration Panel in Wellington this morning as a new poll showed nearly half of voters are open to a change.
A mammoth 10,000 submissions poured in earlier this year, which were later narrowed down to a long-list of 40 flag designs. The final four designs were:
• Silver Fern (Black & White) - by Alofi Kanter, from Auckland.
• Silver Fern (Red, White and Blue) - by Kyle Lockwood, originally from
Wellington
• Silver Fern (Black, White and Blue) - also by Lockwood
• Koru - by Andrew Fyfe from Wellington
Three of the four designs feature the silver fern, including two by Lockwood.
Mr Lockwood (38) said he had hoped one of his flags would make the shortlist, although was surprised to two. The two selected were his favourites of his designs.
"I thought one would make it, but to have two - I'm actually very pleased."
Mr Lockwood, an architectural designer has long advocated a flag change.
His flags have an early advantage because they are already well known - he designed the original Silver Fern in red white and blue back in 2004 when there was a push by the late Lloyd Morrison to force a referendum on the flag.
He said New Zealand was a humble nation which did not like talking about itself.
"When designing a flag you have to put all that behind you and say, okay, what will make the world recognise us, what will make Kiwis proud to carry it and what will bring a tear to your eye when you see it on the podium?"
He said he would campaign in support of his flags but had only a limited budget and much of it would be online.
North Shore father Alofi Kanter is a flight attendant and says while he has no professional art or design training, he was passionate about the flag design process and heritage.
"I wanted to make my contribution."
Mr Kanter said black and white were the de facto national colours of New Zealand and he believed that should be recognised in the flag.
"I didn't want it to overbearingly black because of some connections some people make. So I tried to balance it and have equal amounts of black and white."
The silver fern on a plain black background has previously been compared to the Islamic State and pirate skull and crossbones flags.
Andrew Fyfe, a freelance graphic designer and photographer, has the only shortlisted flag which does not feature the silver fern, sporting a koru instead.
The Wellington based designer said he loved Maori design.
"We are a multicultural society and Maori design has sort of crossed cultures and become part of New Zealanders' visual identity. So I think it's quite important we have some of that symbolism in our flag."
He had no concerns about the flag featuring black.
"Black is very strong and striking. The contrast and how it will appear next to other country's flags - it stands out. White and black could not be more contrasting."
He said he was surprised to make it onto the long-list, let alone the short list.
"It's a little bit like winning the lottery. No-one really expects that."
Professor John Burrows, the chair of the Flag Consideration Panel, has defended the inclusion of three silver fern designs in the shortlisted final four.
He said the panel could have taken the easy approach of having four different symbols, such as a silver fern, a Southern Cross a, a koru and an abstract design but opted to chose based on the strongest design.
He also said while the two Kyle Lockwood designs were similar, they looked quite different when flying and meant different things to different people so the panel had seen them as very distinct flags.
He urged New Zealanders to vote for their favourites regardless of whether they supported the change or not.
The silver fern is Prime Minister John Key's favourite symbol and All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has also spoken out in favour of the silver fern.
The panel released a long list of 40 flags in August for public feedback. The public will rank the four designs in order of preference in the first referendum in November. A second referendum next March will pit the preferred alternative against the current flag.
The shortlist comes as a Herald Digipoll survey shows almost half of voters were open to a change of flag, although 24 per cent said it would depend on the alternative.
