Why a world-traveling designer moved back home to Syracuse: ‘It feels more lively here’

When Eric Hart designed Syracuse’s official First Light flag, he was living in Japan.

Hart is the product of eight generations born and raised in Syracuse. He went to Corcoran High School, earned his associate degree in graphic design at Onondaga Community College, then attended Syracuse University. At 27, he left Syracuse in search of design jobs. He’s lived and worked in some of the world’s biggest cities.

Now he’s back.

After 14 years away, living in New York City, Tokyo and Yokohama, Hart and his wife, Mahoko, moved back home to Syracuse’s Valley neighborhood, where they’re raising their new baby, 5-month-old Lucy.

It’s been a warm homecoming, with Hart returning to his favorite old haunts, walking around his former neighborhood and even catching up with Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh.

He’s navigating a very different Syracuse than the one he left.

“It’s weird in this funky, nostalgic way,” said Hart. “So much has changed in 14 years. So much stuff has improved. It’s really exciting to see the differences. It feels more lively here now than it did 14 years ago.”

A Central New Yorker’s boomerang journey

Driven by career aspirations, Hart first left Central New York to seek opportunities in the design industry.

“Entering the design world, New York [City] was the place,” he said. “Nothing was going to stop me from doing that.”

Hart worked as a designer for multiple streaming services like Disney+ and HBO Max. During his time with each company, he helped design homepage layouts, episode detail pages and app designs for mobile streaming. He also worked with Oreo, Bravo and AT&T.

“Having had that time away, growing in myself, and accruing the experience that I wanted in my career, it really just made sense to come back to share my experience and my skills with the local community,” Hart said.

Hart launched his own design firm called Hartbreakers Creative. Within that company, he created the brand First Light Syracuse Goods to produce city pride necessities with flags, pins, shirts, hats, stickers and more.

“I feel now I have something to give back,” Hart said. “Where maybe at the time, I didn’t feel like I had anything to give and I didn’t feel like Syracuse had anything to give me. But I was wrong. And I didn’t know I was wrong. Everything I needed was already here.”

Coming home made sense for him and his wife to raise their daughter with support from family.

“Having access to a network of family and friends was key for us, and they’re all here,” Hart said. “But outside of that, access to all these beautiful parks at any time is such a wonder. My wife being a yoga instructor, she would love places like [Onondaga Lake Park] to practice and instruct.”

Part of their decision to move back stemmed from Hart learning about his family’s long history in the area and his work designing the new city flag.

“All that research and history was top of mind when we were having discussions about where to raise little Lucy,” he said. “We’re really happy we did it. It’s great to be back.”

There were a few nostalgic experiences Hart had been looking forward to upon returning to Central New York. Some of his favorite spots had closed (like Luigi’s in the Valley), but Hart looked forward to his daily walks to Green Hills. And he was craving Gannon’s.

“I needed Gannon’s ice cream,” said Hart, laughing. “There was a good ice cream in New York and good ice cream in Japan. But it wasn’t Gannon’s. I really needed it. We brought the whole family to Gannon’s, then we went to the duck pond.”

A quintessential Valley afternoon.

The First Light flag’s future

Hart felt some initial apprehension about how his First Light flag design would be received. It was simpler than many of the other submitted designs, and he had created hundreds of different versions of it. Hart drafted 269 flags before finally perfecting the 270th.

It debuted at Syracuse City Hall in June 2023, while Hart was still living abroad, after a lengthy flag redesign process.

From February to May 2023, a 14-person flag committee narrowed down nearly 300 flag submissions to four semi-finalists, including Hart’s design. Adapt CNY, who managed the flag redesign effort, said over 1,000 citizen votes were submitted before Hart’s design was declared the final decision.

“It felt really good that something I could contribute to the city was taken with open arms,” he said. “Having been outside of Syracuse for so long, I think it allowed me the distance and perspective to take that project on in a way that I probably wouldn’t have done if I had been here.”

The First Light flag is just over a year old. Now that he’s home, Hart felt “touched” to see neighbors, local businesses and complete strangers flying the flag. Different versions of the flag appear at local festivals with remixed colors for CNY Pride Fest and Juneteenth.

“It’s what I hoped would happen,” Hart said. “You have a future in mind for something you create. To see it moving on this path I hoped for, it feels awesome. It means this flag could have staying power in the community. I want this to be a symbol anyone can use to show their pride in the city.”

Hart’s been busy speaking to community groups and school classes about vexillology, and the Syracuse flag’s colors and symbolism. He doesn’t get tired of talking about it.

“I feel a duty to continue to educate on it forever.”

The six points of the flag’s star symbolize the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee and Syracuse’s six historical names. Its spot in the center of the flag represents Syracuse’s location in Central New York. The star’s orange color is inspired by the rising sun over Syracuse, and the central white triangle symbolizes the salt and snow of Upstate New York. The flag’s azure and dark blue triangles illustrate the hills and valleys of Central New York as the sun passes over the region and over Onondaga Lake.

Anyone interested in buying a Syracuse flag for their home, or flag merchandise, can find Hart’s work at firstlightsyr.com.

Katrina Tulloch is the editor of This is CNY. She also writes stories for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Should we feature your neighborhood next? Contact Katrina: Email | Instagram | Facebook

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