Since I already like Rhode Island's flag a lot, I didn't want to go too far from the original design. I decided to make the following three changes:
The background was changed from white to blue. I felt yellow on blue popped a lot more due to the higher contrast, and it helps a lot with the nautical vibe.
The "HOPE" ribbon was removed. It's fine, but I prefer the flag without it.
The ratio was changed from 29:33 (🤮) to 1:1 to match maritime signal flags.