The odd thing is, they don't all really say the same thing. Most of them say come up with a concept so that must be good advice ... except that it really seems almost the same as come up with a character. So, I'll help you out a little bit by talking about some actual methods by which characters are created.
The number of stars on the flag is fixed at 12, and is not related to the number of member states of the EU (although the EU did have 12 member states from 1986 to 1994). This is because it originally was the flag of the Council of Europe.
The current official U.S. flag is a 50 star flag, born of the need for a more practical design to accommodate new states entering the union. On April 4, 1818, Congress established the number of stripes at seven red and six white, and provided the addition of one star for each new state. The thirteen stripes represent the original 13 colonies. The 50 star flag has been in use since July 4, 1960 when Hawaii officially joined the union. In the first years of the Revolutionary War, America fought under many flags.