Portland Design History

Rupert Kinnard has been educating Portlanders about racism and LGBTQ+ issues through design, illustration and comics since he moved here in the 70s. His provocative work as Art Director of "Just Out" and "Willamette Week" just scratch the surface of his design contribution to our city, specifically within the q***r community. "The challenges I faced as a young LGBTQ man growing up had to do with dealing with what it meant to be a young Black male in this society and then, hot on the heels of that struggle, dealing with what it meant to be a gay man. Being a young Black man who lived in an all-Black community was comfortable for me because I knew of nothing else. There was such a lack of visibility of Blacks in the media that it was always a big deal to see yourself represented on TV or film. But bit by bit, I found myself being exposed to the fact that racially, the difference made a difference.” — Rupert Kinnard

Read the full article about Rupert Kinnard: https://www.portlanddesignhistory.com/post/rupert-kinnard-1 written by Fahad Al-Meraikhi, a student in my Portland Design History class at PSU who was able to meet and interview Rupert for this piece.

Field Notes featuring the Portland flag, which was designed by one of Portland's greatest designers, Doug Lynch. I hope they gave him credit! Doug is the subject of my next "Portland Design in the 60s" article coming soon.

Hey Portland. https://fieldnotesbrand.com/products/portland