Briar Levit’s design journey is as rich and unexpected as a forest hike. From the bustling offices of Bitch magazine to historic trails in Kent and the best Goodwills of Portland, her practice weaves through teaching, writing, editing, archiving, and documentary making. This illustrated interview traces her winding path across a changing feminist landscape, shedding light on how design and activism intertwine, the micropolitics of work, and the value of friendship. It’s an intimate conversation about how unplanned routes often lead to the most meaningful destinations.

Briar Levit’s journey into graphic design began with an epiphany at a diorama in Muir Woods, California—a place deeply tied to her sense of wonder and creativity. Shortly after graduating in the early 2000s, she became the art director for the iconic magazine Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture. She soon learned a crucial lesson: meaningful work happens because of the quality of the people around you, but it doesn’t always pay the bills. After a few detours and retours that took her to Russia, the UK, and back, Briar fell in love with teaching and became a professor at Portland State University. In 2017, her passion for thrifting and collecting print and ephemera led to directing the acclaimed documentary Graphic Means, which examines the evolution of graphic design production from the 1950s through the 1990s. In 2021, Briar edited Baseline Shift, an anthology celebrating under-acknowledged women graphic designers. Today, she co-directs The People’s Graphic Design Archive, a crowdsourced virtual platform dedicated to showcasing graphic design histories, while continuing to expand the design canon through her research, teaching, and TikTok videos.