Design exhibit and the Pride flag at V&A

EU Barcode, Refugee Nation and the Pride Progress flags

This month has seen so many Pride flags from parades around the world to companies adopting it in their branding. I was interested to find out who designed it.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London (V&A) is a place that is special to me. As a student (many years ago), tutors from art college would send us off there to draw artefacts. Sketchbooks, charcoals, putty rubbers in hand — drawing for a few hours. I had the idea over the Jubilee weekend to recreate those days.

I managed to get to the V&A. But instead of drawing, I took many pictures on my phone that interested me and discovered the Design 1900 — Now exhibition.

Before you enter the rooms the flags for Pride, Refugee Nation and the EU Barcode over in the atrium hang (in the image above).

You might know that I love bright colours and finding out that a graphic designer had created the Pride flag got my attention. This flag was titled Progress, 2018.

The first Pride flag (below) was created by Gilbert Baker in 1979 for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day, designed as a symbol of hope and liberation. In 2018 Graphic designer Daniel Quasar created the ‘Progress’ flag. He designed it by adding chevrons to the original flag. The Progress flag chevrons feature white, pink and blue stripes of the transgender flag and a brown stripe to represent people of colour within the LGBTQ+ community. The final stripe of the chevron is black ­– it symbolises people who are living with or have died from AIDS.

My dear friend missed London Pride last weekend due to Covid. I know he would have walked tall and proud with his flag, plus have a good time with his friends.

The exhibition Design 1900 — Now at the V&A is free and I highly recommend spending an afternoon there if you are in London.