press

Screenshot of the article headline about the Map and Poster of Portland's Neon Signs by Kate Widdows

Portland Monthly, September 2020

Sam Pape at Portland Monthly interviewed me over the summer, and put together a sweet little piece about my love for neon and the Neon Map + Poster of Portland for their fall issue. Thanks PoMo!

Portrait of Kate Widdows, designer, letterer, and neon aficionado.

Design Week Portland, May 2020

Thank you to Design Week Portland for interviewing me!! And for continuing their work despite April and August events being cancelled.. 💜 In this interview I explain what led me to form PDX Neon, and talk about lettering and the local historic neon scene.

Sign of the Times magazine cover September 2019.

Signs of the Times Magazine, November 2019

My Electric Letterland neon tour was mentioned in Signs of the Times magazine, the sign industry's leading industry publication.

See the piece here (scroll) and here.

Kate Widdows talking about neon on the Afternoon Live television program on Portland's KATU station.

KATU Afternoon Live, October 2019

I was interviewed on live TV on Portland's KATU station, where I talked about my neon GIFs and Portland's unique collection of historic neon signs.

See my 5 min. interview on KATU or YouTube.

headline image for the Mondo Neon podcast interview with Kate Widdows.

Mondo Neon Podcast, August 2019

I had a really fun chat with Max at Mondo Neon on his podcast, this episode titled: Neon GIFs, Co-producing a Neon Festival and Walking Tours with Designer Kate Widdows.

Cover image for the July 2019 issue of California Modern Magazine.

California Modern Magazine, July 2019

I was interviewed for an article in California Modern magazine, called Type that Talks: From Helvetica to Futura to Neutraface — the Expressive Aura of Modern Lettering. It is a huge honor to share the page with 2 true typography experts, Shelley Gruendler of Type Camp, and Stephen Coles of Letterform Archive. Thank you to Dave Weinstein for the interview!

Newspaper clipping describing the Electric Letterland neon walking tour of Portland.

Willamette Week, Portland, Ore., June 2019

My neon walking tour of Portland was featured in Willamette Week's Get Busy Guide, which lists '11 Events We’re Most Excited About This Week,' where they crowned me a "neon evangelist"! See the archived calendar page here.

Tours take place 6 times per year — 3 in the Spring and 3 in the Fall, with private tours available. Tour info here.

Neon lettering of the word “Hello” illustrated as an elaborate tapestry in black and white.

Typographics Blog, May 2017

I was invited to give a talk in the type lab at Typographics in New York in 2017, and in the lead up to the festival, I was invited to write about animated GIFs for their blog. The article, called Electric Letterland: Building neon GIFs in homage to the real thing, covers a brief history of the GIF format as well as an overview of my animation process.