[Applause]
for as long as I can remember design has
been part of my existence my earliest
memories of traveling around the globe
due to my father’s diplomatic mission
saw me surrounded by cross-cultural
designs from Mexico to the Lizzy to USA
and Europe I have always been fascinated
by its use across cultures
that’s design by the time my family
settled in Nigeria I was desperate to
familiarize myself with the visual
communication of Nigeria to no avail
my family home was adorned with
memorabilia from South America
and this gave me a distorted mentality
of what my authentic original design or
Nigerian communication was so this
informed my decision to study and
practice the visual arts
although the education I had seemed to
theorize everything and place less
emphasis on practical and experiential
learning it gave me the basic knowledge
I needed to research into my immediate
environment
I was then confronted with questions
like do we have local or indigenous
influences that could excuse me that
could foster an identity unique to us
and if yes how well are we using them I
got to discover the Nigeria has a
plethora of influences and inspirations
that can set us apart globally and give
us competitive advantage so today I will
be taking notes a few steps backwards
and then forward into the future of
possible solutions that could solve our
visual communications problems visual
communication is a tradition as oldest
man we see this evidence as some cave
paintings and inscriptions done by the
early man in parts of Africa in Europe
Asia and Australia researchers believed
it was a way of communicating with
in themselves and documenting their way
of life
this tradition continued to evolve and
the next time we encounter visual
communication was in one of the world’s
greatest civilization of civilizations
sorry Egypt in Africa the Egyptians
demonstrated eloquence and finesse in
the use of visual communication in what
they called hieroglyphs these
hieroglyphs were an elaborate
combination of alphabets pictograms
signs and symbols shown with deities
debt and pets ceremonies and overall
lights now all these are still in
existence so without being told you have
an understanding of how the Egyptians
live thousands of years ago many other
civilizations or cultures like the
Greeks the Romans the Aztecs and the
Incas developed visual communication
styles unique to them today we see the
hieroglyphs replicated in our digital
mobile technology as emoticons and
emojis so whether you believe in faith
or in science you would agree that
visual communication is an essential way
of documenting influencing and
preserving culture visual communication
for many who don’t know is a lot like
languages it’s an identity it’s
beautiful and it is an enigmatic it is
it varies from culture to culture
influenced by a people’s history and way
of life there are some elements found in
a culture that’s not found in the other
and vice versa and there are some
similarities found across cultures for
example a tree here could be a tree
there that can form some similarities
excuse me so now the question is in all
of these like the civilizations before
us and every sometimes how can we
distinguish the Nigerian graphic design
from that of the human goes with Western
world
look the world is constantly on the move
with the introduction of new ideas and
new ways of thinking and with that we
see an evolution of evidence in some
cultures while some cultures have
remained unchanged excuse me
globalization DC has made the world
smaller and with this we see an overlap
a compression and exchange of ideas
which at the end of the day has made
many cultures to drown so my question at
this point is where is the African nest
in the scheme of things how have we
represented ourselves in the modern
world like like many civilizations
before us and cultures before us how can
we distinguish the nigerian graphic
design from that of the humongous
Western world I am ashamed to say this
but in my many years of practice I can
confirm that there is no autopsy notes
design and function representing Nigeria
on the globe on many of my travels
within and around the country
I’ve come to notice a poor use of our
graphic design or indigenous designs
[Music]
some of you here are well-traveled and I
am hundred percent positive that at the
port of entry of the country people or
place that you’re visiting you would
have encountered science symbols that
represent them but here in Nigeria we do
not have welcome they were no sunny days
well or in any of our numerous local
languages at any of our airports rather
you will see rola banners set up by
banks at airports advertising their most
beautiful stars this is our reality
let us take African countries or fellow
African countries like Ghana and South
Africa in Ghana akuaba is everywhere
right from your port of entry
multinational companies in operations
there make sure to use the Ghanaian
motifs and designs for their own
products and services the Ghanians have
their chocolates which is their local
produce produce wrapped in candy print
foil the South Africans on the other
hand have successfully branded their
country using their house colors and
have intentionally and consciously have
had the presence or and don’t put
themselves forward and have given though
put themselves forward and and now have
a presence in the world so now the
hunger to see myself represented in in
our my hunger to see myself and my
culture represented in my designs made
me develop the idea of designing what
was around me and not what I was taught
or what I what was imposed on me I
always had to inject some of my Nigerian
influences in whatever project I was
handling one of the projects I handled
recently with my team was an
illustration and animation to preserve
the aquarian language we made use of
relatable scenery and lifestyle to
appeal not only to the local the target
audience within but she educates the
global spectator another projects i did
was my UK published illustration where
although the client had more european
readers I made sure to insert some of my
Nigerian culture in one of the chapters
we are currently utilizing Western
technology
gee because the African landscape is
still in its technology and
manufacturing infancy and yes software’s
that we use for our designs are also
modern Western made but we can borrow
some sense from the Indians
the Asians of Indians and Chinese who
although they utilize Western technology
they ensure that your culture is
embedded where I think the typography
their images and science and symbols
within the an artistic space we see an
improvement from our people in the areas
of music and film and in fashion but
there’s still a lot more to be done with
kids music in my opinion has more has
become more popular because of
international collaborations so until we
have international approval we continue
to undervalue our creativity and talents
do you know how much influence you give
to the world
how much inspiration you give to the
world I will cite two examples Stella
McCartney is one of my favorite
designers I love her design
collaboration with Adidas and I have
followed her progress most recently she
launched her two spring/summer 2018
collection at at Paris Fashion Week and
with Ankara as her inspiration she said
and I quote my designs are eco-friendly
and animal cruelty free my mentor and
one of Africa’s foremost historians as
historians told me that one of the
challenges plaguing Africa as a
continent is the poverty of language the
inability to document and narrate our
stories so what Stella McCartney has
just done is to package her designs in
an expensive manner and sell it to us so
we not only pay a premium for her work
we also buy into her narrative
so guest walks when cultural shapers
like Beyonce Adam King / – and start
wearing these designs we then appreciate
something we have had for several
decades another illustration I will give
is at the just-concluded 2017 Venice
Biennale demin has an British artist
replicated the Benin bronze head as a
Pollock symbolic piece of the Nigerian
people to rave reviews
it took the intervention of a fellow
Nigerian artists to raise dust on the
cultural appropriation and the impunity
demin has never responded he has on
several occasions copied designs and
acts from different cultures without
acknowledging the original artist or
creator the list goes on and on that is
how the Western world regards you they
unapologetically rip your culture by
telling you things you fail to discover
for yourself the repackage it and sell
to you at a higher cost the rewrite your
story and tell it in their own words
with our own limitations and biases or
bias so now I would like to ask why do
we always feel inferior whenever we have
the opportunity to showcase our local or
primitive culture as they call it we
have succeeded to get darker complexion
emojis that’s in our digital mobile
technology to represent us but is that
all that we can do if we are not
consciously creating local contents with
our visual signs how then do we
represent ourselves in the global space
I am currently developing some
strategies that could help put us on the
map today and in the future
number one have a mindset shift it’s all
about the mind you have to unlearn all
that you have been told you are not
primitive you’re an African and your
culture has value you just have to look
inward and around you number two you
have to design with purpose this is
directed at visual designers designers
communicators and graphic designers all
inclusive
I believe that design must have meaning
from the culture from where it
originates so whenever you have a
projects you ask yourself am i designing
to change my world or am i designing
just for money how much of my craft do I
know how much of my talents do I know
how much of my culture do I know that I
can include in my designs number three
we have to change policies this is
directed at those in the corridors of
power and those who have policy changing
privileges whether it’s to enforce the
use of local icon symbols and design at
a local stage or on higher at higher
points we must create a label enabling
environment for creativity to thrive we
can start by also changing the outdated
for education curriculum we could do
that and also create centers for
creativity to drive training centers
number four we have to take ownership
how much of your intellectual property
are you protecting
you have to stop designing only in
English language we have a good number
of languages in Nigeria signs and
symbols and other inspiration that we
can use we should also stop designing
for up acceptance and approval of
foreigners we have to own and documents
our crafts we must take that into
consideration and finally we have to
develop local contents we have to design
fons designer texts design our language
that could represent us at all times
I love aloud Lucia banjo is doing with
all reacts he has he has all deeds and
the world has adjusted we have other
cultural experience variations like Olli
in CBD and Attica what exactly are we
doing with them as I end my talk it is
my hope that we as Africans and
Nigerians begin to look inward for
inspiration to write our stories in our
own language on our own terms
whether it is accepted or not we must
insist we must know our history very
well to know what to uphold at what to
defend we cannot expect creative
acceptance when we do not appreciate our
own visual style our culture gives us
inexhaustible references that will set
us apart globally the longer we ignore
these issues the harder it is to remedy
them the future we imagine that’s now
with the steps that we take and in
closing designers clients and patriotic
Nigerians should all apply a bottom-up
approach whereby we begin to source for
inspiration within our immediate
environments to represent us on a global
scale
and until we do so the gap o continue to
widen and the largest room they say in
the world is the world is the lightest
room they say in the world is a room I
mean it’s big enough for changes and for
improvement so I believe that where we
are able to rewrite our stories change
our narrative and everything else will
fall in place
thank you
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
for as long as I can remember design has
been part of my existence my earliest
memories of traveling around the globe
due to my father’s diplomatic mission
saw me surrounded by cross-cultural
designs from Mexico to the Lizzy to USA
and Europe I have always been fascinated
by its use across cultures
that’s design by the time my family
settled in Nigeria I was desperate to
familiarize myself with the visual
communication of Nigeria to no avail
my family home was adorned with
memorabilia from South America
and this gave me a distorted mentality
of what my authentic original design or
Nigerian communication was so this
informed my decision to study and
practice the visual arts
although the education I had seemed to
theorize everything and place less
emphasis on practical and experiential
learning it gave me the basic knowledge
I needed to research into my immediate
environment
I was then confronted with questions
like do we have local or indigenous
influences that could excuse me that
could foster an identity unique to us
and if yes how well are we using them I
got to discover the Nigeria has a
plethora of influences and inspirations
that can set us apart globally and give
us competitive advantage so today I will
be taking notes a few steps backwards
and then forward into the future of
possible solutions that could solve our
visual communications problems visual
communication is a tradition as oldest
man we see this evidence as some cave
paintings and inscriptions done by the
early man in parts of Africa in Europe
Asia and Australia researchers believed
it was a way of communicating with
in themselves and documenting their way
of life
this tradition continued to evolve and
the next time we encounter visual
communication was in one of the world’s
greatest civilization of civilizations
sorry Egypt in Africa the Egyptians
demonstrated eloquence and finesse in
the use of visual communication in what
they called hieroglyphs these
hieroglyphs were an elaborate
combination of alphabets pictograms
signs and symbols shown with deities
debt and pets ceremonies and overall
lights now all these are still in
existence so without being told you have
an understanding of how the Egyptians
live thousands of years ago many other
civilizations or cultures like the
Greeks the Romans the Aztecs and the
Incas developed visual communication
styles unique to them today we see the
hieroglyphs replicated in our digital
mobile technology as emoticons and
emojis so whether you believe in faith
or in science you would agree that
visual communication is an essential way
of documenting influencing and
preserving culture visual communication
for many who don’t know is a lot like
languages it’s an identity it’s
beautiful and it is an enigmatic it is
it varies from culture to culture
influenced by a people’s history and way
of life there are some elements found in
a culture that’s not found in the other
and vice versa and there are some
similarities found across cultures for
example a tree here could be a tree
there that can form some similarities
excuse me so now the question is in all
of these like the civilizations before
us and every sometimes how can we
distinguish the Nigerian graphic design
from that of the human goes with Western
world
look the world is constantly on the move
with the introduction of new ideas and
new ways of thinking and with that we
see an evolution of evidence in some
cultures while some cultures have
remained unchanged excuse me
globalization DC has made the world
smaller and with this we see an overlap
a compression and exchange of ideas
which at the end of the day has made
many cultures to drown so my question at
this point is where is the African nest
in the scheme of things how have we
represented ourselves in the modern
world like like many civilizations
before us and cultures before us how can
we distinguish the nigerian graphic
design from that of the humongous
Western world I am ashamed to say this
but in my many years of practice I can
confirm that there is no autopsy notes
design and function representing Nigeria
on the globe on many of my travels
within and around the country
I’ve come to notice a poor use of our
graphic design or indigenous designs
[Music]
some of you here are well-traveled and I
am hundred percent positive that at the
port of entry of the country people or
place that you’re visiting you would
have encountered science symbols that
represent them but here in Nigeria we do
not have welcome they were no sunny days
well or in any of our numerous local
languages at any of our airports rather
you will see rola banners set up by
banks at airports advertising their most
beautiful stars this is our reality
let us take African countries or fellow
African countries like Ghana and South
Africa in Ghana akuaba is everywhere
right from your port of entry
multinational companies in operations
there make sure to use the Ghanaian
motifs and designs for their own
products and services the Ghanians have
their chocolates which is their local
produce produce wrapped in candy print
foil the South Africans on the other
hand have successfully branded their
country using their house colors and
have intentionally and consciously have
had the presence or and don’t put
themselves forward and have given though
put themselves forward and and now have
a presence in the world so now the
hunger to see myself represented in in
our my hunger to see myself and my
culture represented in my designs made
me develop the idea of designing what
was around me and not what I was taught
or what I what was imposed on me I
always had to inject some of my Nigerian
influences in whatever project I was
handling one of the projects I handled
recently with my team was an
illustration and animation to preserve
the aquarian language we made use of
relatable scenery and lifestyle to
appeal not only to the local the target
audience within but she educates the
global spectator another projects i did
was my UK published illustration where
although the client had more european
readers I made sure to insert some of my
Nigerian culture in one of the chapters
we are currently utilizing Western
technology
gee because the African landscape is
still in its technology and
manufacturing infancy and yes software’s
that we use for our designs are also
modern Western made but we can borrow
some sense from the Indians
the Asians of Indians and Chinese who
although they utilize Western technology
they ensure that your culture is
embedded where I think the typography
their images and science and symbols
within the an artistic space we see an
improvement from our people in the areas
of music and film and in fashion but
there’s still a lot more to be done with
kids music in my opinion has more has
become more popular because of
international collaborations so until we
have international approval we continue
to undervalue our creativity and talents
do you know how much influence you give
to the world
how much inspiration you give to the
world I will cite two examples Stella
McCartney is one of my favorite
designers I love her design
collaboration with Adidas and I have
followed her progress most recently she
launched her two spring/summer 2018
collection at at Paris Fashion Week and
with Ankara as her inspiration she said
and I quote my designs are eco-friendly
and animal cruelty free my mentor and
one of Africa’s foremost historians as
historians told me that one of the
challenges plaguing Africa as a
continent is the poverty of language the
inability to document and narrate our
stories so what Stella McCartney has
just done is to package her designs in
an expensive manner and sell it to us so
we not only pay a premium for her work
we also buy into her narrative
so guest walks when cultural shapers
like Beyonce Adam King / – and start
wearing these designs we then appreciate
something we have had for several
decades another illustration I will give
is at the just-concluded 2017 Venice
Biennale demin has an British artist
replicated the Benin bronze head as a
Pollock symbolic piece of the Nigerian
people to rave reviews
it took the intervention of a fellow
Nigerian artists to raise dust on the
cultural appropriation and the impunity
demin has never responded he has on
several occasions copied designs and
acts from different cultures without
acknowledging the original artist or
creator the list goes on and on that is
how the Western world regards you they
unapologetically rip your culture by
telling you things you fail to discover
for yourself the repackage it and sell
to you at a higher cost the rewrite your
story and tell it in their own words
with our own limitations and biases or
bias so now I would like to ask why do
we always feel inferior whenever we have
the opportunity to showcase our local or
primitive culture as they call it we
have succeeded to get darker complexion
emojis that’s in our digital mobile
technology to represent us but is that
all that we can do if we are not
consciously creating local contents with
our visual signs how then do we
represent ourselves in the global space
I am currently developing some
strategies that could help put us on the
map today and in the future
number one have a mindset shift it’s all
about the mind you have to unlearn all
that you have been told you are not
primitive you’re an African and your
culture has value you just have to look
inward and around you number two you
have to design with purpose this is
directed at visual designers designers
communicators and graphic designers all
inclusive
I believe that design must have meaning
from the culture from where it
originates so whenever you have a
projects you ask yourself am i designing
to change my world or am i designing
just for money how much of my craft do I
know how much of my talents do I know
how much of my culture do I know that I
can include in my designs number three
we have to change policies this is
directed at those in the corridors of
power and those who have policy changing
privileges whether it’s to enforce the
use of local icon symbols and design at
a local stage or on higher at higher
points we must create a label enabling
environment for creativity to thrive we
can start by also changing the outdated
for education curriculum we could do
that and also create centers for
creativity to drive training centers
number four we have to take ownership
how much of your intellectual property
are you protecting
you have to stop designing only in
English language we have a good number
of languages in Nigeria signs and
symbols and other inspiration that we
can use we should also stop designing
for up acceptance and approval of
foreigners we have to own and documents
our crafts we must take that into
consideration and finally we have to
develop local contents we have to design
fons designer texts design our language
that could represent us at all times
I love aloud Lucia banjo is doing with
all reacts he has he has all deeds and
the world has adjusted we have other
cultural experience variations like Olli
in CBD and Attica what exactly are we
doing with them as I end my talk it is
my hope that we as Africans and
Nigerians begin to look inward for
inspiration to write our stories in our
own language on our own terms
whether it is accepted or not we must
insist we must know our history very
well to know what to uphold at what to
defend we cannot expect creative
acceptance when we do not appreciate our
own visual style our culture gives us
inexhaustible references that will set
us apart globally the longer we ignore
these issues the harder it is to remedy
them the future we imagine that’s now
with the steps that we take and in
closing designers clients and patriotic
Nigerians should all apply a bottom-up
approach whereby we begin to source for
inspiration within our immediate
environments to represent us on a global
scale
and until we do so the gap o continue to
widen and the largest room they say in
the world is the world is the lightest
room they say in the world is a room I
mean it’s big enough for changes and for
improvement so I believe that where we
are able to rewrite our stories change
our narrative and everything else will
fall in place
thank you
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
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