The Africa Institute.
Defining a globally oriented institution of research, study and teaching of Africa and its diaspora.
Established in 2018, The Africa Institute is an interdisciplinary academic research institute dedicated to the study, research and documentation of Africa, its people and its cultures; its complex past, present and future; and its manifold connections with the wider world.
Project scope
Brand Identity, Brand Collateral, Website, Social Media, Brand Guidelines
We were approached to develop and refine the brand visual identity system and create a set of clearly defined guidelines to help empower the Institute’s marketing materials. Working closely together we developed and built solid design foundations, crafting a modular system for easier application and roll-out of communication across the Institute’s programmes and events. Utilising a powerful set of colours inspired by the African continent and bold typography underpinned by a foundational grid system crafted around the brand’s logotype.
Over our journey with the team, we have created engaging marketing materials to support seasonal programming, a unique book series, catalogues for exhibitions, social media campaigns and much more.
In collaboration with The Africa Institute and the Sharjah Art Foundation, we developed the exhibition catalogue and campaign for Aïda Muluneh’s exhibition Homebound: A Journey in Photography at the Sharjah Art Museum. A selection of the Ethiopian photographer’s portraits feature highly graphical compositions, backgrounds and vibrant colours which inspired the creative direction. The rich blue, vibrant yellow and bold red were used throughout the campaign. For the catalogue we created a series of graphic backgrounds to be used as the chapter dividers throughout its 400 pages. The defined design system was rolled out across outdoor media, social media, email and the catalogue.
Each year The Africa Institute host a ‘country-focused season’ that explores one African country/diaspora community through a range of scholarly and public programmes. Global Ghana (2022) was the second edition in collaboration with leading scholars Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Jean Allman, Carina Ray, and Joseph Oduro-Frimpong.
The Ghana-focused season aimed to critically and creatively engage Ghana’s history and contemporary condition. Pushing beyond conventional narratives that oversimplify the nation’s profound significance to its citizens, continental neighbours, and the larger African diaspora.
To support the conference we developed a design system that explored the wonderfully rich artistic traditions found across the country. For the first part of the season taking place in Sharjah, we took inspiration from the work of El Anatsui and his use of kente cloth. Kente refers to a traditional Ghanaian multi-coloured patterned textile of bright colours, geometric shapes and bold storytelling designs.
For the second part of the season held in Ghana, we took inspiration from the works of Owusu Ankomah and his beautiful use of Adinkra symbols. We defined and created a set of symbols to be utilised across the various design touchpoints across print and digital.
The Institute in collaboration with the June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive presented a film programme Decolonising African Cinema: A History. The programme sought to situate influential works of African cinema in relation to contemporary films and highlight the trends and developments that have defined the critical conversations and debates around cinema.
We developed a bold design system to support the marketing communication. Taking inspiration from the ephemeral quality found across a rich sample of classic and contemporary African film posters we defined impactful graphic designs to contain and highlight different visual themes from across the rich programming.
