TCN Monthly Recap: May 2024 Edition
Here's a recap of the stories—news, events, opportunities, resources, insights, opinions and conversations—we published in May and some other recommended stories for you
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As you may already know, it’s that time of the month when we bring you TCN Monthly Recap; a recap of all the exciting stories—news, events, opportunities, resources, insights, opinions and conversations—we published all through the month. Also, watch out for more interesting reads and recommended stories about the African creative industry across art, design, and film.
In this edition of TCN Monthly Recap, you will find;
Untitled Designers Conference (UDC) 2024 postponed
Bic Art Master 2024 art competition
Launch of the African Icon Library by Neustack Design
Osun State’s new logo
The launch of TypeAfrik, a design community for African creatives interested in type design
Google Fonts’ addition of Danfo—a tuscan serif font designed by Afrotype, a Lagos-based type studio—to its catalogue
World's youngest male artist from Ghana
Untitled Designers postpones Untitled Design Conference (UDC) 2024
Untitled Design Conference, one of Africa’s largest design conferences connecting designers, educators and different business leaders, originally set to hold on May 24th and 25th has been postponed to August 23rd and 24th.
“With unforeseen circumstances and a desire to ensure the event's full potential, we've made the difficult but necessary decision to RESCHEDULE the dates,” the statement reads.
The 2-day design conference will take place in Lagos, Nigeria — with a virtual component as well.
Bic Art Master Africa is accepting entries for the 2024 edition of its art competition
The Bic Art Master Africa is a Ball Pen art contest by BIC, a renowned leader in stationery, lighters and shavers. The contest—which is open to all Africa and Middle East residents aged 13 years or older—encourages talents across Africa and the Middle East to showcase their creativity and compete with other artists.
This year’s contest theme; Ubuntu Together (One Africa)—an African philosophy that stresses our interdependence and shared humanity—calls on artists to illustrate the strength found in community bonds and collective harmony.
The winner (also known as the BIC Art Master of Africa) will receive a 2,000 USD cash prize plus other prizes. The second-place and third-place prize winners will receive 1,000 USD and 500 USD cash prizes respectively.
Deadline for Submissions is 18 July 2024
Neustack Design launches African Icon Library, a collection of African-inspired Icons and Illustrations
Neustack Design, a Nigerian-led design agency, has launched a library of African-inspired icons and illustrations called “African Icon Library.”
The African Icon Library is a collection of over 100 original SVG icons and illustrations inspired by the extraordinary richness and diversity of African cultures.
“As a designer with over 15 years of experience working on projects across diverse industries globally, I’ve seen and struggled firsthand with the lack of authentic African elements in the design libraries and resources commonly available to us. A glaring omission in an industry that should more than any other, accurately reflect the world around us,” Tomiwa Ogunmodede, CEO of Neustack Design, shared.
“At Nuestack Design, we’re passionate about changing that [underrepresention] by using design to uplift and celebrate our diversity. That’s why I am thrilled to launch the African Icon Library – a vibrant celebration of African visual heritage, designed to address its underrepresentation in design resources.”
Osun State gets a new logo; winner of the logo competition emerges
Following the public bashing of a logo previously revealed by the state government, the Governor ordered a logo design competition for a fresh logo.
After it closed submission for the contest, the State Government named a 5-man panel of judges who selected the winning design.
“After a keenly-contested Logo Competition, which commenced from the 18th and terminated on the 26th of April, a final winner of the Osun State New Logo Competition has emerged,” the announcement noted.
Check out the winning design—which is the new and approved logo of state.
Nigerian type designer launches TypeAfrik, a design community for African creatives interested in type design
Chisaokwu Joboson, a Nigerian-based brand and type designer, launched TypeAfrik, a design community for African creatives curious about learning typography and willing to shape the future of type design that is Africa.
“Global design communities don't understand what it is to create type design for Africa. At the end, we are left with ourselves to navigate into the world of type design,” Joboson shared.
TypeAfrik is a type design community that aims to help get more Africans into type design by bridging the type design education gap, according to Joboson, who recently worked with Google Fonts to create Ojuju, a san-serif typeface of an afro-grotesque style.
Google Fonts adds Danfo, a tuscan serif font designed by Afrotype—a Lagos-based type studio—to its catalogue
This May, Google Fonts announced the addition of Danfo, a tuscan serif font inspired by vinyl stickers on the ubiquitous Danfo buses of Lagos, to its robust catalogue of open-source fonts.
Designed by Afrotype, a Lagos-based type studio founded by Seyi Olusanya, Danfo is an improvement of Danfo Std, designed by Olusanya in 2018.
With the help of Eyiyemi Adegbite, David Udoh, and Mirko Velimirovic, Danfo now features numbers, punctuation, symbols and language support for over 900 languages.
One-year-old from Ghana becomes world's youngest male artist
One-year-old Ace-Liam Nana Sam Ankrah from ghana has been officially recognised as the world’s youngest male artist by Guinness World Records (GWR).
The attempt to break the Guinness World Record by Ace-Liam took place in Accra, Ghana, at the Soundout Premium Exhibition in the Museum of Science and Technology on 15 December 2023, concluding on 21 January 2024.
Ace-Liam, who is born to Chantelle Kuukua Eghan, a Ghanaian artist, started painting when he was just 6 months old.
Check out the story to read about how she discovered and nurtured his interest and talent.
You missed: G.A.S. Foundation open call for the 2024 Tilga Art Prize Nigeria Edition
Recommended reading
Celebrating the beauty of Blackness and protesting “environmental decadence” for a cleaner, waste-free future: that’s the vision of award-winning Nigerian metal sculptor and visual artist Dotun Popoola.
Nigerian artist Olaolu Slawn unveils his groundbreaking design for the 2024 FA Cup trophy, heralding a new era in the tournament’s storied history.
The Creatives Note caught up with Nigerian-based brand and type designer Chisaokwu Joboson to discuss the inspiration behind the Ojuju typeface, and how the project with Google Fonts came about
In the Egyptian desert, El Fayoum blooms and at its heart a vibrant artistic community is celebrating it through beautiful pottery and community learning.
That will be all for this month. Thank you for reading.
Before I go, let me welcome you to the month of June—the final month in this first half of the year. HAPPY NEW MONTH!!! Have a month filled with wholeness and joy.
We enjoyed bringing you these updates and putting this recap together. See you this time next month. Until then, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to stay up to date.
Editor’s Note: At The Creatives Note, we are looking to cover and tell more stories of African creatives (in art, design and film), please reach out to us with tips, news, insights, projects, ideas, and stories via email at thecreativesnote[at]gmail[dot]com.
