The Creatives Note is 2: Two years of documenting and telling important stories
It's been two years of curating, documenting, and telling the stories of creativity (in art, design, and film) in Africa
On October 1, 2022, I clicked the publish button for what will be the first story on The Creatives Note. Two years later, over 200 stories—ranging from conversations with African creatives to news, opportunities, and insightful & opinion pieces on creativity in Africa—have been published in The Creatives Note.
At the time of launching The Creatives Note, the goal was simple: to curate, document, and tell the stories of African creatives from the lens of an African. Even though the goal has slightly expanded and evolved since then, the core idea of curating, documenting and telling important stories in the African creative industry remains the same.
Related Story: #0: Introducing The Creatives Note
In the first nine months, The Creatives Note only published interviews with African creatives across Art, Advertising, Creative Entrepreneurship, Logo & Brand Design, Product Design, Visual Design, Animation, and Motion Design. But I quickly realised that while sharing these stories and conversations with African creatives was important, there was more work to be done. So in July 2023, we announced TCN 2.0, which was a reflection of The Creatives Note’s expanded focus.
The launch of TCN 2.0 saw us introduce new sections—TCN News Desk, Opinion, Insight, Opportunity, and Resource Sections—in addition to the Interview Section The Creatives Note started with. And to reflect this change and expansion, we refined the mission to: curate, document, and tell the stories of creativity (in art, design, and film) in Africa. While the change to the mission statement might not seem grand, it reflects and captures what The Creatives Note wants to do.
Related Story: The Creatives Note [TCN] is evolving
A quick overview of the last two years in numbers
In the last two years, with the support of you—our subscribers and readers, The Creatives Note has grown (and continues to grow). More importantly, we have seen impressive growth in the last twelve months, and the numbers tell the story.
A look at the analytics shows that, in the last year, we have had a 300% increase in page views and a 360% in page visitors, crossing the 10,000 visitor milestone. We have also seen our subscriber list grow by 180% while our social media channels—IG, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn—have grown by over 200%.
A very big thank you to all our readers and supporters—who like, share and interact with our stories. You help us reach more people every time you like, share, recommend, and interact with our stories/posts. And it brings so much joy to my heart.
Also, I want to say a very big thank you to everyone who has shared their story and work with us at The Creatives Note. (Including those whose stories have not been published yet.) You are the reason we exist.
I want to also recognise those who shared tips and news we might have missed with us. Thank you for sharing your news, opinions, and events with us.
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Read Also: The Creatives Note: A 2023 Recap
The big stories and favourite moments
Before I wrap this up, let’s take a quick look at some of my favourite moments and biggest stories from the last twelve months.
From publishing exclusive interviews and special features to sharing creatives opportunities and events to reporting about Guinness World Record attempts/successes by African creatives and reporting about African companies rebranding/redesigning their identities to sharing insights behind projects by some of Africa’s leading design/brand studios to reporting about Google Fonts’ type design project in Africa and to launching the TCN Monthly Recap—our monthly newsletter, here are the biggest (and some of my personal favourite) stories and moments from The Creatives Note’s second year:
Our conversation with Zimbabwean visual communicator and type designer, Taurai Valerie Mtake, on working with Google Fonts to create the Madimi One typeface, has been the most read story on The Creatives Note so far. This is not surprising, considering how significant the story and the whole events surrounding the story were. The story was a hit on social media and even got shared by the official Google Fonts account on LinkedIn. It was also reshared by many reputable and big names in the community. The story has also enjoyed impressive backlinks across the web. (Read here: “It's a dream come true” — Zimbabwean visual communicator and type designer, Taurai Valerie Mtake, on working with Google Fonts to create the Madimi One typeface)
The next story on the list is related to the first. It is the initial story announcing Google Fonts’ addition of two typefaces—Mtake’s Madimi and Joboson’s Ojuju—to its catalogue. This story was the first story in our ongoing coverage of Google Fonts’ African-type design project. (Read here: Google Fonts adds 2 typefaces—created by a Nigerian and a Zimbabwean designer—to its catalogue)
This next story on the list is also related to the previous one. It’s our conversation with Chisaokwu Joboson on working with Google Fonts on the Ojuju typeface and how he got into type design. Like the previous stories, this was also an important story that showed the progress of type design in Africa. (Read here: Chisaokwu Joboson talks working with Google Fonts on the Ojuju typeface, the public reaction to its launch, and his mission to create more type support for African languages)
Read Also: The Creatives Note At One: How It Started, Why It Is Important To Me, And Lessons Learnt So Far
Other top stories and highlights include:
Seyi Olusanya on getting into type design, founding Afrotype, and collaborating with Google Fonts. (Read here)
Tunji Ogunoye: On finding design, leaving physiotherapy for design, paying attention to details, and the impact of teaching design and building a community on his career. (Read here)
Creath Art Marketplace—Art Meets Technology: How Creath is using technology to bridge the gap between artists and art collectors. (Read here)
Inside Creative Nestlings’ evolution: From a community to an African creative network and startup building for African creatives & entrepreneurs. (Read here)
How Album Cover Bank is archiving, documenting, and preserving Nigerian album cover designs from 1950 to date. (Read here)
The Torsche wants to redefine the narrative around design in Africa. (Read here)
5 African Film Festivals you should know. (Read here)
A conversation with Yewande Akinse, award-winning poet and storyteller, on making impact and finding expression and transcendence through poetry. (Read here)
Bransolute's brand refresh for AjoCard conveys its vision to deliver financial services to the excluded. (Read here)
Disney Plus premieres Iwájú, an original animated series set in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria, created by Kugali. (Read here)
Vome Studio's identity revamp for Bentsi-Enchill modernises its visual identity without compromising its esteemed 20-year legacy. (Read here)
AFCON 2023 Identity: A Beautiful Story of Strength and Unity through Football. (Read here)
Luxurious Urban Mobility (LUMO): Useful desirability approach to car design in Africa. (Read here)
UDC 2024: A showcase and celebration of African contemporary design and creativity. (Read here)
Special mention to one of my personal favourite design stories to report on: the Osun State logo brouhaha. From the public backlash to the announcement of a logo design competition to the reveal of a new logo, it was interesting to cover the story as it unfolded.
Read Also: 10 African digital products and platforms you should know and use as a creative/creator
Looking Forward
I strongly believe that the African design and creative industry is filled with some of the most talented people you will find anywhere in the world, because every time I go on the internet, I see a piece of art or a design solution that reminds me of the depth of talent that is scattered across this continent. And this always reminds me of why it is important for us to curate, document, and amplify these amazing works and the people creating them.
The desire to see these stories (of African creatives) told and documented is what has kept me and The Creatives Note going, despite the challenges. If you work in (or have been following) the news and media industry, you will already know that the industry is going through a tough time. From global, supposedly well-funded publications laying off staff and downsizing to tech and media companies shutting down, this is one of the toughtest time to be in the industry. Journalist, reporters, and writers, who are supposed to document important stories and events as they unfold, are abandoning their careers and leaving the industry en masse.
But despite these challenges, we cannot abandon this important task. I believe that it is even more important for us, as Africans, to document and tell our stories because of how much knowledge and history we have lost due to the lack of appropriate documentation in the past. Fortunately for us, unlike the previous generation, we have access to the internet and the digital world.
And more importantly, we cannot afford to hand over the work of documenting and telling our stories to outsiders, who, as we have seen in many cases, are likely to mistell and misrepresent us in how they tell these stories. So, we need to establish and support more African creative-industry-focused publications doing this work.
As a publication, The Creatives Note is keen and focused on curating, documenting, and telling the stories of African creatives (in art, design, and film) and their work, and report on the creative industry at large. We are keen on telling the stories and spotlighting the people building interesting projects, solutions, and platforms for the creative community as well.
It is why I am always excited to write and talk about projects/platforms like The Torsche, which set out to redefine the narrative around design in Africa by showcasing exceptional creative works and the talents behind them, Lagos Meet, which recently launched an editorial website to showcase and put the spotlight on Nigerian creators, Album Cover Bank, which is archiving, documenting, and preserving 70+ years of Nigerian album cover designs, and Creative Nestlings, an African creative network and startup building for African creatives & entrepreneurs.
So, if you are working on an interesting project for the creative (art, design, film) industry or doing some interesting work and want to chat about it, please feel free to reach out. Also, feel free to send tips, news, ideas, or an event for creatives you are planning/working on or are a part of that we can cover and write about via thecreativesnote[at]gmail[dot]com.
We are also looking to cover and do more stories of people and platforms outside of Nigeria, feel free to reach out and pitch us your story/project.
I believe there are a lot of stories to be told, and we have only just begun. It's still day one!
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