UDC 2024: A showcase and celebration of African contemporary design and creativity
The Untitled Designers Conference 2024 was a celebration of African (Nigerian) contemporary design, fostering community, and providing valuable professional development opportunities.
Last month, the third edition of Untitled Designers Conference (UDC), one of Africa’s biggest design conferences, was held in Lagos, Nigeria.
The conference, which was originally slated to hold in May, was rescheduled to August due to “unforeseen circumstances and a desire to ensure the event's full potential,” according to Untitled Designers, the organiser of the conference.
For The Creatives Note, Akinwunmi Popoola writes about his experience and shares his thoughts on the two-day event which brought together some of Africa’s leading creative, talented and innovative individuals.
Untitled Designers Conference 2024
I had the opportunity to attend the 2024 edition of the Untitled Designers Conference (UDC). It was impressive to see how much the Nigerian design community has grown and also witness the popularity of our very own design gathering.
As someone who volunteered during the first edition of the Untitled Designers Conference in 2022, I would say there has been a significant growth in design events and gatherings, and there’s been a massive jump from the design community hangouts on campuses and the famed era of dribbble meetups we saw in the late 2010s.
Before UDC, most of the design events that were popular (and we used to look forward to) within the Nigerian design community were international events usually hosted by major design companies (such as Figma’s FigCon, Webflow’s WebConf, Adobe’s Max, Apple’s WWDC and so on)—which are characterised by new product and feature announcements. So, the growth and success of UDC was a beauty to witness.
Overall Experience
This year’s edition of the Untitled Designers Conference is the most vibrant and unrivalled design gathering in the country this year, so far. The event branding was remarkable—fun, quirky, and definitely memorable.
Dubbed ‘‘Behind the Canvas,” the two-day event (August 23rd & 24th) was held in Lagos, Nigeria. The people in attendance showcased the range of Nigerian design talent—from agencies (with some of the more popular Nigerian brand design agencies in recent times such as FourthCanvas, Dá Design (closed) and Belonwus facilitating panel and breakout sessions) to in-house and freelance designers of diverse skillsets and experience levels.
The conference featured design leaders who shared their approaches and opinions on various topics, including open source (code and font licensing) and improving the design process across multiple disciplines. One of the recurring themes was growth and career development for designers, highlighted in a panel session featuring Emmanuel Faith, Chibuzo Ihetunge-Eric, and Tunde Mason, and breakout sessions by Seyi Oniyitan and Bolutife Awakan. There was also a stage for motion design, illustration, 3D, AR/VR design, and iconography.
Here are some notable highlights from the event:
A11y for All
Accessibility is often treated as a buzzword in the design world. But at UDC 2024, the commitment to accessibility was truly commendable. As someone who attended a secondary school that had special needs students, I was particularly impressed by the intentionality behind the accessibility efforts—from priority parking spaces and ramps for wheelchair access to dedicated American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters and an elevator. There was even a breakout session focused on Accessibility in Africa, showcasing a community partnership that worked and can only get better.
Read Also: Osun State faces public backlash for new logo; what is the outrage about?
Celebrating African Type Design
2024 has seen a lot of interesting and positive conversations about the cultural forms of African typography. For example, since the beginning of this year, Google Fonts has spotlighted African typefaces through its type project in Africa, which The Creatives Note has covered and written about extensively. Last year, it [Google Fonts] commissioned several African designers and type foundries to design typefaces of African characters and essence—which it is gradually releasing and making available for download and use for free on its website.
UDC as a gathering was used to reinforce the essentiality of African-type design further. The event kicked off with a keynote speech by Dave Crossland (program manager of Google fonts) and there was a breakout session on type design by Seyi Olusanya. Both forums focused on setting new standards for African-type design. During his keynote speech, Dave gave a recap of Google’s activity in the type design space (10 projects commissioned), career paths for type designers, font licensing, learning resources and materials, and a few contextual case studies.
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Exploring the Essence of African Design
From breakout sessions to the unplanned debate that unfolded at the close of the event, UDC was filled with conversations on the ever-present question of the place of minimalism in the African (Nigerian) context. In groups, debates were had about African design, narrative, and storytelling across various forms (brand identity design, graphic design, Illustrations, 3d & motion designs, and many others). Topics focused on what is true, accurate representation of African visual culture and the roles contemporary African design plays in our society.
In summary, African design has constantly been postulated, debated, and examined. It forms pictorial representation based on geometry, repetition, and naturally occurring elements. The colours are rich, vivid and full of expressionism, embodied by its art, sculptures, textiles, and even religion. There is so much variety in African culture and design. Similarly, strong unifying themes cut across various African cultures. The onus, therefore, lies on African designers to be adventurous but circumspect enough not to reduce or limit African design or threaten its erasure through frequent non-contextual borrowings by revisiting the past, documenting the past and looking forward to the future.
Read Also: African Flags and Who Designed Them (Part 1)
To sum up the experience of the Untitled Designers Conference: it was a celebration of African (Nigerian) contemporary design, fostering community, and providing valuable professional development opportunities. Although distracted by technical issues and production slips, it showcased the talent and creativity of Nigerian designers and also underscored the ever-present need for accessibility and inclusivity in the Nigerian daily experience.
Check out more pictures from UDC 2024
Akinwunmi Popoola is a Multidisciplinary visual designer, who is currently having fun advancing and project-managing global digital marketing campaigns at Mavin Records. His work experience spans entertainment (Nightlife), sports and the music Industry. He is quite fascinated by design, film, and music. He is often described as curious and committed to making cool things that work!
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Very nice to see accessibility covered - we still have some ground to cover in that respect...