Book Cover & Vai/Beria Inspired Font Design
I was asked to design and illustrate the cover an amazing anthology of short stories and poetry by young African emigrants who have found themselves journeying – for whatever reason – to Australia. Something I personally understand, finding yourself in a strange land with strange people, trying to figure out where you fit into the world.
THE BRIEF AND THE SYMBOLS:
The team of Dr Doris Asante, from the James Cook University, Australia along with editors Eugen Bacon and Dominique Hecq, asked me to create a symbolically infused cover that brought in two key Ghanaian symbols – and wow, SYMBOLS ARE MY THING!
The first is the "fern", from the Adinkra symbol "Aya" embodying endurance, defiance against adversity, resourcefulness, and independence. I wanted to have it redrawn as a painted, brush symbol to give it some life and texture. The base shapes, I used a fluid infinity shape.
The second is the Sankofa bird, symbolising the need to reflect on the past, to build a successful future. It my design I wanted it to fit perfectly into a circle and be used as a stencil or stamp. Again, texture.
In all of this, I wanted colour and gritty texture. Almost like wall art, street art, layered and vibrant and hopeful.
THE TITLE DESIGN:
For a while, I have been developing a typeface, a headline font called Borderless, which I took inspiration from many of the forms in the Vai syllabary (the Vai people from Liberia) and the Beria script (Chad/Sudan). This was the perfect opportunity to use this bold and unique lettering.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE TYPEFACE "BORDERLESS".
Check out my post about my typeface, Borderless.
