How O’Plérou Grebet Celebrated African Culture through Emojis Design
Images by O’Plérou Grebet
A creative graphic designer known as O’Plérou Grebet designed some ‘African Emojis‘ that reflect the culture of Ivory Coast, his home country and the entire West Africa a few years ago. In an effort to correct mainstream media’s inaccurate depictions, the inventive design thinker created over 370 designs that portray contemporary African life.
The Kita or Kenté is a colorful loincloth, and a traditional garment of the Akan people, a meta-ethnicity living in the southern regions of present-day Ghana.
The graphic designer’s full set of emojis are called ‘zouzoukwa‘ which means ‘picture’ in Bété, the speaking language of the Bété people from the South-Western Ivory Coast. The emojis were made available to be downloaded on the play and app store, and can be used on Whatsapp as stickers or standalone images. The creations of, O’Plérou Grebet held a record of massive downloads by the users of smart phones worldwide.
aouli is a mask dance created by Gouro tribe in Côte D’ivoire
In the year 2018, he created a new addition to his exclusive African emojis following a daily challenge set for himself, covering topics that included food, music and transportation. His amazing designs includes a plastic teakettle sold in Senegalese markets, traditional percussion instruments and ‘Garba’, a popular Ivorian meal consisting of semolina a semolina and fried tuna.
Waving or twirling white handkerchiefs while dancing is custom in Ghanaian, Togolese, and Nigerian cultures, especially in wedding celebrations
A mask and a traditional dance of the Guro people called Zaouli is another object that originates from his home country Ivory Coast. In addition to his exclusive designs like ‘Keke Napep’, a popular mode of transport in Nigeria; Kita or Kenté, a colorful loincloth worn in the southern regions of present-day Ghana; and Mémorial Gorée-alm, a slave trade memorial on the island of Gorée in Senegal.
Shaku Shaku, a most popular Nigerian street dance style of few years ago
Though Grebet’s designs weren’t official emojis as at then, because they were yet to be approved by the Unicode Consortium, an organization that reviews and approves new designs. Today, I believe that his designs might have been approved following the subject submission to the body as he’s honoring the many facets of African tradition and its contemporary condition, with a strong intent to travel to more African countries to discover their cultures and turning them into African emojis.
Variants of the indigo plant species are indigenous to West Africa and the source of traditional dyeing techniques in the region
The independence monument, built as a tribute to Togo’s independence from France on April 26, 1960
Mémorial Gorée-alm, a slave trade memorial on the island of Gorée
Ndebele house painting is a style of African art practiced by the southern Ndebele people
Roasted plantain, a popular food staple across Africa
The ‘Balai’ is a broom made of stiff fibers
‘Ségridaga’, a plastic kettle
Garba’ is a popular Ivorian meal consisting of semolina and fried pieces of tuna
‘Peigne Afro’, an Afro comb
A ‘Djembe’ or ‘Jembe’ is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa
‘Dambe’ is the traditional martial art a martial art of the Hausa people from Northern Nigeria to West Africa