Afrika, Design!: Recent Episodes
Nairobi Design Week
'Afrika, Design!' is the show that takes African design to the world. Brought to you by Nairobi Design Week. Presented by Adrian Jankowiak.Subscribe to our channel for more Afrikan Design, and leave a comment or review or send us a message to let us know what you thought! Discover more Afrikan Design at nairobidesignweek.com. Thank you for tuning in, hope you enjoy the show!
Nyambura M. Waruingi creates, curates, and collaborates through various artistic expressions, bringing audiences unique ways to imagine new worlds. She's a filmmaker and curator passionate about combining art, design and technology. She pushes the frontier of what is possible through her creative enterprise Akoia & Co. by producing and curating projects, which merge cinema, visual arts, gaming, and immersive technologies.
Nyambura joins us on Afrika Design to talk disruptive technologies, digital blackness, interdisciplinary processes and inclusivity for women.
"What I've been able to do is create on the edge of things, and that's what feels disruptive for people."
"How do we include Africanness as part of the conversation on Digital Blackness?"
"Women are not a monolith...you have to commit to the work of including women."
Learn more about Nyambura and her work to "imagine radically" at: @nyambura_mw and @akoiaco.
"Skiza na Skika"–Skika Afrika is a platform for African creatives to boost their careers. "It's about being heard," says Founder Samantha Weya, which is why she created a meeting point where Africa's creatives can connect, find work, increase their visibility & upskill.
For her, Skika pursues a balance between recognizing the narratives behind African stories, but also giving creatives the infrastructure to build sustainable creative careers. From portfolio curation to fan support, brand consulting and mental wellness, Skika Afrika is all-encompassing in its mission to amplify the voices of African creatives, allowing them to bring to the world a broader understanding of who Africans are.
"The reason parents don't want you to go into creative industries is: Where is the money going to come from? How will you eat? How will you pay the bills?... But that's just a lack of there being enough sustainable industry."
"How can you get connected and plugged into a creative community that enables you to create what you want?"
"Our market needs to value our talent."
"The creative industry needs to leverage financial security, and vice versa."
By profession, Samantha Weya is an Actuarial Analyst. She brings her understanding of risk, insurance and financial security to the creative industry to emphasize how creatives can take care of each other and their work. Learn more about Samantha and Skika Africa here: https://beta.skikaafrika.com/ and follow the platform on instagram, facebook & twitter!
What makes a World Class Designer?
There are designers who make things look better. There are designers who make things work better. Guidione Machava @guidione_machava is the designer who makes teams collaborate better.
Guidione brings his experience as a Product Designer, Creative Leader, and Community Builder to this episode. From World Bank projects, scrappy startups, and non-profits across the continent, Guidione commits his time to systems, products and services that have a positive impact on people's lives.
"Design is like sex... no one taught me, but I've learned."
"Communication, community and collaboration...the first comes naturally to me, so the rest becomes easy."
"When I say 'best designer' I'm not talking about craft...I'm talking about mindset."
He is the author of “Design Sutra”, a collection of design principles for designers in the early stages of their careers. He founded the World-Class Designer School, home to the brightest design minds in Africa, supported by companies like Webflow, Framer, & Shopify; he also organised the World-Class Designer Conference, Africa's most diverse and inclusive design conference. Notable speakers included Debbie Millman, Marty Cagan, Randy Hunts and designers from Google, Facebook, Boeing, Visa & 40+ more.
Guidione holds a degree in Economics from St. Thomas University in Mozambique and an ongoing Honours in Interaction Design by Open Window in South Africa.
Learn more about Guidione and his work at https://guidionemachava.com/
Jesse Itemere @jesseitemere is the visual designer and illustrator behind the album artwork for Nairobi Yetu, a digital composition that memorializes and celebrates our city under the sun with typically "Nairobian" elements and symbols. In this episode, we discuss Jesse's background in Law & Development Studies, and passion for human-centered design, which brought to bear on the collective, creative process and style behind the resulting album cover.
"What makes Nairobi Nairobi?"
"The idea was... the roots of hip hop go back to New York, 1980s etc. What can we do to show that and how that could have influenced hip hop culture in Nairobi?"
Nairobi Yetu is a debut album by producer and rapper Blocka Beats @blochains_blocka, and was the soundtrack to the NDW2021 online festival.
If all designers globally aspire to create the same aesthetic, how can our designs represent the cultures they come from?
Batsirai Madzonga @batsimadz , designer of Sankofa Design System shares his inspirations & experiences. We discuss the process of creating, re-appropriating typography, iconography and color palettes and he talks about his mentor @sakimaf.
“I took inspiration from nature, for example, fractals, and it was interesting to explore and create patterns and geometry in UI design.”
“I’m trying to create digital experiences that users can easily connect with, because they seem familiar.”
We used the Sankofa font as the display font for this year's Nairobi Design Week theme 'Together' 💚
Find more of his work at madzonga.com
Venuste Kubwimana is the President and Secretary General of the International Transformation Foundation (ITF), based in Kenya and Rwanda. The formation of ITF was inspired by his troubled youth during the Rwanda Genocide in 1994. He strives to make the world a better place for the youth through ITF.
He won Global Innovator of the Year Award 2018 at the 10th Anniversary AIDF Global Summit in Washington DC and his project ‘A Water Kiosk at School’ was named among the top 50 innovations at the Africa Innovation Summit 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda.
This episode is part 5 of a 5 part series, in partnership with Open Design Afrika festival.
Check out our new visual identity and website at www.afrika.design !
We talk through Brian's experiences thus far in his career from internships to being part of a start-up.
Nsabimana Jean Claude is a visual artist and a contemporary storyteller. His interests lie in photography, film and video production and design.As a visual artist he believes one should be the voice for the voiceless. He uses his work as an activism tool. Jean Claude has won the Adobe Design Achievement Award in 2019 for Top Talent in Photography.He shares his upbringing, how living in 🇰🇪 Kenya and 🇿🇦 South Africa has influenced his life, the importance of storytelling about sustainability and more.This episode is part 3 of a 5 part series, in partnership with Open Design Afrika festival.
Her projects have informed thousands of girls on Menstrual Hygiene and new Menstrual Products.Benedicta Uweru is the founder @girls4developmentgoals , co-founder of @bennyandfreddylimited, a Supply Chain Pharmacist and Young Leader.She impacts communities through development projects around Sexual Reproductive Health (SRHR) with a focus on: Teenage Pregnancy, Menstrual Hygiene, Nutrition, Education and Capacity Development.Benedicta tells stories from her childhood to how she has gone to inspire so many at such a young age, the value of design to her work and differences between cups and pads.This episode is part 2 of a 5 part series, in partnership with Open Design Afrika festival.
'Sun from Kibera' is the debut album from Phinoshey, a self taught producer, writer, and rapper from Kenya. His musical inspiration pulls from hip-hop, soul, and jazz.We listen to the album with him and hear about the stories and relationships that influenced it. We're also joined by his friend and collaborator Brian Amimo who helped to arrange the album.Brought to you by Nairobi Design Week. Hosted by Adrian Jankowiak. Produced by Jarateng Sound Studios.
Blessing is a Google Certified Educator, Founder of 'The Innovative Child Network' and Ambassador for HundrED.org, and still studying for her Undergraduate degree. She's an inspiration to learners and teachers. The Innovative Child Network: https://www.ticnetwork.com.ng/ Blessing's LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blessingakpan/ HundrED.org Profile: https://hundred.org/en/users/blessing-akpan Afrika Design is the podcast partner for Open Design Afrika festival 2020. https://opendesignafrika.org/festival/