Building a brand to accompany West Africa’s cultural renaissance.

All too frequently, people tend to perceive West African art as merely an exotic curiosity, or something to be observed from a distance, rather than as a vibrant and integral part of a living, breathing culture. 

I led on the creation of the Museum of West African Art’s (MOWAA) brand and website. Starting with the goal to change the narrative and allow MOWAA to stand shoulder to shoulder with the worlds most recognisable and established cultural institutions.

The ambitious challenge was to accelerate their profile, from a relative unknown in the heart of Benin City to a global player in the art and culture space, culminating in MOWAA hosting a pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

The visual identity was informed by pre-colonial Edo architecture to help inform the visual design. These communal spaces were prevalent in pre-colonial Benin City and often featured sweeping curved arches and extended features. The logo itself can be stacked or aligned horizontally and forms the basis of any typographic grids.

To reflect MOWAA’s offer as a hub of historical heritage and a driving force of modernity we in turn mixed these historic influences with modern, digital focused design practices to create a brand and website that was mindful and proud of it’s past but always looking ahead to it’s future.

Following the launch of the brand, MOWAA went on to secure further investment, partner with Christies and of course represent Nigeria at the 2024 Venice Biennale.

Press
ItsNiceThat
Brand New
The Brand Identity
Brand the Change

We developed the IA, UX and digital visual system for MOWAA’s digital presence. Supplying the coding team with detailed and organised Figma files that reflected how the brand should behave and look in a digital environment.