Design the Identity for a West African Streetwear Label With No Western Reference Points

Most African streetwear brands are doing one of two things: applying aso-oke prints to hoodies that are otherwise Supreme, or leaning so hard into pan-African symbolism that the work becomes a mood board rather than a brand. Both approaches are still oriented towards a Western reference point, either borrowing its format or reacting against it. This brief asks a harder question: what does streetwear look like if it grows from Accra, Lagos, Abidjan, or Dakar on its own terms? That means researching the actual visual culture of those cities: how young people dress on the street, what typography appears on bus parks and market stalls and political posters, what the material culture of informal economies looks like. Your deliverable is a brand identity system for a fictional label. It should include: a name, a logo or wordmark, a colour system, a type treatment, and three to five brand rules that explain the visual logic. Add at least two mockups showing the identity on garments or packaging. Write a one-page brand rationale explaining every major decision and naming the specific West African visual references you drew on. Good work will be traceable. A reviewer should be able to look at your rationale and then look at your design and see the connection. Generic Kente geometry applied to a sans-serif grid is not a pass. Specific, researched, original visual thinking is.