tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post117282697217576850..comments2024-03-14T05:19:03.379-05:00Comments on Koranteng's Toli: Types and FacesKorantenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280138409675883100noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-68567947444105673662020-02-11T21:49:31.874-06:002020-02-11T21:49:31.874-06:00Apparently Paul Nugent managed to get the cover he...Apparently Paul Nugent managed to get the cover he deserved for the <a href="https://twitter.com/GeorgeNugybaby/status/1227298285364314115" rel="nofollow">second edition of his book</a>.Korantenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05280138409675883100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-21522611718580517432008-11-10T11:01:00.000-06:002008-11-10T11:01:00.000-06:00Thanks for writing this.Thanks for writing this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-57424467564239243482008-09-29T06:40:00.000-05:002008-09-29T06:40:00.000-05:00Great article, totally agree, as authors in genera...Great article, totally agree, as authors in general and particularly authors of African descent, the subtle (or unsubtle) syntax that is used to depict who and what we are to a 'wider' audience can be worrying, or just plain curious. A pet bug bear for me was the cover of Patrick Neate's Msungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko, which I ranted about for years... Check it out...<BR/><BR/>http://www.amazon.co.uk/Musungu-Jim-Great-Chief-Tuloko/dp/0140286551/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222688125&sr=8-4Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11046447816243691413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-32453398059573031992007-03-26T09:34:00.000-05:002007-03-26T09:34:00.000-05:00Here is a post at BoingBoing that uses an image th...<A HREF="http://www.boingboing.net/2007/03/25/xeni_im_headed_to_we.html" REL="nofollow" TITLE="">Here is a post at BoingBoing that uses an image that gave me a chuckle</A>. The moment I saw it, I thought to myself that I had to share.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11502868527688437746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-1174009734983509302007-03-15T21:48:00.000-05:002007-03-15T21:48:00.000-05:00Nate adds further twists to the tale:Rooibos tea ....Nate adds further twists to the tale:<BR/><BR/>Rooibos tea ... I love how it's being (re)Africanized, despite the initial name -- the first Dutch settlers in S. Africa had a shakeresque austerity when it came to naming the flora: rooibos = "red bush"; grootboom = "big tree".<BR/><BR/>The first rooibos packaging I saw, brought back by a roommate during college, had a sort of dowdy victorian design, but very british. A few years later a S. African guy gave me some Lipton rooibos, in the standard multinational quasi-American packaging. The box from your scan reminds me of a lot of the designs (batiks especially) I saw in Zimbabwe, where, at the time, there seemed to be a good synergy between "artsy" white entrepreneurs and skilled local artisans, in producing beautiful objects that were also appealing to more westernized decorative sensibilities.Korantenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05280138409675883100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-1173080577982440542007-03-05T01:42:00.000-06:002007-03-05T01:42:00.000-06:00Loaded questions... Let's take a pass at walking t...Loaded questions... Let's take a pass at walking through them.<BR/><BR/>I quite like the Neuland and Lithos fonts - aesthetically and otherwise. Also they do their job so effectively that most don't notice what are now obvious signposts. In pointing out what was beneath the surface I was simply being curious not criticizing.<BR/><BR/>Similarly I'm not against showing loinclothes, pygmies and the like. That has been an integral aspect of some parts of Africa and obviously André Gide saw those things in his travels. I like the notion of what you see is what you get. To answer: I like all the covers except the Nugent book. <BR/><BR/>On the question of design, a couple of anecdotes:<BR/><BR/>At the grocery store the other day I was looking for some pita bread and picked up the brand whose package had lettering that looked vaguely Arabic. It was only when I looked more closely at the label that I noticed that this was something out of Illinois. I guess I was looking for something Lebanese or similar - authenticity in other words, in the split second when I cast my eyes across the aisle. Indeed the Lebanese brand did have Arabic lettering (less prominent than our mid-western version) - I wish I could decipher the differences between the two. Just for kicks I tried out the American version and it seemed fine to my admittedly uncouth palate.<BR/><BR/>Over Christmas, I watched a cousin trying to put together a commemorative book for the Ghana at 50 celebrations and her design process. Her initial tools: a touch of kente, a few Adinkra symbols, the customary red, gold, green and the black star of our flag and a stool. Those designs worked for me, they conveyed the essence of the book succinctly. She wasn't entirely happy however and eventually settled on more subtle design. <BR/><BR/>I would hazard that the cover of Nugent's book could stand in for the world's perceptions of Africa in any era, whether before or after independence.<BR/><BR/>My favourite saying is that there are 3 centuries of history taking place simultaneously in Africa and in most of the developing world. What is interesting is the emphasis that seems to be most popular: the traditional, the almost nativist and, on occasion, the infantile (think Lost Boys, helpless kids etc). There isn't much focus on the more modern aspects.<BR/><BR/>It begs the question of course: what a cover is meant to do? If it is simply to illustrates the content then on Nugent in particular it is entirely misleading, for the story of Africa since independence that he tells is of complex struggle to bring modernity the continent. I'd be more happy seeing say a panoramic view of Lagos embodying the messiness of the post-colonial story. I'd be happier, even if its a little cynical, to have covers reflect military rule, personality cults (say a rally at the height of Mobutu's reign), civil wars, famines even etc. The savanna is mentioned hardly in the book, unless in passing about how some economies rely on tourism, and possibly in environmental issues.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, if the cover is simply to signal that this is Africa-related, then I guess it does a fine job. <BR/><BR/>In any case, the attractive, mostly scantily-clad women who proliferate in beer commercials, car advertisements and the like, signal the supposed potency of the product they move, and have little to do with the products themselves. That is fair, attractiveness or exoticism is a signifier and it works. <BR/><BR/>Lastly, and I don't know why I'm going on at such length, I've been monitoring Flickr periodically to get a sense of the visual Zeitgeist concerning Africa - perhaps worth writing about the evolution at some point. Looking at the current top 200 <A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/africa/interesting/" REL="nofollow">most 'interesting' photos tagged Africa</A> you won't see much modernity. There were 65 photos of wild animals - the largest category, about 50 were landscapes (savanna or desert, pastoral scenes of the African south), the rest were mostly kids (we all love photos of kids), ceremonies and initiation rites (with the obligatory bare breasts etc). There were a couple of disturbing ones (skulls marking sites of Rwandan genocide), a Sierra Leonean amputee)... <BR/><BR/>I'm not being very scientific I know, but back in 2004 it was almost all wildlife and landscapes possibly 90%, holiday pics I guess. I'll handwave that there has been an evolution but I'll leave analysis to others.<BR/><BR/>It is all very interesting.Korantenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05280138409675883100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-1173038883633173592007-03-04T14:08:00.000-06:002007-03-04T14:08:00.000-06:00This is all very interesting... but I keep wonderi...This is all very interesting... but I keep wondering, what typeface and cover would please you? For Nugent's book, for instance? Are there any examples that you definitely like?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-1172897690741032422007-03-02T22:54:00.000-06:002007-03-02T22:54:00.000-06:00Wow....A white tooth has a bloody root....thx brot...Wow....A white tooth has a bloody root....thx brother....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com