Adinkra
アディンクラ / 19th century– / Style / Symbol Systems
The Akan compressed their proverbs into figures and stamped them onto cloth with gourd blocks. One shape carries one thought, which makes the set a working graphic language.
At a glance
Visual cues
- Figures that carry proverbs
- Gourd-stamp printing
- Repeating grids
- Cloth of mourning and rite
Best used for
- Studying icon systems where one shape has to carry one idea
- Cloth and packaging patterns whose meaning accumulates through repeated stamping
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Separate figure from caption, scale each sign until it stands alone
- Composition
- Even grid, a different figure per block so meanings sit in parallel
- Material
- Keep the skips and ink variation of stamping, let the weave show
- Caution
- Choosing figures for their shape without checking meaning sets proverbs against each other and makes the wearer say something they never intended.
- Further study
- Gye Nyame and Sankofa / the mapping of proverb to sign / reuse in contemporary identity
Related entries
- Kente (ケンテ)Shared effects: Trust.Compare Adinkra and Kente
- Isotype (アイソタイプ)Shared effects: Trust / Intimacy.Compare Adinkra and Isotype
More from Symbol Systems
Continue through styles in the same Symbol Systems family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Kamon (家紋)Shared effects: Trust / Calm.
- Braille (点字)Shared effects: Trust / Intimacy.
- Care Symbols (洗濯表示)Shared effects: Trust / Intimacy.
Browse all Symbol Systems entries
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- Link
- https://indexstyle.org/styles/adinkra
- Markdown
- [Adinkra — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/adinkra)
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- <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/adinkra">Adinkra — IndexStyle</a>