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Àga
Creating a new visual identity for an African-focused lifestyle and design brand.

Summary
Dream-Ming was tasked to create the visual identity for Àga, a premium design and lifestyle brand that takes inspiration from culture and everyday living in Africa, particularly the Yoruba people. The brand name– Àga—is the Yoruba word for a functional object or furniture piece. The brand focuses on homewares and accessories that fuse contemporary design and Afrocentric roots with minimalist aesthetics, known as Afrominima. Dream-Ming created an identity toolkit allowing Àga to communicate the essence of its cultural heritage in a contemporary manner.

Challenge
While Àga had an existing visual identity, the brand was still in its infancy and there was little communications foundation upon which to build upon. Dream-Ming understood that in this early stage, the brand was naturally in a state of flux, constantly and rapidly evolving as it seeks to establish its identity and place in the market. Dream-Ming needed to keep this in mind when pursuing direction for its work. While still in its early stages, the brand had ambitions to go beyond tableware and kitchenware, and the identity had to act as a way to guide Àga’s founders in their business development and be versatile enough to adjust to these ambitions. As the Àga Concept aims to communicate a cultural heritage in a contemporary manner, Dream-Ming needed to consider this juxtaposition in its approach to the brand identity.

Strategy and Creative Development
Working with this young brand, Dream-Ming understood that the most effective approach was not a conventional consolidation and capturing of the existing brand message. Instead, Dream-Ming’s discovery stage pushed Àga’s founders to reflect on their vision and brand purpose and to hone in on the right meaning. From this emerged Aga’s a two-fold approach. The first is how Àga uses existing attributes in Yoruba culture to suggest collections of products for contemporary living. The second, is how Àga observes modern-day living to offer a uniquely African, or Yoruba, twist–much like Scandinavian or Japanese design influences today. In both cases, there is a focus on African contemporary lifestyles which the creative identity needed to communicate. As Aga is a brand born in Africa’s history, its present, and future, and an experience closely connected to Yoruba, Dream-Ming deeply explored this identity to ensure the creative direction held true to these characteristics.

Execution
Each facet of the creative identity is closely tied to elements of Yoruba culture. Now with a capital ‘A’, the logo stands for Africa and provides links its past heritage, as well as communicating a modern identity. The strokes surrounding the word ‘Àga’ are influenced by tribal marks on the face and body, historically used by Yoruba people, which carried strong aesthetic meaning as well as added beauty. Similarly, the shape of the accent on the ‘A’ and the emphasis of its tip refers to Aga’s signature product design, where an emphasis of colour is placed at the tip of the product. The yellow, in addition to the contemporary typography, was chosen to add a twist and freshness, highlighting a modern Africa. In certain printed mediums an embossed effect can be used, spotlighting the Yoruba tribal marks. While showcasing a strong sense of both Yoruba and African character, the visual identity is adaptable and scalable enough to support brand developing brand activities including new offers, products, and services.

Results
The resulting identity is something Aga can use in its current brand stage and can grow in the with the brand short-term. The visual identity perfectly communicates how the Àga Concept aims to become a gateway to the emerging African Identity, shaping African modern living through design and innovation.


Lagos, Nigeria ART X Lagos
Agency Dream Ming Singapore
Strategist Lili Chieng de Montal
Creative Director Elena Marchese
Designer Maria Marangolo
Dream Ming Singapore, Courtesy of Ága