We have had the pleasure of rebranding Oildata, an oil services company, and Xenergi, an energy company over the last couple of months. This has to be one of favourite projects of the year and you will surely be seeing a lot more from both companies. Oildata is smart, straight talking and sophisticated. Xenergi, clean, eccentric and very forward thinking.
I can never get tired of the material Cassava Republic put out there, a new book, new cover art, new ideologies. This time it’s the beautifully hand drawn cover art for Kemi’s Journal and Zack’s Story.
What does your name mean?
All sorts of things but mostly it means we work where lions are made. That’s right, a den.
Are you expensive?
Yes, however we might be persuaded. We do take on a pro-bono project once every other quarter for non profit organisations, depending on our availability. You simply have to tell us what you need and how we can help – then sit back and grit your teeth in anticipation of our response. It’s worth a shot and our little bit of good will.
Who is inden?
Inden was founded in 2003 by Ebi Atawodi and Eva Wan. We also work with other stellar designers on bigger projects – we call this our band of merry designer friends.
So there are just two of you?
Yes and no, the core of inden is Ebi, Eva and Gadafi for all our legal bits, then there is the band of merry designers. The thing is, we are quite fussy about the kind of work we take on and we wouldn’t want to have to take on work just to keep a big business out of the reds. By staying small we are able to offer the intimacy and personality of a smaller agency and at a pretty darn good budget. Most importantly it ensures we are extremely passionate about what we put out there.
Where are you based?
Ebi is all over the world but mostly in Lagos, Abuja or London. Eva is based in Norwich and Oxford, sometimes she’s out at sea for days..months even. All our other merry friends are scattered across the globe.
What can you do?
We are a multidisciplinary creative agency and work on anything from identity to digital and environmental design – this means brand identities, book design, brochures, letterheads, websites, signage and beautiful printed matter. Ebi is a bit of a geek and loves experimenting with Artificial Intelligence and information visualisation. Eva is all about green energy and is all for the planet.
What is your style?
We like to keep things simple and are minimalists at heart. But no we don’t have a “style”, design shouldn’t. It’s problem solving.
So, really all I want to know is how much do you charge?
We offer creative services and not cookie cutter solutions – we know everyone says this but really there is a reason. It’s sort of like asking how much is a house? This means to give you a quotation we need to explore your business, the problem and look at some solutions, timelines and your budget. This process tends to take up to 2 weeks at least. We take a selective 4 projects on at any time. In most cases you should be looking to spend £3000 at least.
I have an interesting project I want you to pitch for. Do you pitch for projects?
To put it simply no. If you’re willing to pay we’re willing to work.
We’ve just finished the redesign of the website for Detail Solicitors. They were quite clear on what they wanted – simple, black and white, straight to the point, no imagery. Very inden.
Minimalism isn’t as straight forward as it may seem, the trick really is to design and then cut out as much as possible. Here’s a sneak peek. Always great to hear your thoughts.
Image Courtesy: Afrobeat by Giuseppe Salerno
Afrobeat is not something that requires an introduction in Nigeria. We live and breathe Afrobeat, it’s the culmination of Nigerian music during the trying times of post independence and military rule. At the heart of Afrobeat is the revered Fela Anikulapo Kuti. A man who seemed to have sung about everything from Zombies to Water. We love you Fela.
Now this is a blog on Design, and in most cases Design in Nigeria. So why all this talk about Afrobeat you might wander? Well Afrobeat has also come to refer to a font created by Giuseppe Salerno inspired by Afrobeat. In Salerno’s words:.
“The pounding tribal rhythms of Afrobeat music is expressed through this psychedelic brand new font, Afrobeat. Every letter becomes art as every letter is elegantly placed side by side, like music notes, creating music for the eyes.”
There is also a free poster and you can read more about Afrobeat by going to the website.
I’m a sucker for anything that steps away from “the trend”. The last two sunday papers for Thisday and 234 Next have featured an A1 poster by Etisalat showing a typographical illustrated map of Nigeria and the states currently covered by the network.
Whilst a little bit of attention could have been paid to kerning and line-height, I commend the creativity. Well done guys, I think the agency behind this is 141 Worldwide. Very clever!
– Ebi Atawodi
Following Glo’s not so Biiiig Dash and their incessant marketing text messages (with no option to opt out, Glo do something about this). You can imagine my utter delight when I received a message last night about “the new Glo website”. Whilst the “world-class design and functionality” excerpt from said text message seems a bit of an over statement, there just isn’t room for complacency in the web world, I have to give Glo a much deserved thumbs up.
We’ve been working on quite a few visual systems these last few months leading into the Yuletide. We’ve recently finished the logo for Photography Studio, Studioflow. We went for a simple typography based logo to keep it clean and versatile and have devised a simple typography system across a number of their photographs to create some self promotional material.
Website, stationery and some good ol’ print goodness coming soon. And of course we’d love to hear your thoughts.
With the build up to Nigeria at 50 and the whole rebrand project coming along, the book “In Dependence” by Sarah Ladipo Manyika really did have me wondering what was beneath the covers. Not just because of the name and the story but the clever book cover design.
Design Nigeria is powered by Wordpress and designed by Ebi Atawodi. The type is set in the timeless Helvetica and gorgeous Georgia. All featured Designs are courtesy the respective artists.
Design Nigeria is the journal of Nigerian design agency inden. It focuses on all things design related and more often Design in Nigeria.
