Clan & State (nation) symbols of the First Nations of South Africa.
2ND Year Graphic Design Students working with First Nation Tribes
Making the invisible visible Recovery, documentation & dissemination of Khoi San tribal and clan symbols.
The 2nd year Graphic Design students under the auspices of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems of the Built Environment Unit, (IKSBEU) headed by Prof. Magda Minguzzi have been working on a symbol design project with KhoiSan communities.
For their Interdisciplinary Studies KIS210 module Graphic Design 2nd year students are developing emblems to represent the following tribes: Inqua, Chainouqua Klaas Dorha, the Gamtobakwa as well as a logo for the IKSBEU.
Background to the project:
“Visual communication is not only a professional domain—it’s an active cultural practice shared by all.” - Angie Toppins.
The genesis to the current project goes back to 7 December 2022 and a meeting held with 3 Chiefs of the Inqua Tribe. Chief Margret Coetzee, Chief Brato and Chief Maleibar, at which we discussed how “design” has deep roots in Afrika, but we are (largely) not conscious of this fact. A common myth (according to the west) is that we are “primitive” because we don’t have writing systems. Graphic design is visual communication. People and communities throughout history have communicated ideas & values about who they are visually. These values communicated visually speak to the spirit, ethos and contexts said communities find themselves. They are a visual manifestation of what matters to them. All people communicate. All people have a visual language. The task is to make us aware and conscious of our visual languages (especially as Afrikans). Our totems and various symbols embody the spirit (ethos) that drive our people. The totems of our various clans, tribes and nations are in themselves visual languages. They are graphic design. There are meanings and values in our cultures which we:
Don’t know. Don’t understand. That are conveyed though these important symbols. How do we then learn to then teach and pass on this information to future generations? How to reconnect, to build pride through knowledge of our histories. What are these symbols? What are these totems? What do they represent? How do we conscientize ourselves through the symbols?
How do we interpret and embody these symbols with the necessary respect and professionalism they deserve, building on the ancient meanings and representations of the symbols, but looking at how they are to function and be applied in contemporary manner? Across various media platforms and settings? Thus, the discussions led us to realising that we are:
Un-earthing – visual identities
Documenting – visual languages, that are there but we need to excavate, document, and share the invisible.
We are communicating our values visually through signs and symbols. By bringing our visual language into focus.
We are busy with a restoration.
As stated by one of our collaboration partners for the project at the meeting:
“This work is to help us overcome our post-traumatic stress of colonization.” –
Chief Margret Coetzee. Inqua People.
Below are the four groups the students were divided into to work on the symbols.
NMU Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) of the Built Environment UNIT –
Fadane Dlongwana, Armanda Da Silva Ribeiro, Tharwat Hattas, Olwethu (Oh) Hlabiso And Christina Nel
Chainouqua Klaas Dorha Tribe -
Darren Joel, Madison Bright, Tlhalefo Mokalake, Lusanda Radebe, Micayla Ann Thackeray
Inqua Tribe
Emma Berry, Siphokazi Magayiyana, Constance Sekoate, Brooke Van Niekerk
Gamtobakwa –
Hannah Berry, Sinothando Mnomiya, Jemma Orpen, Atlegang Senosi, Klerike Heystek
The project commenced May 2025, with leaders from the various indigenous communities coming to brief the students on their tribes’ histories, where they are based, the symbols associated with them and educating the students about indigenous ways of being. It was a very enlightening engagement as the indigenous leaders were teaching the students about their, indigenous values and core principals, which many of us did not know about. This very important information was to form the basis of the research the students embarked on to design the symbols.
This project is situated within the following themes of pluriversal design.
Theme 2: Respectful Relationality
Theme 4: Pluriversal Design Research
Theme 5: Pluriversal Communication.
Within that, the 10 Big Ideas of Pluriversal Design underpin the content:
1) Every community practices the design of itself, independent of expert knowledge. People in communities are practitioners of their own knowledge;
2) Unlike modernist traditions, relational approaches to design address multiple ways in which things are connected: nature and culture; mind and body; us and them;
3) Design is with, and by people, not for people. The role of the designer when working in a culture is that of facilitator, not decider. Designers should also disclose their intent when observing another culture;
4) There is no one universal design history;
5) Designers need radical empathy in the design process;
6) The studio is not the only place where design happens;
7) Designers need to design for resilience;
8) Design can ensure the preservation of marginalized cultures;
9) Designers should understand what industry means at micro- and macro-levels and at a range of production scales;
10) Designers need to “read” cultural values in the stories that communities share.
The students have presented their designs, which have been approved. This is the first iteration of this project, and it is hoped that once we have a “proof of concept” so to speak other groups will be part of this very important work going forward.
Nii Commey Botchway
Lecturer & Programme Coordinator: BVA Graphic Design
Department of Visual Arts
Briefing KhoiSan Chiefs tribes to 2nd year Graphic Design students 16 May 2025