Symbols of the Shoreline – West African Inspired

A design that uses West African visual language to share ideas through natural symbols — fish, birds, leaves, and motion.This is a story of quiet understanding — the kind of knowing that lives in the body, in nature, and in the spaces between words.

Inspiration and Origin:

Inspired by Coastal West Africa textile traditions from Ghana, Benin, and Togo.

This minimal, earthy design reimagines traditional West African symbolic art into a crisp visual rhythm. The fish represent sustenance, the birds: awareness and movement, and the arrows: life in motion. These are not words, but signs that whisper meaning to those who listen.

📜 Synopsis of the Story:

Before stories were written, they were carved — not in books, but in cloth.

On the coast, people read without letters. They read the fish, the crab, the birds overhead. They read the zig-zags of waves and the curve of a leaf as it floated downriver. These signs passed between generations. They were not loud, but they were lasting.

This design is a reflection of that language — a series of quiet symbols gathered from sea and shore, placed in a sacred order that asks only this: Can you feel what it means before you try to name it?

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