# Adinkra & Kente Symbol Systems > The Akan textile languages of Ghana. In adinkra, named symbols carrying proverbs (Gye Nyame, Sankofa, Dwennimmen) are stamped in black with carved calabash stamps on cloth ruled into squares; kente is narrow-strip cloth woven in named warp-faced blocks of gold, green, red and blue and sewn into checkerboards. Pattern is a vocabulary: each motif and colour is chosen for its meaning. - Period: 1700–present - Where: Sub-Saharan Africa - Origin: Asante kingdom (Kumasi, Ntonso, Bonwire) and Ewe weaving towns, Ghana - Branch: Traditions & vernacular - Also known as: Adinkra cloth, Kente (nwentoma), Akan textile symbols - Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/adinkra-kente/ ## Use it with care Adinkra symbols and kente patterns are named, proverb-bearing Akan heritage, and some kente designs were historically reserved for the Asantehene and royal lineages. Learn each symbol's meaning before use, keep sacred signs such as Gye Nyame out of trivial or demeaning contexts, and commission or credit Ghanaian stampers and weavers (for example in Ntonso and Bonwire) rather than printing faux kente. ## How it works - Rule the field into a grid of squares with combed bands and fill each square with one repeated stamped symbol. - Choose each symbol for its named proverb or meaning and keep its canonical silhouette. - Build kente fields from narrow strips of interlocking warp-faced blocks, offsetting alternate strips into a checkerboard. - Work in saturated gold, green, red and black, choosing colours for their symbolic associations. - Stamp motifs in a single dark dye so they read as crisp silhouettes against the cloth. ## Its design choices Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then. ### Layout & composition - [Modular grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/modular-grid/) (defining) - [All-over field](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-over-field/) (characteristic) - [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (characteristic) - [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (characteristic) ### Space & hierarchy - [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (defining) - [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (characteristic) - [Flat hierarchy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-hierarchy/) (characteristic) ### Typography - [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional) ### Colour - [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (defining) - [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (characteristic) - [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (characteristic) - [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (characteristic) - [Complementary clash](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/complementary-clash/) (occasional) ### Form & shape - [Pictogram](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pictogram/) (defining) - [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (characteristic) - [Angular & zigzag](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/angular-and-zigzag/) (characteristic) - [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (characteristic) - [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (occasional) ### Surface & texture - [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic) - [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (characteristic) ### Ornament - [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (defining) - [Abundant decoration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/abundant-decoration/) (characteristic) - [Geometric tessellation](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-tessellation/) (characteristic) - [Rules & bars](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rules-and-bars/) (characteristic) - [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (occasional) ### Imagery - [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (defining) - [Icons & pictograms](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/icons-and-pictograms/) (defining) ### Medium & production - [Textile & craft](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/textile-and-craft/) (defining) - [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (characteristic) ### Tone & intent - [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (characteristic) - [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (characteristic) - [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (characteristic) Avoids: Dynamic asymmetry, Naturalistic depiction, Illusion of depth, Generous white space, Gradients, Straight photography Palette: #e3a51c, #1d7a3c, #b52a1f, #151412, #7d3a1f, #efe2c4 Typefaces: Adinkra stamped glyphs as a pictographic set, Ghanaian hand-painted sign lettering for accompanying text Known for: Adinkra cloth collected by Thomas E. Bowdich in Kumasi, 1817 (British Museum); Ntonso adinkra stampers, Ashanti Region; Bonwire kente weavers, Ashanti Region; Ewe kente weavers of Agotime-Kpetoe and Agbozume; Kwame Nkrumah's kente at Ghana's independence (1957); El Anatsui (kente-inspired metal 'cloths') ## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to - Alike in its design choices: [Bògòlanfini Mud Cloth](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bogolanfini.md) (1900–present), 76% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Andean Woven Graphic Systems](https://stylogeny.com/styles/andean-woven-graphics.md) (c. 600–present), 75% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Amazigh Sign System & Tifinagh](https://stylogeny.com/styles/amazigh-sign-system.md) (c. 0–present), 71% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Pacific Barkcloth (Tapa) Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/pacific-tapa.md) (1700–present), 71% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Sápmi Graphic Identity (Duodji & Gákti Colour Code)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/sami-duodji.md) (1600–present), 70% alike - Alike in its design choices: [Ndebele Geometric Painting](https://stylogeny.com/styles/ndebele-painting.md) (1940–present), 68% alike ## Real works - [Adinkra cloth with the Dutch royal arms](https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/605114): Unknown Asante (Akan) adinkra stamper and painter, before 1825 (sent from Elmina to The Hague in 1825), Wereldmuseum Leiden, RV-360-1700 (via Wikimedia Commons) - [Cloth (adinkra) collected by Thomas Edward Bowdich in Kumase](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1818-1114-23): Unknown Asante adinkra stamper (the British Museum catalogues it as Asante/Dagomba), before 1817 (collected in 1817), British Museum, Af1818,1114.23 - [Man's kente (prestige cloth)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/85576): Asante-Akan artist, 19th century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art - [Cotton wrapper with stamped adinkra squares (Katoenen wikkeldoek met geometrische motieven)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Katoenen_wikkeldoek_met_geometrische_motieven_TMnr_4254-5.jpg): Unknown Asante adinkra stamper, before 1975 (museum dating), Wereldmuseum Amsterdam (Tropenmuseum), TM-4254-5 (photograph on Wikimedia Commons) ## Sources - https://britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/28/adinkra-from-kumase-to-the-british-museum/ - Doran H. Ross, Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity (UCLA Fowler Museum, 1998) - W. Bruce Willis, The Adinkra Dictionary (1998) --- From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Adinkra & Kente Symbol Systems”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/adinkra-kente/