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What's behind the GrioTees Logo?

I know I can’t be the only one in the world that loves to find meaning in different things.  I probably annoy my friends because they can see the wheels turning in my head ask I’m asking “but what does this all mean?”

I wanted a logo that conveyed the concepts of warmth, and African heritage, so you see the African continent and you see the rich colors warm color hues that were used.

I also wanted the logo to convey communication.  And since GrioTees is about the beauty of African forms of communication, I thought it would be great to feature the ancient African symbols that had meaning and helped to communicate.  

Many people are familiar with the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics (Ankh, eye. Etc) of Africa (yes Egypt is in Africa!) but may not know there are other symbolic forms of communication coming from the continent. So that’s East Africa.  Let’s go to West Africa.  There’s the Adinkra symbols from Ghana (featured in the logo is the symbol called Name Dua which is Tree of God and essentially means God’s protection). AND!  From Nigeria, there’s Nsibidi, in which ancient Igbo people used to communicate and etch into their fabric. I selected the symbol that means “congress, or a meeting” which is what I envision people doing when they speak to one another.  And there’s the Bantu peoples’ languages that cover large parts of Southern Africa.  The symbol that is geometric in shape means conversation and is reminiscent of the brightly colored geometric shapes that the Ndebele women in Southern Africa used to paint their homes.  So cool, right?

And then there’s the chat bubble in the middle with the three dots—-which represent modern day communication lol.

There you have it.  Enjoy and rock your shirt with pride!

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