Dear NOIR FAM, We present to you, the NOIR Co emblem!
After a year-long search for the right visual designer, the NOIR Labs team engaged South African multidisciplinary artist, Vukile Batyi, who was recently featured on Beyonce’s Black Parade list. Batyi, best known for his work with MaXhosa Africa, has been working closely with NOIR Labs Founder, Lolade Siyonbola, for several months to define our visual identity, producing assets such as the noirpress typeface logo, and now the NOIR Co emblem.
In the following exchange, I seek to understand from both Lolade and Vukile the origins and philosophy behind the emblem, and the process that produced it.
noirpress: How did you come up with the original hexagon design?
Lolade Siyonbola: Branding is extremely important to us at NOIR Co. We have taken our time to develop branding assets that are longevitous, gorgeous, that will translate in any system and in any community to indicate luxury, quality, breadth, depth, rigor, and the highest possible standard of beauty and power.
That being said, this design process, like most things at NOIR Labs, has been Divinely guided. I started out desiring iconography in the school of Deep Shape founder Nertil Muhaxhiri. We will likely still design icons along this energy, but I mainly wanted geometric design that activates the light within. I knew that had to come from some significant geometry, but I wasn’t sure what shape we’d use. I also knew we had to incorporate intentional African symbolism. I’m obsessed with textile design, so I went straight to the symbolism on many of our batiks and wax print fabrics.
np: What is the significance of the shape?
LS: It represents the Portal to African Intelligence. When Uzo Obiocha joined our team and we later secured Vukile as our Visual Designer, Uzo asked me what shapes I was drawn to for the 3D design I was looking for. I kept seeing stars and diamonds, which I’ve long held an affinity to. Uzo then introduced me more intentionally to Sacred Geometry, which we spent some time researching. When I saw and read about the Merkaba, my Spirit said yes. It felt like home.
np: What is the Merkaba?
LS: The Merkaba, whose Egyptian name translates to “light, spirit and body,” helps us to activate the true, loving and divine nature we were created with. It’s also known as a Star Tetrahedron, and considered a vehicle of light and ascension by scholars of Sacred Geometry. We see its origins in Ancient Egypt and in Ezekiel 1:4, in the Bible, where it was used as a tool for ascension, a geometric and energetic representation of the human body, heaven and earth, male and female.
Every time I see our emblem, I’m energized. When Vukile first sent the accepted version, I literally couldn’t sleep, I was so energized. And that’s been the case with other artwork we’ve created with related symbolism, which we’ll share soon.
np: How do you want the community to interact with the emblem?
LS: Spending time with the Merkaba symbol helps us to connect with our Higher Selves and align our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical bodies, which is what we at NOIR Labs want for our community. Ultimately our fight for equity as Black people is spiritual and technological. We have to liberate ourselves, using innate spiritual truths that we can codify through design symbolism and technology. Just beholding the Merkaba symbol is believed to activate energies that liberate you from within. The indigenous symbolism emboldens and intensifies that activation. We recommend spending time with the image daily, meditating on it, studying it’s meticulous design.
np: How did you move from the original pentagon to the hieroglyphic-like image?
LS: We always knew that whatever futuristic iconography we went with, it would have to be infused with the African intelligence found in our traditional pictographic symbolism, or hieroglyphs. We searched the web for textile patterns that resonated with the energy we sought to capture and Vukile took it from there.
np: How did you move from the original pentagon to the hieroglyphic-like image?
Vukile Batyi: The direction for the Star Tetrahedron was to create a symbol which translates well from 2D to 3D forms. Lolade wanted to superimpose various patterns on the 2D icon. For consistency, it made sense to follow the 2D to 3D design cue, thus incorporating the hieroglyphics inspired by Egyptian stone carving & writing.
I also envisioned this as something futuristic like the iconic 3D “Watch The Throne” album artwork, originally a textile designed by Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy (/).
np: Did you iterate on the design or was there early agreement on the reworked emblem?
VB: I think the idea was always there, in terms of what the symbol should mean and represent, it was just a matter of researching to find the perfect mark which reflects all these ideas. We did a few modifications to the mark to give it a NOIR Labs style and character.
np: How do you see using this hieroglyphic and turning it into a motif that spans across all of NOIR’s brands?
VB: As mentioned above, the idea was not only to create compelling graphics but rather expand the brand’s visual language through various mediums. The creative assets allow us the flexibility to adapt to any medium while communicating brand messaging without losing consistency and integrity.
The emblem will be available soon on exclusive NOIR Co swag–t-shirts, bags, masks you name it. Be sure to join our Tribe mailing list to be the first to know.
What do you think of our NOIR Co emblem? Let us know in the comments!
Read more about the Merkaba here.
Learn more about NOIR Co, the NOIR Co emblem and Portal to African Intelligence at our NOIR FAM Reunion on Sunday, Sept 13th at noon EST.