Bothered by the negative portrayal of Africa in the media, I decided to create and publish on Instagram a new emoji every day of 2018 to show a different side of the continent. I named the project Zouzoukwa, which means "picture" in my mother tongue.

The project quickly gained popularity, capturing the attention of the international press and engaging a growing audience. What began as a personal initiative evolved into a shared community adventure, embraced by Ivorians and Africans alike who saw themselves represented in ways they hadn’t before in the digital space.

Two of the Zouzoukwa emojis were accepted by Unicode, and are now a part of the officiel set: Hamsa 🪬 and Pouring liquid 🫗.

Depositphotos results for Africa. Tribal patterns, wilderness, animals, children-looking-poor-but-happy, sad woman.

Genesis of the Project:
A Discomfort Caused by Stereotypes & their Impact

War, hunger, poverty: these are some of the themes too often associated with Africa, reducing it to its struggles.

Whether it's by the media or tech Africa is portrayed through a narrow lens of negativity. This distorted representation has impacted how many young ivorians see their own cultures, often turning away from them in favor of Western ideals.

This deeply disturbed me, and I sought a way to use my skills to promote our cultures—both to show Africans their value and to bridge the gap for non-Africans to discover the richness of our heritage.

“What If I Made Emojis?”

My desire to create something meaningful was always lingering in the back of my mind, though I hadn't fully focused on it. Then, in September 2017, something clicked. The emojis on my keyboard caught my attention during a conversation with a friend and suddenly seemed like the answer: “What if I made emojis?”

I headed straight to YouTube, watched a tutorial, and created my first emoji: the Zaouli. I loved the result, and that moment sparked the idea for a bigger project—create one emoji every day in 2018 and share it on Instagram.

First emoji that I made, Zaouli.

Creating Emojis Every Day for a Year

The idea was simple: assign a theme to each week and post one emoji a day. This approach kept the project engaging both for the community and myself.

I shared the emojis on Instagram, with recap posts on Twitter and Facebook on Sundays.

A Diversity of Themes

From food and hairstyles to transportation and traditional masks, the project explored various traditional and modern aspects of African cultures.

This journey created a unique library of emojis that, for the first time, authentically represented Africa in the digital space.

Joining Unicode

In 2020, I was contacted by Jennifer Daniel (a designer at Google) who saw Zouzoukwa and wanted to submit it some of my emojis to the Unicode Consortium, to include them to the official set.

Two of them were selected: Khamsa and Libation (named Pouring Liquid).

Continuing the journey

The Zouzoukwa journey is far from over. I aim to expand the library, representing more countries and creating a collection of authentic, unique emojis for organizations, companies, and individuals to use in their communications—all while keeping them free for personal use in everyday conversations.

While I still publish community-submitted emojis, my main focus now is developing a social app for the project, enhancing how people interact with and share these cultural symbols.

Inspired?

We’d love to collaborate with you on your next project.
Reach out to create something culturally rich and creatively impactful!

© 2019-2024 O'Plérou Studio