African Icon Library — drawing everyday African life properly
An open design resource for African people, places, objects and everyday life, created because too many products still rely on generic imported symbols that do not look like the people using them.
Why This Matters
When you open popular icon libraries (Font Awesome, Feather Icons, Material Icons), you see icons for pizza, hamburgers, baseball, American football. Where are the icons for jollof rice, suya, fufu? Where's the okada (motorcycle taxi)? Where's the kente cloth pattern?
"Representation in design tools isn't a nice-to-have. It's infrastructure. If African designers can't find culturally relevant icons, they either make do with Western alternatives or spend hours creating from scratch. Neither is acceptable."
What I Built
100+ SVG Icons
Culturally relevant icons inspired by African heritage, daily life, and contemporary culture. Food, transportation, patterns, symbols, objects, activities.
Figma Community Resource
Published on Figma Community for designers looking for culturally relevant African iconography in their product and brand work.
Design System Ready
Consistent stroke width, size, and style. Works alongside existing icon libraries. Easy to customize.
Community Contributions
Open to submissions from African designers. Growing library through community collaboration.
Design Principles
- Cultural Authenticity — Icons should reflect real African contexts, not stereotypes
- Contemporary Relevance — Africa today, not colonial-era imagery
- Practical Use — Icons designers actually need for real projects
- Technical Excellence — Professional quality, optimized SVG, scalable
Impact
Part of a Broader Mission
The African Icon Library is part of a broader effort to create authentic African design resources.
Retna
African stock photography marketplace I co-founded. Empowering Africans to tell African stories through authentic, high-quality visual content.
Design Community Building
Mentoring African designers, creating resources, sharing knowledge about designing for African contexts.
The Bigger Picture
This isn't just about icons. It's about infrastructure for African designers to build products that feel authentic to African users. When we build with tools that reflect our reality, we create better products. When we normalize African contexts in design resources, we shift the global design conversation.
Outcome
100+ icons used across 35+ countries. Published on Figma Community.
