Design Innovation as a Sustainable Means to Raise Awareness of Ghana’s Indigenous Clothing Style

Purpose: Indigenous clothing is prioritised as part of Ghana’s cultural heritage because it promotes important traditions that sustain cultural identity and diversity. Although clothing has been used to express identity, yet little attention is given to the indigenous Ghanaian royal clothing styles due to the perception attached to it by the Ghanaian youth. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the ‘densikran’ clothing style, which reveals sections of the clothing and raises awareness of the Ghanaian traditional royal clothing adorning style. Methodology/Design: A design-led method was used, employing a studio-based approach and a stylised interpretation method to generate new development through practice. The approach involved simplification, exaggeration, distortion, abstraction, expressionism, and idealisation.    Findings: The study reveals that adinkra symbols illustrated in Adobe Photoshop transform creative concepts for innovative ‘Densinkran’ cloth design through Simplification, Exaggeration, Distortion, Abstraction, Expression, and Ideation. The hairstyle is used to communicate the status of queen mothers, and the ‘atete’ cloth piece has a string tied at the waist to prevent it from slipping down. Practical and Social Implications: The study highlights the potential to use Adobe Photoshop to illustrate adinkra symbols and create unique motifs for ‘Densikran’ cloth design. The process can streamline the design process, reduce the time and effort required to create intricate Adinkra designs. It propels the emergence of innovative products and services that incorporate custom fabric design, textile printing, and fashion design. Additionally, it preserves Ghana’s cultural heritage and empowers local communities to take ownership of their traditional knowledge and skills, thereby developing sustainable livelihoods. Originality: This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on Adinkra symbols and their application in design by developing a novel method of illustrating Adinkra symbols using Adobe Photoshop, creating a new design framework for ‘Densikran’ cloth designing, and providing new insights into the cultural significance of Adinkra symbols in the modern design context.