Lifestyle
Afro emojis app: offers culturally diverse stickers
A Nigerian-American tech team has developed “Afro Emojis”, which are culturally diverse stickers, which allow users to express themselves “realistically”. Afro emoji stickers can be downloaded for free and additional stickers can be purchased for $1.99 from Google Playstore and Apple’s App Store.
The recently launched multicultural African emojis application, developed for both Android and Apple users has been well received on Google Playstore and Apple’s App Store. The captioned “Afro Emoji” are described by its developers as “stickers”, which allow users to express themselves “realistically”.
The application was developed by a Nigerian-American team, led by Ayoola Daramola. Daramola describes the project to Huffington Post, saying: “We, as Africans, definitely have an idiosyncratic way of communicating with one another, and Afro Emoji is really a fun, accessible graphic depiction of that. We are building a modern African hieroglyph that represents us”.
The application launched in January contains a wide variety of characters clad in traditional African attires, with captions of various well-known West African expressions. There is a provision which provides an English meaning to each caption.
Afro emoji stickers Photo: Afro Emoji
The phrases include: “ Abeg Abeg Abeg” (Please, Please, Please), “Abeg no vex” (Please don’t be annoyed), “Abeg no make me laugh!” (Please don’t make me laugh), “I Dey Church” (I’m at Church) and “Akwaaba” amongst others.
The app can be downloaded for free and additional stickers can be purchased for $1.99 each.
The stickers have been well received, with positive reviews on Google Playstore. A user, Tosin Music wrote: “This is indeed a cultural elevation for the 21st century computer users, especially Africans at home and abroad. It’s quite a treat to have the Afro Emoji. Have fun”.
Louilou wrote on Apple’s App Store, “It will be great once it’s a bit more diversified for other African nationalities as well ????”.
However, other users have made calls for the developers to improve the functionality of the “Afro emojis”. Some users have noted that the stickers are too big and need to be resized and incorporated within instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and BBM (Blackberry Messenger.
Source: Huffington Post and Afro Emoji