What Layer
Are You Living?
5 questions. Your answers are evaluated against 500 years of Akan philosophical structure. A symbol — and a layer of self — will be revealed.
Consulting the Seven Layers…
You have been evaluated across seven dimensions of self.
LAYER IV: CHARACTER
Your answers map to a specific layer of the Akan philosophical system.
Your reading will appear here.
There is a symbol that has held this quality for five centuries.
What layer of the Akan philosophical system are you living?
This is not a personality quiz. It is a symbolic classification — a structured assessment of where you are in the seven-layer philosophical framework built by the Akan people of Ghana over five centuries. Your answers are evaluated across seven dimensions of self. At the end, a single Adinkra symbol is revealed: the one that has encoded your current state of being for generations before you were born.
The seven layers of the Akan system
The Akan philosophical tradition organises human experience into seven symbolic layers: Foundation, Perception, Identity, Character, Action, Relationship, and Continuance. Each layer represents a distinct orientation of self — a quality of being that shapes how a person moves through the world. Adinkra symbols are the visual language of these layers. Each symbol belongs to a layer. Your quiz result places you within one.
What are Adinkra symbols?
Adinkra are visual symbols originating with the Akan people of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, each encoding a specific philosophical concept. They are not decorative — they are a written philosophical system, used historically on cloth, architecture, and ceremonial objects to express worldview, values, and moral instruction. Over 95 symbols have been documented, each with its own Twi name, proverb, and layer of meaning.
The 18 symbols used in this assessment
Sankofa · Gye Nyame · Duafe · Dwennimmen · Wawa Aba · Mpatapo · Bi Nka Bi · Aya · Akofena · Denkyem · Fihankra · Nkyinkyim · Bese Saka · Osram Ne Nsronomma · Funtunfunefu Denkyemfunefu · Nyame Biribi Wo Soro · Tamfo Bebre · Owuo Atwedee.
How the assessment works
Five questions. Each answer carries weighted values across the 18 symbols. The engine uses an adaptive selection algorithm — each question is chosen based on your previous answers to maximise differentiation between your top-scoring symbols. After your final answer, your responses are mapped against the Akan layer system. You are shown your layer classification first, then a two-sentence philosophical reading of your current state, then the symbol that has held that quality for five centuries. The symbol is not a reward. It is a mirror.
After the assessment
Each symbol links to a full archive article — meaning, history, proverb in Twi, and its place within the Akan system. Your symbol also links to the Akan Way, Afrofa's documentation of the seven-layer philosophical framework. If you want to go deeper, each symbol has a corresponding collection of apparel and posters — objects made to carry the symbol's meaning into daily life.