THE FORMULA
Four axes, one authorship-weighted score.
Each work is read across four axes and scored 1–5 on each. The axes are normalised and combined into a weighted composite expressed out of 100. The weighting is deliberate: authorship carries more than any other dimension, because authorship is the question this publication is built to ask.
Composite = Σ ( axis level ÷ 5 × axis weight ) × 100, rounded. A brand’s Index score is the mean composite across its scored works.
THE FOUR AXES
The originality and cultural force of the central idea — how far it departs from convention and how specifically it speaks from, not merely about, the culture.
Raises it: A genuinely new form; a culturally precise insight; an idea only this author could have had.
Lowers it: A borrowed template; a trend chased late; cultural reference as decoration.
Who actually shaped the work — African and diaspora creative leadership versus localisation of a decision made elsewhere. The question MonoKromatik exists to ask.
Raises it: African creatives holding the pen on concept, design and direction; ownership of the IP and the upside.
Lowers it: A global team localising; African talent as the face but not the author; value captured offshore.
Craft and coherence — narrative, design, product detail and the discipline of finishing. Whether the idea is realised at the level it deserves.
Raises it: Precise craft; a coherent system across touchpoints; detail that rewards attention.
Lowers it: A strong idea undercut by rough delivery; inconsistency; unfinished edges.
What the work actually moved — in culture and in commerce. Evidence of effect, not just ambition or reach.
Raises it: A measurable shift; a category reframed; durable commercial or cultural outcome.
Lowers it: Visibility without effect; a moment that left nothing behind; claims without evidence.
THE ROLLUP
Work, to brand, to Index.
Scoring happens at the level of a single work — a specific case study, with evidence. A brand’sposition is the mean of its scored works, so one strong campaign doesn’t permanently define a brand, and a brand earns its rank across a body of work. The Index is every scored brand, ranked. As new case studies are decoded, brands move — and the monthly snapshot records that movement so the ranking has a memory.
WHAT IT IS NOT
Editorial judgement, stated openly.
The score is interpretive editorial judgement — a defensible, evidence-led reading. It is not a measured market metric, not sales data, and not a popularity count. We say so plainly because the honesty is the point: every score traces to a case study and the evidence behind it.
Axis levels are set by editors today. An AI-assisted workflow — a model drafts the decode, an editor approves it — is planned to scale the scoring without surrendering the judgement. It will never be autonomous: a human signs every score.
The weighting is locked and versioned in code. If it ever changes, that change is documented — a ranking you can’t audit isn’t intelligence.
USE THE DATA
The scores are open. Cite them.
The full ranking is available as a machine-readable feed — JSON for applications and AI engines, CSV for analysts. The licensed tiers add refresh cadence, segmentation and team citation rights.