Looking, learning, and living.

Welcome here! My primary interest is graphic design, but it is not all there is to life. I invite you into my mind space. Let's share ideas, discuss, ponder, and maybe even come up with some solutions that could change the world, if not save it.

I am 'Segun Olude, a Designer, Educator, Storycrafter, and Photography Enthusiast.

BIO

’Segun Olude runs a collaborative graphic design studio, teaches graphic design. His professional portfolio includes a 10-year teaching dossier. See more...

PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographs freeze time, preserve memories, track passing time, and act as silent witnesses to events. A photograph is like a Teleprompter for the. See more...

PUBLICATION

As a Yorùbá living outside Yorubaland, I was losing my connection to the language and culture, and I soon. Learn more...

You too can become a type whisperer
At one time in my life, kerning and tracking sounded like some fun, boys' scout activity. Not anymore, thanks to Rob Peters and Erik Spiekermann (note spelling). Type is not just reading material, it conveys emotion and attitude. It shouts, and it whispers. It can be authoritative or playful. Also, the amount of spacing between letters, and between lines, determines how legible reading materials are. If I could teach you only one thing, I will teach you the principles of design, using type. It is well worth it to learn how to use type and become a 'type whisperer.' Well, maybe that is not the correct term but hey.

First, it was Ed Dore (May his soul rest in peace), a teacher who made us draw a full page of text for a book, all by hand. Then came Robert Peters with his total purist approach to type and everything typography. Some days I thought, "He's gone bonkers. I can't see moving this another smidgen." But guess what, the man was always right. It has got to be perfect, even if it is the only thing that's perfect in this imperfect world. As if that was not enough, Erik Spiekermann's passionate presentation in New Orleans, years later, that gave me another whack behind the head. Spiekermann's book, Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works is always in my car, next to my Bible. Anytime I find I have nothing to do, or while waiting for one thing or the other, they are there.

If you are looking to educate yourself about type, check out the following books.
1. Typographic Design: Form and Communication by Rob Carter, Ben Day and Philip B. Meggs
2. The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
3. Designing with Type by James Craig & William Bevington & Irene Korol Scala, (originally created by James Craig)
4. TDR, Typographic Desk Reference is the Big Kahuna of typography books. Make your school library get one.
5. An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History Nicholas Ott, Bernerd Stein, Friedrich Friedl
6. Design with Type by Carl Dair [Heart emoji here.]
7. Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton


Keep in touch.

I get asked a lot of questions. I don't mind. You may know some things I don't, and I may know a few things you don't. It's the way life is. Do you have a burning question or a story to tell? Please keep in touch.