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Hand-painted signs taught us type

A walk down Kissy Road with a notebook.

Sia, Illustrator1 min read · January 22, 2026
A yellow poda-poda minibus painted ALL ABOARD, with luggage on the roof

Sia’s favourite type teacher is a sign painter on Kissy Road who has never heard of kerning and does it perfectly every time.

Wide letters, tight spacing, big contrast. Everything we know about setting a headline, we learned from walls.

Keep riding

Process2 min Why we design for the street first If a sign works at ten metres in Freetown traffic, it works on a phone in Toronto. The reverse is never true. Kadi · Sep 2026 Process1 min The one-week stall test Before we name anything, we stand where it gets sold and listen. Fatts · Aug 2026 Craft1 min Five paints, no photos How a limit became the studio’s look, and why we kept it. Sia · Jul 2026