Distressed Ihbal 14 is a regular weight, normal width, medium contrast, upright, short x-height font.
Keywords: book covers, posters, editorial, packaging, titles, vintage, gritty, noir, handmade, pulp, aged print, analog texture, dramatic titles, handmade feel, rugged character, rough edge, inked, weathered, worn print, blunted serifs.
A distressed serif with blunt, bracket-like terminals and a noticeably rough, broken outline that suggests uneven inking or worn printing. Strokes stay generally steady in weight but show frequent edge chatter and small bite-outs, creating a textured silhouette across both caps and lowercase. The letterforms lean classical in construction, with compact proportions and relatively small lowercase presence, while spacing reads moderately open and the overall rhythm feels deliberately irregular rather than geometric.
Well suited to display typography where texture is part of the message: book covers, film or event posters, editorial headlines, and packaging that wants a vintage or rugged imprint. It can also work for short pull quotes or section headers, especially when you want a printed, timeworn character to contrast with cleaner body text.
The texture and uneven contours give the face an aged, tactile tone—evoking old paper, stamped impressions, and analog reproduction. It carries a slightly dramatic, story-driven energy that can feel gritty and suspenseful while still remaining legible at display sizes.
The design appears intended to merge a traditional serif foundation with a consistent distressed treatment, producing a typewriter/letterpress-adjacent feel without becoming fully script or decorative. Its goal is to provide an instantly aged, tactile voice that reads clearly in impactful sizes.
Caps have strong presence and consistent height, and the numerals inherit the same worn perimeter treatment, keeping the set visually unified. The distress is pervasive but controlled, so the forms remain readable while clearly signaling a distressed aesthetic.