Distressed Ufli 5 is a regular weight, narrow, very high contrast, upright, short x-height font.
Keywords: posters, book covers, album art, headlines, logotypes, gothic, macabre, antique, mysterious, theatrical, antique mood, dramatic display, aged texture, occult flair, decorative titling, inked, spiky, ornate, grungy, weathered.
A decorative display face with calligraphic, blackletter-leaning forms and sharp, tapering terminals. Strokes show dramatic thick–thin modulation and a hand-inked rhythm, with narrow overall proportions and intermittent swelling in verticals and bowls. Many glyphs feature curled entry/exit strokes, small interior loops, and irregular outlines that look chipped or blotty, as if printed from worn type or drawn with a dry brush. The lowercase has a notably small x-height with tall ascenders and long, delicate descenders, while caps carry the strongest ornamentation and weight.
Best suited to display settings where its texture and dramatic contrast can be appreciated—posters, title treatments, book covers, album artwork, and branding marks for dark or antique themes. It works especially well for short headlines, chapter openers, and large pull quotes; for longer passages, the distressed detail and fine hairlines are more demanding on legibility.
The overall tone is darkly romantic and old-world, suggesting occult ephemera, Victorian curiosities, and stagecraft. Its distressed texture and sharp calligraphic flavor add tension and drama, making the voice feel mysterious, slightly sinister, and intentionally aged.
The design appears intended to evoke historic lettering and blackletter-inspired theatrics, then disrupt it with worn, imperfect edges to simulate aged print or ink-spattered calligraphy. Ornament and texture are prioritized over neutrality, aiming for a distinctive, story-forward voice in themed display typography.
Texture is not uniform from glyph to glyph—some characters appear more ink-heavy while others are hairline-light, creating a lively but unpredictable color on the line. In the sample text, the distressed edges and high contrast become more pronounced at larger sizes, while smaller sizes can feel fragile due to thin hairlines and frequent spurs.