Distressed Arpu 9 is a regular weight, narrow, high contrast, italic, short x-height font.
Keywords: posters, branding, packaging, headlines, social media, handmade, expressive, rustic, casual, energetic, handwritten effect, brush lettering, textured finish, casual display, natural imperfection, brushy, textured, roughened, dry brush, calligraphic.
A slanted, brush-pen style with lively, pressure-driven strokes and pronounced thick–thin modulation. Forms are compact and slightly condensed with a quick, handwritten rhythm and uneven stroke edges that suggest dry brush texture and ink breakup. Terminals are mostly tapered and flicked, with occasional blunt stops where the stroke appears to lift. Counters are relatively tight and joins are fluid, producing a cohesive script-like flow even in the more structured capitals and numerals.
Well suited to display settings where a handmade voice is desirable—posters, headlines, logo wordmarks, packaging callouts, and social graphics. It performs best at medium to large sizes where the dry-brush texture and contrast can be appreciated, and works nicely for short phrases, names, and punchy typographic accents.
The overall tone feels human and spontaneous—confident, friendly, and a bit gritty. The textured stroke gives it a workshop or street-poster character, balancing approachable handwritten warmth with a rugged, imperfect finish.
Designed to emulate quick brush lettering with visible ink drag and irregular edges, delivering a natural, hand-rendered look without losing overall legibility. The condensed, slanted proportions and strong contrast aim to create motion and emphasis for attention-grabbing display typography.
Capitals lean toward simplified, sign-like shapes that read well as initials, while lowercase letters carry more cursive motion and varied entry/exit strokes. The texture is consistent across the set, so the distressed character reads as an intentional stylistic layer rather than random noise.