Slab Contrasted Fako 9 is a very bold, wide, medium contrast, upright, normal x-height font.
Keywords: posters, headlines, packaging, branding, signage, retro, playful, punchy, friendly, poster-ready, display impact, retro styling, print robustness, friendly voice, soft corners, bracketed slabs, ink-trap notches, bulb terminals, compact apertures.
A heavy, soft-edged slab serif with compact interior counters and pronounced, bracketed slabs that read like rounded blocks rather than sharp wedges. Strokes are thick and steady with subtle modulation, and many joins show small notch-like cut-ins that create an ink-trap feel and add texture at display sizes. The proportions are generally broad with sturdy verticals and short, squared-off arms, giving the alphabet a chunky, sculpted silhouette. Numerals follow the same inflated, blocky construction, staying highly uniform in color and weight across the set.
Best suited to high-impact display work such as posters, headlines, packaging, logos, and storefront-style signage where the chunky slabs and carved joins can be appreciated. It can work for short bursts of text (pull quotes, labels, mastheads), but long paragraphs may feel heavy due to the dense color and compact counters.
The overall tone is nostalgic and approachable—bold without feeling aggressive—evoking mid-century signage, carnival or western-leaning display typography, and playful editorial headlines. Its rounded slabs and cut-in details lend a handcrafted, stamped quality that feels lively and characterful rather than strictly geometric.
The design appears intended as a characterful display slab that prioritizes bold presence and a distinctive, retro-flavored texture. Its softened slabs and ink-trap-like notches suggest an aim for strong reproduction in print while maintaining a playful, handcrafted personality.
In longer samples the dense strokes and tight apertures create a strong, dark typographic color; spacing and the notch details help keep letterforms from clogging visually. The design’s distinctive slab shapes and softened corners are most apparent at headline sizes, where the carved joins and bulb-like terminals read as intentional styling rather than incidental artifacts.