Sans Contrasted Hilo 3 is a very bold, wide, very high contrast, upright, tall x-height font.
Keywords: headlines, posters, branding, logos, packaging, industrial, techno, retro, assertive, mechanical, impact, futurism, signage, display, angular, modular, squared, stencil-like, compressed counters.
A heavy, modular sans built from squared forms and straight runs, with corners that read as crisp and machined. Stroke behavior is decidedly contrasted in places: thick vertical stems are paired with thinner horizontal shelves and occasional slit-like joins, creating a cut-and-notched rhythm. Counters are tight and often rectangular, and several glyphs show deliberate breaks and inset apertures that make the design feel partially stenciled. Proportions are generally broad and blocky, with a tall lowercase x-height and compact internal space that keeps the texture dense in lines of text.
Best suited for display sizes where the squared counters and notch details can read clearly: headlines, posters, labels, and logo wordmarks. It can also work for short UI/game titles or tech-themed branding, but the tight counters and dense texture make it less comfortable for extended small-size text.
The overall tone is industrial and techno-leaning, with a retro arcade/early-computing flavor. Its notches and hard geometry give it an engineered, utilitarian voice—more commanding than friendly—suited to punchy, high-impact messaging.
The design appears intended to deliver maximum impact through compact, block-like silhouettes while adding character via intentional cuts and contrasted cross-strokes. The consistent modular geometry suggests a goal of evoking machine-made signage and digital-era industrial aesthetics.
Distinctive details include slit counters (notably in B/D/O-like shapes) and stepped terminals that create strong horizontal banding across words. The numerals follow the same squared, notched logic, maintaining a consistent, display-oriented texture.