Distressed Romis 3 is a regular weight, narrow, high contrast, upright, normal x-height font.
Keywords: posters, packaging, headlines, book covers, labels, vintage, gritty, industrial, noir, hand-inked, evoke age, add texture, poster impact, analog print, condensed, textured, roughened, inked, worn.
A condensed, high-contrast serif design with tall proportions and relatively tight sidebearings. Strokes show deliberate wear and printing artifacts: small chips, scuffs, and uneven interior edges that create a lightly weathered texture without obscuring letterforms. Terminals are crisp and often wedge-like, with sharp joins and compact counters; round forms stay fairly narrow, reinforcing the vertical rhythm. Numerals match the narrow, upright stance and carry the same distressed texture for consistent color in setting.
Works best for display typography where the worn detail can be appreciated—posters, headlines, title cards, packaging, labels, and book covers. It can also support short editorial pull quotes or subheads when you want a textured, old-print feel without sacrificing clarity.
The overall tone feels vintage and gritty, like type pulled from an old poster, stamped label, or worn book jacket. The controlled distress adds a tactile, analog quality—suggesting age, friction, and atmosphere rather than chaos.
The design appears intended to combine a classic condensed serif structure with a purposely aged, imperfect print finish. It aims to deliver strong vertical emphasis and clear letterforms while adding character through controlled roughness and ink-wear detailing.
The distress appears as repeatable edge nicks and small voids inside strokes, which reads most clearly at display sizes and gives blocks of text a subtly speckled, ink-worn surface. Despite the texture, the underlying construction remains disciplined and legible, with a steady vertical cadence.