Distressed Gobu 6 is a light, normal width, medium contrast, upright, normal x-height font.
Keywords: book jackets, posters, packaging, editorial, brand marks, worn, utilitarian, retro, analog, informal, add texture, evoke age, print realism, vintage tone, roughened, textured, printed, soft-serif, humanist.
A lightly built roman with soft, bracketed serifs and gently tapered strokes that read as transitional in structure. The outlines carry a consistent distressed texture—small chips, scuffs, and uneven edges—suggesting worn metal type or rough printing rather than a clean digital curve. Proportions are moderate with open counters and a steady rhythm; round letters stay fairly circular, while diagonals and joins show subtle irregularities that keep the texture visible without collapsing legibility. Numerals and capitals follow the same restrained serif logic, with the distress applied evenly across the set.
Works well for headlines, subheads, and short passages where you want a classic serif voice with a tactile, timeworn finish—such as book covers, editorial features, heritage-style packaging, café menus, and posters. It can also add a subtle vintage cue to logos or wordmarks, especially when paired with clean supporting typography.
The overall tone feels analog and lived-in, like a book page that’s been handled for years or a label pulled from an old crate. It balances straightforward readability with a lightly weathered character, giving text a modest sense of age and authenticity without becoming theatrical.
The design appears intended to evoke a familiar serif text face while layering on controlled surface degradation to simulate age, ink spread, and imperfect reproduction. The goal is a credible, readable roman that immediately signals printed history and material texture.
The distress appears as fine pitting and edge wear rather than heavy grunge, so the face can still hold together in paragraphs while clearly signaling texture at display sizes. The serif shapes remain calm and conventional, letting the surface wear do most of the stylistic work.