Slab Contrasted Imke 3 is a very bold, narrow, medium contrast, italic, normal x-height font visually similar to 'Dean Gothic' and 'Dean Slab' by Blaze Type, 'Churchward Conserif' by BluHead Studio, 'FF DIN Slab' by FontFont, and 'Palo Slab' by TypeUnion (names referenced only for comparison).
Keywords: posters, headlines, sports branding, packaging, logotypes, sporty, western, retro, punchy, confident, impact, motion, vintage flavor, brand emphasis, display strength, slab serif, blocky, compact, oblique, bracketed.
A compact, heavy slab-serif with a pronounced rightward slant and tightly set proportions. Strokes are robust with modest contrast, and the slab terminals read as firm, rectangular blocks with slight bracketing that helps the joins feel less abrupt. Counters are relatively small and the overall silhouette stays dense and upright in color despite the italic angle, producing strong, continuous text texture. Uppercase forms feel sturdy and squared-off, while the lowercase keeps the same weight and slanted rhythm, with single-storey a and g and simple, muscular numerals.
This font is well suited to high-impact display settings such as posters, bold editorial headlines, sports and team-style branding, and packaging that needs a confident, vintage punch. It can also work for short logotypes or badges where a compact, forceful wordmark is desired, but it is less suited to long text at small sizes due to its dense counters and heavy color.
The overall tone is assertive and energetic, with a vintage, poster-like confidence. Its italic slant adds motion and urgency, while the heavy slabs evoke classic athletic lettering and old-school headline typography.
The design appears intended to deliver a condensed, high-impact slab-serif voice with an italicized sense of speed, borrowing cues from traditional athletic and poster lettering while maintaining a consistent, no-nonsense rhythm across the set.
The italic construction is consistently applied across caps, lowercase, and figures, creating a unified forward-driving cadence. Because of the tight internal space and strong weight, it reads best when given adequate size or breathing room in spacing and line length.