Distressed Memo 9 is a regular weight, very narrow, medium contrast, upright, normal x-height font.
Keywords: posters, headlines, book covers, album art, packaging, vintage, gritty, noir, hand-printed, pulp, aged print, atmosphere, analog texture, period styling, roughened, weathered, inky, textured, stamp-like.
A condensed serif with a rough, worn surface and uneven outlines that mimic aged ink and imperfect printing. Strokes show moderate thick–thin modulation, with bulb-like terminals and soft, slightly blunted serifs that break up at the edges. Counters are generally open but irregular, and the texture varies from glyph to glyph, creating a lively, distressed rhythm. The numerals and capitals keep a consistent narrow stance, while widths still fluctuate subtly, reinforcing an analog, hand-set feel.
Best suited for display typography where the roughened details can be appreciated—posters, headlines, book covers, album artwork, and themed packaging. It can also work for short subheads or pull quotes when you want a tactile, printed texture, but it’s less appropriate for long body text where the distressed edges may reduce clarity.
The overall tone feels vintage and gritty, like letterpress type pulled from old stock or a stamped headline on weathered paper. Its distressed texture brings a moody, noir-leaning character that reads as handmade and imperfect rather than polished or corporate.
The design appears intended to evoke antique printing and worn type, combining condensed proportions with irregular, ink-bitten contours for a deliberately aged, tactile impression. It prioritizes atmosphere and period flavor over pristine uniformity.
The distressing is built into the letterforms rather than applied uniformly, so repeated letters won’t look perfectly identical in edge behavior. At smaller sizes the texture can start to fill in, while at display sizes the rough contour becomes a defining feature.