Distressed Obsa 3 is a bold, narrow, high contrast, upright, normal x-height font.
Keywords: posters, headlines, packaging, signage, title cards, vintage, gritty, western, rustic, noir, aged print, poster impact, handmade texture, period flavor, roughened, inked, stamped, rugged, textured.
A rugged serif design with compact proportions and a dark, ink-heavy color. Strokes show pronounced thick–thin modulation and irregular, torn-looking edges that mimic worn printing or distressed letterpress. Serifs are chunky and wedge-like, with uneven terminals and occasional blobby ink traps that create a rough, tactile silhouette. The rhythm is tight and energetic, with narrow counters and a slightly condensed feel that keeps words dense and punchy.
Best suited for display applications such as posters, event promotions, title treatments, album/film graphics, and packaging where a rough, printed texture is desirable. It can also work for short subheads or pull quotes, but the distressed edges and tight counters make it less ideal for long-form text at small sizes.
The overall tone feels vintage and gritty, like aged posters, saloon signage, or a weathered newspaper headline. Its distressed texture adds a handmade, imperfect character that reads as bold, assertive, and a bit cinematic.
The design appears intended to evoke worn, analog printing—combining a traditional serif structure with deliberate erosion and ink spread for a distressed, timeworn effect. It prioritizes impact and atmosphere over pristine refinement, aiming for strong texture and character in display settings.
In the sample text, the texture remains consistent across sizes, giving large settings a convincingly worn surface while making smaller settings look darker and more compact. Numerals and capitals carry especially strong poster-like presence due to their heavy silhouettes and uneven inked contours.