Distressed Tode 1 is a bold, narrow, high contrast, upright, normal x-height font.
Keywords: posters, title cards, halloween, book covers, game titles, spooky, vintage, gritty, theatrical, folkloric, aged texture, dramatic display, period flavor, handmade feel, mood setting, rough-edged, chiseled, inky, jagged, poster-like.
A compact display serif with heavy vertical stems and sharply tapered, wedge-like terminals. The letterforms keep an upright stance and a relatively even x-height, while stroke modulation creates crisp thick–thin contrast that reads like carved or cut shapes. Edges are intentionally irregular with small nicks and worn corners, producing an inked, distressed silhouette rather than clean geometry. Counters are tight and the overall rhythm is condensed, giving words a dense, punchy color on the page.
Well-suited for display settings such as posters, title treatments, packaging accents, and short bursts of copy where a distressed, period-flavored voice is desired. It works especially well for spooky or folkloric themes, theatrical announcements, and story-driven media like book covers or game titles.
The texture and chiseled terminals evoke an old-world, slightly ominous tone—part antique print, part theatrical prop typography. It feels handmade and weathered, suggesting folklore, mystery, and period atmosphere rather than modern polish.
The design appears intended to deliver a bold, condensed display voice with a deliberately aged, imperfect print texture. By combining high-contrast serif structure with roughened contours, it aims to feel dramatic and timeworn while staying readable in headline-scale typography.
The distressing appears consistent across uppercase, lowercase, and numerals, helping the font keep a unified “worn print” texture in longer lines. The condensed proportions make it visually strong at headline sizes, where the rough perimeter detail remains legible and intentional.