Solid Soma 9 is a very bold, wide, medium contrast, upright, normal x-height font.
Keywords: headlines, posters, logos, packaging, event promos, chunky, playful, retro, stencil-like, quirky, high impact, retro flair, cutout styling, logo voice, poster display, geometric, blocky, soft corners, angular cuts.
A heavy, geometric display face built from chunky, mostly monolinear shapes with softened corners and frequent triangular notches that read like cut-ins rather than true counters. Many letters collapse interior space into solid masses, relying on wedge cuts and asymmetrical openings to preserve recognition. Curves are broad and rounded (notably in O, Q, and S), while diagonals and terminals often resolve into flat planes with abrupt, sculpted edges. Spacing appears tight and the overall rhythm is dense, with letterforms that feel custom-carved rather than constructed from classic serif/sans models.
Best suited to large-scale display settings such as headlines, posters, branding marks, and packaging where its solid silhouette and cutout details can be appreciated. It can also work for short callouts, merchandise graphics, and title treatments, but is less appropriate for extended text due to its dense, closed-in interior structure.
The tone is bold and theatrical, with a playful, puzzle-like personality created by the blocked counters and sharp cutouts. It evokes retro display lettering and poster-era experimentation, leaning toward a fun, attention-grabbing voice rather than neutrality or refinement.
The design appears intended to maximize impact through solid, simplified silhouettes while maintaining legibility via strategic cut-ins and exaggerated geometry. Its visual system prioritizes a distinctive, branded look—somewhere between stencil-inspired cutouts and retro novelty display lettering.
Distinctive wedge-shaped incisions recur across the set, producing a consistent ‘cutout’ motif that also increases the sense of motion and irregularity. The numerals follow the same massy construction and read best at larger sizes where the internal cuts remain clear.