Distressed Itlab 5 is a bold, normal width, medium contrast, upright, normal x-height font.
Keywords: posters, book covers, headlines, packaging, album art, rustic, handcrafted, grunge, folkloric, dramatic, aged print, handmade feel, dramatic impact, textured display, rough edges, ink bleed, uneven rhythm, chiseled, high-ink.
A heavy, hand-rendered serif with jagged, irregular contours and visibly uneven stroke edges, as if printed from a worn block or drawn with a dry brush. Letterforms are compact with sturdy verticals, wedge-like terminals, and subtly notched corners that create a chipped, tactile silhouette. Counters are often small and slightly misshapen, and overall spacing/width varies from glyph to glyph, producing an organic, irregular rhythm. Numerals follow the same rough, chunky construction, maintaining strong color and legibility at display sizes.
Best suited to display applications where texture is a feature: posters, book and game covers, album art, event promos, and rustic or craft-oriented packaging. It can work for short subheads or pull quotes, but the rough edges and dense color generally favor larger sizes and modest line lengths.
The texture and broken edges give the type a weathered, handmade character that feels rustic and slightly ominous. Its tone suggests aged print, folk craft, and gritty storytelling, with enough structure to remain readable while still feeling raw and expressive.
Likely designed to deliver a bold, attention-grabbing serif voice with deliberate wear and irregularity, evoking handmade printing and aged materials. The intent appears to balance recognizable serif structure with expressive, distressed surfaces for thematic branding and narrative-driven design.
The irregular perimeter treatment is consistent across caps, lowercase, and figures, creating a cohesive distressed surface rather than isolated defects. The strongest impression comes from the combination of robust stems and choppy, chiseled-looking terminals, which makes lines of text feel animated and tactile.