Slab Contrasted Erle 2 is a very bold, wide, medium contrast, upright, normal x-height font.
Keywords: posters, headlines, signage, packaging, logotypes, western, circus, vintage, playful, poster, display impact, vintage revival, sign-paint feel, woodtype echo, blocky, bracketed, ink-trap cuts, soft corners, high-impact.
A heavy, blocky slab serif with broad proportions and compact counters. The serifs are prominent and squared-off, often with subtle bracketing and decorative cut-ins that create notch-like openings at joins and terminals. Curves are generously rounded but kept tight and weighty, while interior counters stay small, producing a dense, high-ink silhouette. The overall rhythm feels deliberate and display-first, with slightly idiosyncratic shapes across letters that add character without tipping into script or novelty distortion.
Best suited to short, high-impact text where its mass and decorative detailing can be appreciated—posters, headlines, branding marks, storefront-style signage, and packaging titles. It can work for brief emphasis in editorial layouts, but the dense counters and strong personality make it less ideal for long continuous reading at small sizes.
The tone is bold and theatrical, evoking old-time signage and show-poster typography. Its chunky slabs and carved-in details give it a rugged, handcrafted feel, while the rounded forms keep it friendly and approachable. Overall it reads as nostalgic and attention-grabbing rather than formal or minimalist.
This design appears intended as a characterful slab display face that borrows from vintage woodtype and showbill traditions, prioritizing punchy presence and a distinctive silhouette. The carved details and sturdy slabs suggest a goal of adding texture and nostalgia while remaining clearly legible in large settings.
The decorative cut-ins along horizontals and at some serif junctions create a stamped or woodtype-like impression, adding texture even in solid black text. Numerals are similarly weighty and stylized, matching the letterforms’ strong baseline presence and compact internal space.