High-Contrast Display Serif
Dilabo + Bulgary
Pairs sculptural editorial warmth with Dilabo's clean modern geometry.
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Very heavy broad capitals with tiny upright counters and an exceptionally wide A body
Dilabo
Dilabo is an ultra-heavy condensed sans: stems almost as wide as the letters, square corners, apertures closed to slits and a weight that turns a short word into a solid block.
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Get this fontProject & layout blueprintsAt-a-glance maker compatibility
Cutting, print & workflow scorecard.
Sturdy stroke walls and open counters weed cleanly on adhesive vinyl, HTV apparel film, and cut cardstock.
Plotter & output verdictEasy-Weed Vinyl & Print Ready
Recommended minimum scale0.75 in+ cap height
Character set & structureMulti-Style (Bold, Condensed)
OpenType & PUA accessStandard Latin, Figures & Punctuation
Best surfaces & mediaWedding Suites · Foil Envelopes · Boutique Logos
Compatible design toolsIllustrator · Affinity · Canva Pro · Cricut & Silhouette
Visual anatomy & craft review
Letterform structure
of Dilabo.
DILABO runs across the lower half of the card in black on an acid lime ground, set in a size where the letters touch the left and right edges and the counters are thin vertical slots. The D is a rectangle with a small rounded inner corner, the A has no visible crossbar because the counters are so narrow, and the O is a slab with a slot down the middle. Nothing is tapered and nothing is rounded off, so the face looks cut from steel plate, and the small tracked credits at the top corners are set in a light grotesque that reads as a whisper next to it. The colour choice is part of the presentation: black on lime makes the mass of the letters feel heavier than black on white. It is a poster and packaging face, meant for one or two words at large sizes, and it should never be set below about 40 pt.
Very heavy broad capitals with tiny upright counters and an exceptionally wide A body
Two-font hierarchy recipes
Suggested font
pairings.
Tested contrast partners — pairing Dilabo with grounded secondary typography.
Hand-Lettered Accent Voice
Dilabo + Thick Black
Introduces organic movement on pull-quotes, signatures and gift tags.
Inspect Thick Black specimenPractical applications
Project & layout
blueprints.
Concrete hierarchy, scale and production guidance tailored to Dilabo’s stroke geometry.
Cover for an industrial design annual
The blunt mass gives a cover the look of a stamped object, and the closed counters stay solid at thumbnail size where a lighter bold face would go soft.
Hierarchy & layout recipe
Print a 230 by 300 mm cover: set the title at 200 pt across two rows, keep 40 mm of clear ground beneath before the year at 12 pt, and hold 24 mm of margin at both sides of the block.
Pre-production check
Heavy coverage on coated stock needs longer to dry; print one cover and check for set-off before the run is stacked.
Packaging for a hardware brand
The plate-like letters suit a product made of metal, and the solid block reads from across a shelf where most packaging is thin and pale.
Hierarchy & layout recipe
Print a 120 by 80 mm carton face: set the product name at 40 pt on one row, keep 12 mm of clear ground beneath before the size at 8 pt, and hold 9 mm of margin from the letters to the fold line.
Pre-production check
Slots in the counters fill on corrugated board; print one carton on the actual material and check the counters before the run.
Poster for a warehouse party
The face shouts a single word across a concrete room, and the acid colour combination makes a cheap one-colour print look deliberate.
Hierarchy & layout recipe
Print a 420 by 594 mm poster: set the event name at 260 pt across two rows, keep 34 mm of clear ground beneath before the address at 14 pt, and hold 28 mm of margin so the block stays inside the sheet.
Pre-production check
Lime ink shifts green under warm light; print one poster and check it in the venue's lighting before the order.
Technical & licence verification
File & listing specifications.
File & glyph specifications
- Style classification
- Sans serif · Very heavy broad capitals with tiny upright counters and an exceptionally wide A body
- Foundry / creator
- SayStudio
Confirm included OTF/TTF/WOFF formats, full glyph tables and licence coverage on the live store page before batch production.
Closest visual alternatives
Similar fonts
to compare.
Matched across letterform anatomy, stroke behaviour and craft applications.
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Ideas for this font
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Ideas for this font
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Same independent foundry
