Distress signals

Distressing allows a way of perturbing the continuity of the surface without resorting to ornament

First, a recipe. Find some lettering, carefully painted or printed on something solid, like wood or metal, an old nameplate, maybe, Then get to work on it with sandpaper, until the edges of the letters vanish here and there, and the entire surface is pitted, scratched and otherwise damaged. Now dust it off and step back to admire the new urgency of the letters; meaningless text now animated with meaning, as if each gash and speck tells a story. 

You have created a piece of distressed lettering, an enduring and deathless visual trope. It is a manifestation of distressing — the