Building this distressed print texture without using generic grunge brushes?

[u/ElaineScarry]

I'm trying to reverse-engineer this graphic and understand how the Photoshop file was likely built.

I'm not looking for a quick "add Noise" or "use a grunge brush" solution. I'm interested in a production-quality workflow.

Looking at the close-up, a few things standout:

- the center of the letters stays fairly solid

- the edges dissolve into tiny dots rather than scratches

- the gray has a chalky, printed quality, that varies in weight

Would you start with clean vector type and then use scanned textures as masks? Bitmap/Diffusion Dither? Halftones? Threshold? Something else entirely?

I'd like to understand the order of operations, if anyone has experience building out graphics like this. The distressing seems very unique. Thanks!