American graphic designer William Addison Dwiggins' (W.A.D. for short) first typefaces were the Metro family, designed from 1927 onward. The project grew out of Dwiggins' dissatisfaction with the new European sans serif typefaces of the day, such as Futura, Erbar, and Kabel, a feeling he expressed in his seminal book Layout in Advertising. Urged by Mergenthaler Linotype to create a solution for the problem, Dwiggins began a professional relationship that would span over the next few decades. The first Metro family typeface to be released was Metroblack, brought to market by Linotype in 1929 (Metroblack #2™ the only one of the two versions that Mergenthaler Linotype eventually put into production which is available in digital form). With more of a humanist quality than the geometric styles popular in Europe at the time, Dwiggins drew what he believed to be the ideal sans serif for headlines and advertising copy. Metroblack has a warmer character than the Modernists' achievements, and the type is full of mannered curves and angled terminals (Metroblack also has an astoundingly beautiful Q). The weights of the Metro family, Metromedium #2™ and Metrolite #2™, were each designed by Mergenthaler Linotype's design office under Dwiggins' supervision. In 2012 Toshi Omagari reworked the Metro family as "Metro Nova" with many weights into a modern type family that even contains the alternate characters from the origin Metro family from Dwiggins. Despite having been created more than three-quarters of a century ago, the Metro family types have aged well, and remain a popular sans serif family. Although spec'd less often than other bestsellers, like Futura, Metro continues to find many diverse uses. The typeface has appeared throughout Europe and the North America for decades in newspapers and magazines, and can even help create a great brand image when used in logos and corporate identity. Dwiggins ranks among the most influential graphic designers and typeface designers of the 20th Century. He has several other quality fonts in the Linotype portfolio, including the serif text faces Electra™ and New Caledonia™, as well as Caravan™, a font of typographic ornaments.

Helvetica Now Variable Helvetica Now 2.0 builds on the groundbreaking work of 2019’s Helvetica Now release—all of the clarity, simplicity, and neutrality of classic Helvetica with everything 21st-century designers need. In this 2021 release, we introduce Helvetica Now Variable and add condensed weights to the Helvetica Now static fonts. Helvetica Now 2.0 includes 96 fonts in three distinct optical sizes (Micro, Text, and Display), now with 48 new condensed weights. The Helvetica Now Variable fonts include even more: 144 instances—48 normal, 48 condensed, and 48 compressed. Helvetica Now Variable gives you over a million new Helvetica styles in one state-of-the-art font file (over two-and-a-half million with italics!). Use it as an extension of the Helvetica Now family or make custom-blends from its weights (Hairline to ExtraBlack), optical sizes (four point to infinity), and new Compressed and Condensed widths. Create infinite shades of expression, incredible typographic animations, and ultra-refined typography. Its single font file makes it easier to use and wickedly fast. Load one file and access a million fonts—in a fraction of the size of a traditional font family. More freedom. More expression. More power. More. Helvetica. Now. Each one of the Helvetica Now static fonts has been carefully tailored to the demands of its size. The larger Display versions are drawn to show off the subtlety of Helvetica and spaced with headlines in mind, while the Text sizes focus on legibility, using robust strokes and comfortably loose spaces. Helvetica Now's Micro designs are simplified and exaggerated to maintain the impression of Helvetica in tiny type. There's also an extensive set of alternates, which allow designers the opportunity to experiment with and adapt Helvetica's tone of voice. The new Condensed weights put more type into smaller spaces—for intense emphasis, sophisticated contrast, or just everyday space-fitting. Helvetica Now 2.0 is, quite simply, more: more versatility; more power; and more creative possibilities. “For more than six decades, Helvetica has been the essential typeface,” says Monotype Type Director Charles Nix. “The release of Helvetica Now insures that it will be a typographic force for decades to come.”