William Addison Dwiggins was a type designer, calligrapher and book designer. He was a thoughtful, witty man and was the first to coin the phrase graphic designer. He wanted to raise the standard of book design and advertisement design, designing type faces that were representative of the emerging modern way of life. His Metro series was clear and bold and still looks contemporary, although reminiscent of the 1920's. I think it has a timeless style because the shapes of the letters are balanced and clear.
An example of the Metro font as it could look in an advertising poster:
I feel the type face and the way the poster is designed reflects the emergence of the modernist style. It's forceful, with clean lines with any curve or embellishment where a straight line can communicate the letter.
Dwiggins also designed books, book decoration and marionettes!
This is an earlier piece of work but I love the simplicity. The "action" part of the text is highlighted by reversing the colour of the font and the background along the top dominant edge. The image and pose of the marionette is beautiful, elegant and the delicate strings create contrast to the strong angular lines of the limbs. Just as an image I think it has tremendous balance and beauty. The type face is "fancier" and of the time. There is still a move to the modern way of design compared to his earlier illustrative work.
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