美国平面设计师William Addison Dwiggins（简称W.A.D.）的第一种字体是Metro家族，它是从1927年开始设计的。这个项目源于Dwiggins对当时新的欧洲无衬线字体的不满，比如Futura, Erbar和Kabel，他在《Layout in Advertising》这一具有重大影响的书籍中表述过这种感觉。在Mergenthaler Linotype的敦促下，Dwiggins提出了解决该问题的方案，并开始了长达数十年的专业合作关系。
Metroblack是发布的第一个Metro家族字体，由Linotype于1929年推向市场（Metroblack＃2™是Mergenthaler Linotype最终投入生产的两个版本中的唯一一个提供数字版本的字体）。充斥着比当时欧洲流行的几何风格更多的人文主义特征，Dwiggins画出了他认为用于标题和广告文案最理想的无衬线字体。比起现代派的成就，Metroblack的特征更加温暖，这种字体都是中规中矩的曲线以及成角度的尾端（Metroblack还具有出奇漂亮的Q）。
Metro家族的其他字重如Metromedium＃2™和Metrolite＃2™，是在Dwiggins的监督下由Mergenthaler Linotype的设计工作室设计。 尽管Metro家族字体是创建于四分之三个世纪以前，算是历史悠久了，但仍然是很受欢迎的无衬线字体家族。2012年，Monotype设计师Toshi Omagari基于Dwiggins设计创作了一个具有26种不同字重的Metro Nova字体家族。

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 other weights of the Metro family, Metromedium #2™ and Metrolite #2™, were designed by Mergenthaler Linotype's design office under Dwiggins' supervision.
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. In 2012 the Metro Nova familiy was created in 26 different weights on the basis of Dwiggins designs by Monotype type designer Toshi Omagari.