Warmth & Snap: What New Type Owes WA Dwiggins

Nearly a century ago, as W. A. Dwiggins was nearing 50 years old, he partnered with the Mergenthaler Linotype company to do something he’d never done in his long career: create new typefaces. The resulting designs—such as Metro, Electra, and Caledonia—were instant hits, and are still in use today. They have generated revivals, reinterpretations, and reprises. And the principles of humanism and liveliness that compelled Dwiggins to alter the course of his career continue to guide new type designers. We’ll look at fresh faces steeped in Dwiggins’s legacy (intentional or not), and consider recent trends in a newly burgeoning craft.

50th Annual Dwiggins Lecture, co-sponsored with the Boston Public Library. This talk is open to the public.