Metropolis

Name: Metropolis
Author: Chris Simpson

Metropolis delivers clean, contemporary letterforms optimized for digital interfaces and modern design systems.

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Sans Serifby Chris Simpson88% Accessible

Characters456

Glyphs547

Typography Tools

Best Ways to Use Metropolis

Best Font Pairings for Metropolis

TypeSmith curates 5 expert font pairings for Metropolis, including combinations with Genome, Milano and Isometretos.

Each pairing includes accessibility ratings, expert reasoning, and usage recommendations for web and print design.

Explore 5 Pairings for Metropolis

Test Metropolis Font Pairings Live

TypeSmith's interactive testing tool lets you preview Metropolis with any font combination in real-time, optimized for sans serif characteristics.

Adjust font sizes, weights, and see live typography specimens including editorial layouts, code editors, and UI components.

Test Metropolis Pairings Live

In Context

Metropolis Specimen Gallery

EditorialUI ComponentsPosterWordmark

Metropolis Editorial Specimen

Metropolis in Editorial Context

Metropolis is a sans serif typeface by Chris Simpson suited for editorial layouts and long-form reading.

Chris Simpson

Typeface Designer • Sans Serif

Metropolis demonstrates editorial readability through balanced proportions and consistent stroke weight. As a sans serif typeface, it delivers clear letterforms that sustain reader engagement across extended passages of text.

The weight range of Metropolis supports typographic hierarchy within editorial layouts. Headline weights establish visual anchors while lighter weights maintain comfortable reading rhythm in body text columns.

Designed by Chris Simpson, Metropolis balances personality with function — providing enough character to establish visual identity without compromising the legibility that editorial contexts demand.

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Password

Metropolis Typography

A sans serif typeface for UI components.

Active2 weights available

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Metropolis Specimen

Metropolis

Metropolis is a sans serif typeface by Chris Simpson built for display contexts.

2 WeightsSans Serif Typeface

Available on TypeSmith

Wordmark Explorations

Metropolis

METROPOLIS

METROPOLISTYPE

Tagline Pairings

Metropolis— sans serif typeface

MetropolisBy Chris Simpson

MetropolisTYPE

Editorial

Magazine-style headline and body text layout

Character Set

Metropolis Glyphs & Characters

Size48

Showing 62 of 187 charactersDouble-click to copy • Click for details

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789

Heading Examples

Body Text Table

Body Copy

Metropolis Body Typography

TypeSmith provides optimized body text specifications for Metropolis, including recommended sizes, line heights, and letter spacing for long-form content. These settings ensure maximum readability across devices and screen sizes.

Metropolis demonstrates exceptional body text performance with balanced proportions and consistent stroke widths that enhance readability across paragraph lengths.

When setting Metropolis for body copy, TypeSmith recommends these optimized specifications. The carefully tuned metrics ensure comfortable reading at extended lengths while maintaining the typeface's distinctive character.

Metropolis small text sizes retain legibility through well-defined letterforms. Caption and footnote applications benefit from the font's clear x-height and open counters.

Element	Weight	Size	Line Height	Tracking	Preview
Body Text	Regular	16px	24px	0.5px	Metropolis delivers excellent readability for body copy
Italicized	Regular Italic	16px	24px	0.5px	Metropolis italic provides elegant emphasis
Bold	Bold	16px	24px	0.5px	Metropolis bold creates strong visual hierarchy
Small Caps	Regular	16px	24px	0.5px	Metropolis typography specimen
Secondary Text	Medium	14px	20px	0.5px	Metropolis typography specimen

.your-class { font-family: 'Metropolis'; }

Quick Start

Adding Metropolis to Your Website

HTML Link Tag

Add to your <head> section

<link href="https://fonts.bunny.net/css?family=Metropolis:400,700&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">

CSS @import

Add at top of your stylesheet

@import url('https://fonts.bunny.net/css?family=Metropolis:400,700&display=swap');

CSS @font-face

Self-host the font files

@font-face {
  font-family: 'Metropolis';
  src: url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Metropolis:wght@400;700&display=swap');
  font-display: swap;
}

Implementation

Using Metropolis in CSS

Standard CSS

css

Apply directly to any CSS class or selector.

 1.my-text {
 2  font-family: 'Metropolis', sans-serif;
 3  font-weight: 400;
 4}

SCSS Variable

scss

Define once, use throughout your stylesheet.

 1$font-primary: 'Metropolis', sans-serif;
 2
 3.my-text {
 4  font-family: $font-primary;
 5}

Tailwind CSS

config

Configure once, apply with utility classes.

 1// tailwind.config.js
 2module.exports = {
 3  theme: {
 4    extend: {
 5      fontFamily: {
 6        'metropolis': ['Metropolis', 'sans-serif'],
 7      },
 8    },
 9  },
10}
11
12// Usage in HTML
13<p class="font-metropolis">Your text here</p>

About

About Metropolis

Chris Simpson

Sans Serif

Open Source

Metropolis typeface channels early 20th-century geometric traditions through a contemporary family suited to refined professional applications. Chris Simpson's design draws inspiration from the same era as Futura while offering distinct personality. The geometric foundation creates consistent rhythm useful for corporate identity, editorial design, and interface typography. Metropolis's basic construction maintains versatility across print and digital contexts. Design agencies, tech companies, and publications find reliable utility. Pair with a humanist serif for editorial layouts requiring warmth.

Metropolis comes from the work of Chris Simpson. The typeface brings careful attention to typographic detail, visible in its letterform construction and optical balance.

As a Sans Serif typeface in the Vox-ATypI Lineal classification, Metropolis features no serif extensions on stroke terminals and stroke contrast ranging from monolinear to subtly modulated. These optical characteristics make it well-suited for user interface text and navigation elements.

Metropolis is available in a single weight, offering focused typographic consistency spanning screen and print contexts, with 5 curated font pairings available. Standard Latin character coverage serves the majority of Western typographic workflows.

Metropolis

Typography Judgment

Expert Analysis of Metropolis

TypeSmith evaluates every font across classification, accessibility, and design heritage. This analysis helps designers understand Metropolis's strengths and ideal use cases before committing to a typography decision.

Classification

Sans Serif analysis. From a classification standpoint, Metropolis within the Lineal (Grotesque, Neo-grotesque, Geometric, Humanist) tradition, characterized by No serif extensions on stroke terminals and Stroke contrast ranging from monolinear to subtly modulated. The first commercially successful sans-serifs appeared in the 1810s-1830s as display types. Key technical strength: widest variable-font support with weight and width axes.

Accessibility

Readability assessment (grade: 88). Metropolis performs strongly for sustained reading across digital and print contexts. Humanist sans-serifs offer the best body-text readability in the category.

Design Heritage

Designed by Chris Simpson. The designer's attention to character shaping and weight distribution produces a Sans Serif with a single focused weight suited to both digital and print workflows.

Overview

About Metropolis

Metropolis represents a Lineal typeface, anchored in the tradition where the first commercially successful sans-serifs appeared in the 1810s-1830s as display types. Its distinctive no serif extensions on stroke terminals and stroke contrast ranging from monolinear to subtly modulated make it well-suited for user interface text and navigation elements. TypeSmith features Metropolis in a single weight variant and 5 curated font pairings.

Font Pairings Available

5 curated pairings for Metropolis

View Pairings

Explore More

If You Like Metropolis, Try These

View all fonts

TypeSmith identifies 5 fonts with similar visual characteristics to Metropolis based on classification, x-height ratio, and stroke weight. These alternatives maintain the same typographic personality while offering different weight options and language support.

Inclusive Design

Accessibility & Usability

Accessibility Score

Excellent Accessibility

Metropolis: Accessibility Considerations

Metropolis scores in the excellent accessibility tier, making it well-suited for body text, UI labels, and long-form reading across devices. Grotesques with ambiguous letterforms (I/l/1) reduce accessibility. Choose designs with distinct character differentiation and open apertures for inclusive typography.

How Legible is Metropolis?

Metropolis draws legibility from its no serif extensions on stroke terminals and stroke contrast ranging from monolinear to subtly modulated. These characteristics help readers distinguish similar glyphs such as I, l, and 1 at a range of sizes.

Metropolis Reading Performance

Humanist sans-serifs offer the best body-text readability in the category. Geometric and neo-grotesque designs excel in short-form UI text but require careful sizing for sustained reading. Use at 16 px minimum for body text, and maintain 1.5 line-height to support comfortable reading rhythm.

Metropolis's Visual Fatigue and Adaptability

Metropolis provides a focused weight range that maintains consistent typographic color across paragraphs. Balanced stroke modulation keeps visual noise low during sustained reading sessions.

Metropolis Accessibility Recommendations

Maintain a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text when setting Metropolis. Use font sizes of at least 16 px for paragraph copy and line spacing of 1.5 or greater. Test Metropolis at 200% browser zoom to confirm line breaks and layout integrity remain intact.

How to Use Metropolis Effectively

Pair with Garalde or Transitional serifs for classic contrast. A humanist sans body with a geometric sans display creates intra-category tension without conflict. Curated pairings are available to guide complementary typeface selection for Metropolis. Establish hierarchy through size, spacing, and color rather than multiplying font families. Serve Metropolis in WOFF2 format for optimal load performance and broad browser compatibility.

Get the Font

Metropolis Font Files

Available Weights

400

Regular

Local

400

Regular Italic

Local

700

Bold

Local

700

Bold Italic

Local

Weight Reference

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Internationalization

Metropolis Multilingual Support

Extended Latin Coverage

Supports 100+ languages with Latin script

Western European

English
French
German
Spanish
Italian
Portuguese
Dutch

Nordic

Swedish
Norwegian
Danish
Finnish
Icelandic

Central European

Polish
Czech
Hungarian
Romanian
Slovak

Baltic

Lithuanian
Latvian
Estonian

This font encodes 307 glyphs covering Latin. Latin coverage extends past the basic ASCII set into Latin Extended, so Central and Eastern European languages set correctly. Text outside these ranges falls back to another face in the stack.

Legal

Font License Details

SIL Open Font License (OFL) 1.1

Free for personal and commercial use

View License

What you can do

Personal projects
Commercial projects
Web embedding
App embedding
Modification
Redistribution

Restrictions

Selling as standalone

Modified versions must use a different name and be distributed under the same OFL license.

Metropolis is available under the SIL Open Font License (OFL), Version 1.1. This license is a free, libre, and open source license specifically designed for fonts and related software. The OFL allows the fonts to be used, studied, modified, and redistributed freely as long as they are not sold by themselves. This makes Metropolis ideal for web projects, applications, documents, and print materials of any kind.

1// tailwind.config.js 2module.exports = { 3 theme: { 4 extend: { 5 fontFamily: { 6 'metropolis': ['Metropolis', 'sans-serif'], 7 }, 8 }, 9 }, 10} 11 12// Usage in HTML 13<p class="font-metropolis">Your text here</p>

Metropolis

Best Ways to Use Metropolis

Best Font Pairings for Metropolis

Test Metropolis Font Pairings Live

In Context

Metropolis Typography

Metropolis

Character Set

Type Scale

Metropolis Body Typography

Quick Start

HTML Link Tag

CSS @import

CSS @font-face

Implementation

Standard CSS

SCSS Variable

Tailwind CSS

About

Typography Judgment

Classification

Accessibility

Design Heritage

Overview

Categories

Explore More

Inclusive Design

Metropolis: Accessibility Considerations

How Legible is Metropolis?

Metropolis Reading Performance

Metropolis's Visual Fatigue and Adaptability

Metropolis Accessibility Recommendations

How to Use Metropolis Effectively

Get the Font

Available Weights

Weight Reference

Internationalization

Western European

Nordic

Central European

Baltic

Legal

What you can do

Restrictions

Metropolis

Best Ways to Use Metropolis

Best Font Pairings for Metropolis

Test Metropolis Font Pairings Live

In Context

Metropolis Typography

Metropolis

Character Set

Type Scale

Metropolis Body Typography

Quick Start

HTML Link Tag

CSS @import

CSS @font-face

Implementation

Standard CSS

SCSS Variable

Tailwind CSS

About

Typography Judgment

Classification

Accessibility

Design Heritage

Overview

Categories

Explore More

Inclusive Design

Metropolis: Accessibility Considerations

How Legible is Metropolis?

Metropolis Reading Performance

Metropolis's Visual Fatigue and Adaptability

Metropolis Accessibility Recommendations

How to Use Metropolis Effectively

Get the Font

Available Weights

Weight Reference