[1][2][3] After a slow development process, Electra became a popular book typeface in American printing during the late metal type period.

[5] Dwiggins's first typeface was Metro, a sans-serif intended as an answer to new European faces such as Futura and Gill Sans, which were experiencing a vogue.

His stated intention was to avoid the historical revival approach of most contemporary book faces, which imitated type designs from the Renaissance.

[1][6] Vincent Connare suggests that Electra's narrow, monoline serifs make it look somewhat similar to the typefaces of Pierre-Simon Fournier in the eighteenth century, and it is for this reason that it is generally classified as "transitional".

In metal, Electra was offered with text figures and two different lengths of descenders; the longer of the two (favored by Dwiggins) required leading, while the shorter could be set solid.

It features a particularly restrained italic reminiscent of Electra's original oblique, using cursive letterforms that nevertheless hew more closely to the roman than to handwriting.