![]() Arabic designers may have little motivation to deal with Hebrew and vice versa, but the fact is that Arabic and Hebrew are related, and designing them in unison can create very useful type systems for the region, so I became interested in designing typefaces that support both scripts, as well as Latin. I’ve spent a decade working with Arabic type, and more recently, together with Kristyan Sarkis, started a foundry specialising in the development of original, contemporary, authentic Arabic typefaces. I was also motivated by my interest in Arabic script. Rühl, 1910), David (Intertype, 1954), and Hadassah (Amsterdam Type Foundry, 1958) Rühl, 1910), David (Intertype, 1954), and Hadassah (Amsterdam type foundry, 1958). Newer typefaces have never quite overtaken the three most popular, Frank Rühl (C.F. The typefaces of Rafael Frank (1867–1920), Henry Friedlaender (1904–1996), Ismar David (1910–1996), and Zvi Narkiss (1921–2010) have come to define the look of modern Hebrew typography, and even now, many decades later, publishers continue to return to them for their legibility and usefulness for setting large quantities of text. Part of my motivation came from discussions with Israeli friends who told me that the most useful Hebrew typefaces were designed in the early 20th century. I knew that in the process of exploring Hebrew type I would make silly mistakes that would never even occur to a native designer, that coming to understand the historical models, references and writing tools would be a long journey, but having already designed Cyrillic, Greek, Armenian, Inuktitut and Arabic typefaces, I was willing to take on this challenge. Of course, an outsider has to work harder to learn a script’s history, traditions and conventions, mapping out its expressive potential. ![]() ![]() I am a firm believer that it is possible, and in fact many great advances in type design and typography have been made by people who were outsiders or even illiterate, since the skills required to speak a language are quite different from the skills required to work with its visual aspect. Most importantly, I understood that the project would be a long-term commitment, and I was prepared to give it as much time as it needed.Įven so, the question remains whether an outsider can make a useful or inspiring contribution to a script that he is not familiar with. Without any preconceptions, I was open to all possible design options, and I was prepared to undertake serious research. In short, I was completely unqualified to work with the Hebrew alphabet.Īs odd as it may seem, though, there were some advantages to my lack of knowledge. When I first started working with Hebrew type, I couldn’t tell one letter from another, or even whether the page was right-side-up or upside-down. Just to be clear from the start: I don’t speak Hebrew.
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