top of page
banner21_5.jpg

Type. Design. Research.

Shani Avni is the Ismar David Visiting Assistant Curator at the RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection since 2020. She holds a BA in Graphic Design from Shenkar College, and an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading.

For her thesis she researched the
David Hebrew typeface family and, since receiving her degree, continues to do so.

Avni designs, researches, teaches, consults, writes, and lectures on typography and
type design.

She perseveres in her efforts to strengthen the connection between the academic and practical spheres through the accessibility of historical information.

Selected Publications

Hebrew Monotype at The Bixler Press and Letterfoundry

Dry Inc.

​​

Ismar David's visitors book design for the Jewish Palestine Pavilion, New York World's Fair 1939

NYPL Researcher Spotlight

Hebrew Type Anatomy

TypeTogether

Yosef Haim Brenner's "Ha-meorer"

Ha-meorer project [Hebrew]

Ha-meorer: A Print Adventure [Hebrew]

Ismar David’s quest for original Hebrew
typographic signs

Visible Language, Special Issue 
Winner of The 2019 Design Incubation Communication
Design Educators Awards

David Hebrew: the first multi-style Hebrew typeface family, academic dissertation

TypeCulture

Lost and found (and lost again)

Alphabettes

The important job of the left thumb

Alphabettes

Greetings from Ismar David

Alefalefalef [Hebrew]

The disappearance of the David Hebrew
typeface family

Alefalefalef [Hebrew]

Selected Talks & Workshops

Hebrew Type and Typography 

Words of Type, online, 2024

Hebrew Letterpress Workshop

MIDPOINT, School of Art, Design and Creative Industries, Wichita State University, 2024

Curating Jewish Type Collections

Letters That Link Us: Histories & Mysteries of Hebrew Type. University Of Minnesota, 2024

Hebrew Type and Typography 

Center for Jewish Studies, University of Rochester, 2024

Defect Turned Default: Navigating Technology's Impact on Hebrew Type Design, with Liron Lavi Turkenich.

Face/Interface: Global Type Design and Human-Computer Interaction, Stanford Humanities Center, 2023

Wayzgoose 2023: Hebrew/Yiddish Wood Type Workshop with Lynne Avadenka 

Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, 2023

Hebrew Type Intensive: Cast, Typeset, and Print Historic Jewish Wood and Metal type.

The Press and Letterfoundry of Michael and Winifred Bixler Skaneateles, New York, 2023

Masters of Letters: German-Jewish Type Designers

in Service of Modern Hebrew Typography

EAJS, Frankfurt, 2023

 

Hebrew Wood Type at the Cary Collection,

GRANSHAN, Munich, 2022

The Wonders of Hebrew Wood Type,

Typewknd, 2021

Hebrew Wood Type at the Cary Collection,

Hamilton Hang, 2021

Type Design Research 

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design
Jerusalem, 2019

Unfolding the first Hebrew typeface family

St Bride Foundation, London, 2019

Practice Led Research

Alfred Cooperative Institute for Art & Culture

Tel Aviv, 2019

Sheqel for your thoughts

ATypI 2018, Antwerp

​​

Unfolding the first Hebrew typeface family

Type talks, Birmingham City University, 2018

Innovation meets tradition

ATypI 2017, Montreal

JCC Rochester, NY, 2017

Monotype Imaging Inc., NYC, 2017

Greetings from Ismar David

The Typophiles Inc., NYC, 2017​


 

Contact

Thank you for your email

Header photos:

Rockford Hebrew Wood Type Collection, Cary

Graphic Arts Collection. Photos by: Jiageng Lin.

Ismar David papers, Cary Graphic Arts Collection

Ambersonius typeface by: Jawaher Alali, Shani Avni,

Zenab Bastawala, Lisa Dröes, Manuel von Gebhardi,

Calvin Kwok, Rob Pratley.

Hebrew & Latin Gozalle typeface by Shani Avni.

bottom of page