Type. Design. Research.
Shani Avni holds a BA in Design from Shenkar College Tel Aviv and an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, UK.
Fascinated with letters and the stories they tell, she collaborates with designers and educators in order to expose more practitioners to this subject through workshops and lectures. For her Typeface Design MA thesis for the University of Reading, she researched David Hebrew typeface family and,
since receiving her degree, continues to do so.
In 2017, Shani was chosen for The Cary Graphic Arts Collection Research Fellowship at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), USA, where David’s work is archived. In 2020, Shani returned to RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection, this time as the Ismar David Visiting Assistant Curator.
She perseveres in her efforts to make historical information available as both an academic and a practical reference.
Talks
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
Innovation meets tradition
ATypI 2017, Montreal
JCC Rochester, US
Monotype Imaging Inc., NYC
Unfolding the first Hebrew typeface family
Type talks, Birmingham City University
Ismar David & the first Hebrew typeface family
The Cary Graphic Arts Collection, Rochester NY
The Type Directors Club, NYC
Kvutsa Ivrit, Hebrew Group, North London
Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design, Jerusalem
Shenkar College of Engineering & Design,
Ramat Gan, Holon Institute of Technology, Faculty
of Design, Holon
Discoveries from Ismar David's archive
Holon Institute of Technology, Faculty of
Design, Holon
Greetings from Ismar David
The Typophiles Inc., NYC
Tel Aviv > Reading > Tel Aviv
University of Reading MATD & MResTD, 2018
Latin & Hebrew typography
Goren School of Graphic Design & Visual
Communications, Yezreel Valley, 2016
What is Hebrew typography?
Environmental Leadership High-School, Tel Aviv, 2009
An overview of Hebrew type
Ben Gurion University, Computing & Information Systems MA course, Beer-Sheba, 2008
Articles
Yosef Haim Brenner's "Hameorer"
Hameorer project (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)
Contact
Photos of work processes in the header:
_ Ismar David papers, RIT 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.