Dan Reisinger

Dan Reisinger was born in former Yugoslavia and immigrated to Israel in 1949, after WWII. After serving as the art director for the Israeli Air Force's publications, Reisinger worked and studied across Europe (Brussels, London) and in 1966 returned to Israel where he established his own design studio.

Israel's Independence Day poster, 1974

Throughout his admirable career, Reisinger has dealt with many different aspects of design and culture; political, social and cultural posters, monuments for Yad Vashem- the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, logos for El Al airlines, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Habima national theater, various stamps for the state of Israel, medals of honor for Israel's Defence Forces, and much more...

various logos: El Al, Lili, Tambour and many more

He claims one of his more significant contributions has been to stretch the visual and communicative possibilities of Hebrew letters, through his symbols and logos.

9th Maccabiah stamp, 1973

Adi Stern

Israel Festival, Jerusalem Logo, 1994

Adi Stern graduated with distinction from the Department of Visual Communication of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, then worked for two years in David Tartakover´s studio. Since 1994, he has owned his design studio in Tel Aviv, specializing in design and typography for cultural institutions as well as in book design. In 2003, Stern studied at the MA program in Typeface Design at Reading University, UK. Since his return to Israel, and alongside all his other activities, Adi writes and lectures on the design and history of the Hebrew letter. In 2008 he became the head of the department from which he had graduated.

Virus, Bat Sheva dance company, poster

Occupation Kills Us All, self-produced Poster, 2001

Territory and Identity, Exhibition catalog, Eretz Israel Museum

Oded Ezer

Typembria, watch video, 2009

He is already world known; the single contemporary israeli typographer (or typographic artists) to become a design pop star. Oded Ezer’s experiments are innovative and inspiring, twisting the boundaries and exploring the possibilities of meshing the field of Hebrew type (as well as Latin) with biology, technology, materiality and endless more alternatives.

Tybrid - Oded Ezer's typo hybrids, 2007

Maya Light font, corresponds to Futura

Gestalten recently published his monograph - I highly recommend it! Get it here.

Frankrhulia font (sketches), inspired by Frank Ruehl, 2005

It is impossible to summarize such a great man and body of work. To see more, you can follow him on his website, foundry, twitter, flickr and blog.

Typosperma, Ezer as the typographic scientist, 2006

History of Jewish Hebrew Printing

From the First Illustrated Printed Haggadah, Prague, 1526

The Jewish Encyclopedia's Typography entry:

The art of printing. The invention of printing was welcomed by the Jews as "the art of writing with many pens." From the time of the earlier printers reference is made to their craft as "holy work" ("'Abodat ha-Ḳodesh"). It may here be treated under the two headings of history and characteristics.

I. History:

The history of Hebrew printing is divided into five stages, of which only a sketch can be attempted in this place, many of the details being already treated under the names of prominent printers or presses. The five stages of Hebrew typography are as follows: I., 1475-1500, incunabula in southern Europe; II., 1500-42, spread to north and east; III., 1542-1627, supremacy of Venice; IV., 1627-1732, hegemony of Amsterdam; V., 1732-1900, modern period, in which Frankfort, Vienna, and, more recently, Wilna and Warsaw have come to the front. For the most part Hebrew printing has been done by Jews, but the printing of Bibles has been undertaken also by Christian typographers, especially at the university towns of Europe. These productions, for lack of space, are for the most part to be neglected in the following sketch.

Keep Reading...

From a Passover Haggadah, Amsterdam, 1695

David Tartakover

35 Years of Occupation Poster, 2002

David Tartakover studied at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design where he has been teaching as well. Throughout his career he has specialized in various aspects of visual communications, with particular emphasis on culture and politics. Tartakover is one of the most important graphic designers in Israel, and although not a typographer, it is important to mention his work in this blog.

State of Israel's 30th Anniversary Poster, 1978

To show his support and contribute to a protest movement (that called prime minister Menahem Begin to begin a peace process, in 1978), Tartakover voluntarily designed a poster with the title "Peace Now". The title became the movement's name and was made into the first political sticker in Israel, which is effective till this day.

Peace Now Logo, 1978

The logo originated in the poster Tartakover designed for the 30th anniversary of the state of Israel, in which the word "Peace" is set in the biblical Koren font (designed by Eliahu Koren in the 1950's as a revival of Spanish-Italian Hebrew type from 1800's) with blue skies in the background. According to Tartakover, the innovation in the Peace Now logo was the combination of the two typefaces - "peace" set in the traditional Koren and "now" set in the headline-style Haim, explicitly secular Israeli. the contrasting combination gave the logo its presence and memorability.

Oldies Collections

Here are some great Flickr collections of Israeli vintage memorabilia with Hebrew type:

collection of the letter Aleph (first in the Hebrew alphabet), 1900-1950's
http://www.flickr.com/photos/isotype75/

Velveta, Shemen's All Purpose Cream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39094057@N06/

Sonol's Road Map
http://www.flickr.com/photos/safta/

Immigration, Absorption, Settlement Stamp
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karenhorton/