Fonts for the Future,All it takes is a quick stroll down a street in Jerusalem to see that Hebrew letters aren’t set in stone. Store signs, snacks, and even books all come with interesting letter treatments that are designed to catch the eye. But what goes into making a Hebrew typeface? And how has the computer age affected this ancient art? To find out, we’ve gone into the “teivah,” to take an inside look at the world of designing Hebrew letters.
It was a tough job but somebody had to do it. As part of my research for this article I emptied my kitchen cabinet of its nosh and spread it out on the kitchen table — not with the intention of eating it mind you although that turned out to be an inevitable consequence of the experiment. My real objective was to study the Hebrew letters on the packaging to see what’s new with contemporary Hebrew typeface design.
And so as I munched away at some potato chips I took a good look at that backwards-spinning peh on the Elite Tapuchips bag — a peh that practically sings out: Eating potato chips is fun! In contrast were the sedate letters on the label of my Berman’s Ugat Shayish (Marble Cake). Those letters which have a scribal feel to them seemed to whisper: Ess! Eating a piece of this cake is a mitzvah!
Obviously these typographic signals aren’t accidents. Someone had to design these fonts and logos and someone had to commission them. And new fonts aren’t being designed just to market products. Magazine books and even seforim also get a new look from time to time. So what goes into the creation of a new typeface for Hebrew book publishing? What are the challenges and what makes a font successful?
Before we get to the present let’s take a quick look at the art of typography in the past.
Create a free account to keep reading.
