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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
Curating Jewish Wood Type at the RIT Cary
Graphic Arts Collection
Printing History 36, 2025
Hebrew Monotype at The Bixler Press
and Letterfoundry
Dry Inc. 2024
Ismar David's visitors book design for the Jewish Palestine Pavilion, New York World's Fair 1939
NYPL Researcher Spotlight, 2022
Yosef Haim Brenner's "Ha-meorer"
Ha-meorer project, 2020 [Hebrew]
Ha-meorer: A Print Adventure, 2021 [Hebrew]
Hebrew Type Anatomy
TypeTogether, 2021
Ismar David’s quest for original Hebrew
typographic signs
Visible Language, Special Issue. Winner of
The 2019 Design Incubation Communication
Design Educators Awards
The important job of the left thumb
Alphabettes, 2017
David Hebrew: the first multi-style Hebrew typeface family, academic dissertation
TypeCulture, 2016
Greetings from Ismar David
Alefalefalef [Hebrew]
Selected Talks & Workshops
Participant application deadline March 5, 2025:
Between Memory and the Archive: Jewish Print Culture
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute
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
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.
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