Innovation Meets Tradition

Join us on May 19th for a webinar with Shani Avni, the Ismar David Visiting Assistant Curator at the RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection, who will discuss Ismar David's foundational work for the state of Israel and his seminal typeface.

Tuesday, May 19, 2026
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM (Pacific Time)
Webinar

Registration for this webinar is not yet open.

10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern / 18:00 UK / 20:00 Israel–Palestine

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Organized by the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies.

About the Event

 Ismar David (1910–1996) was a prolific calligrapher, type designer, graphic designer, illustrator, architectural designer, author, and educator. From the 1930s until the 1990s, he lived and worked in Berlin, Jerusalem, and New York. During two of his decades working in Jerusalem, he was one of the very few artists who were responsible for the formation of what is now recognized as the visual identity of the emerging state of Israel. His most important contribution to both the visual arts and Israel’s social fabric is his ground-breaking typeface, David Hebrew. Conceived in the 1930s as a multi-style, multi-weight family of fonts, it was the first of its kind when it was issued in 1954, and to this day it is the pinnacle of Hebrew type design.

In this talk, Shani Avni will discuss David's foundational work for the state of Israel and his seminal typeface. She will share the challenges entailed in designing a Hebrew typeface family and how Ismar David tackled these obstacles. Finally, she will explore how this work has been informing and inspiring contemporary Hebrew design, and the field of graphic design more broadly.

 About the Speakers

Shani Avni has been 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. https://www.shaniavni.com/ 

Kerri Steinberg earned her Ph.D. in Art History from UCLA, with a minor in Jewish studies. From fashion to photography, and from design to the politics of identity, her interests focus on visual communication, centering the instrumentality of all things visual in the construction of identity markers. Her research has examined graphic design history, design citizenship, advertising, and American Jewish visual culture, and has been published in various edited volumes. She has also been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition and on Israeli television. Kerri has been teaching full-time at Otis College of Art and Design since Fall 2006. 

DISCLAIMER: The views or opinions of our guest speakers and the content of their presentations do not necessarily reflect the views of the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Hosting speakers does not constitute an endorsement of the speaker's views or opinions.