Odds are, typeface is something you think very little – if at all – about, but designer Liron Lavi Turkenich will likely change that. Liron spearheads an ongoing project that combines Hebrew and Arabic, to create a text that all Middle Easterners can understand. The result is as functional as it is beautiful, bringing up bigger topics of peaceful co-existence.
How did you develop your passion for typeface design?
In graphic design, there’s a subsection of typography, the art of letters; how they are organized and set. Inside typography, there is typeface design; how letters are shaped and spaced, the most micro unit possible. I actually didn’t know what typography was, let alone type design, before I started my bachelor’s degree and took a typography class. People around me complained that we’re required to do the boring job of copying letters, meanwhile I was happy as a clam! Everything connected – my love for books and words finally found an outlet.
What's your favorite font?
That’s the hardest question one can ask a typeface designer! I appreciate typefaces that are designed and produced in order to solve a problem. There was a typeface by the French designer Roger Excoffon that was designed especially for phone books. It needed to be extremely legible in small sizes and to have very clear figures.
How does your new text combine Hebrew and Arabic?
I was born in Haifa, a city with a mix of Hebrew and Arabic speakers, so all the signs are written in English, Hebrew, and Arabic. At some point I realized that I was looking at the Arabic on the signs as if it were decoration – not as though the text actually has meaning. It really bothered me.
How exactly does it work and how long did it take you?
It has been an ongoing project for the last six years. This writing system has new letters, each composed of a top part of an Arabic letter and a bottom part of a Hebrew letter. Each viewer reads the language that she or he feels most comfortable with, without ignoring the other one, which is always present.
How has it been received?
People feel like they solved a puzzle when they read it. A second after, they start thinking about the message. It brings up the topic of living together here in Israel in a very subtle way. People approach me from all sectors and religions.