The 22 Hebrew Letters Project

I came across a very interesting project, The 22hebrewletters. Each week is dedicated to a single Hebrew letter in alphabetical order. Throughout the 22 weeks participants are invited to express the weekly letter and upload it to Instagram or Facebook.

At the end of the project the creations will be offered for sell in forms of posters, shirts and etc. Despite that the project is a non-profit which is meant to promote creativity with a tribute to the Hebrew alphabet.

Ofir Shavit, the Israeli founder who initiated the project, is telling us that it was inspired by a similar project that took place in Spain by the name 36daysoftype. “Designers from all over the world were invited to design a Latin letter. when they finish the letters they moved to numbers. That project won worldwide popularity and inspired designers to do amazing things. I asked the members of the typography facebook group I run if they are interested, and I’m glad to say there was enough enthusiasm and excitement to do the same thing with Hebrew letters.”

Are you happy with the outcome so far? were you surprised by the creativity and the willingness?

“Yes, I was surprised from a few aspects. There are a few differences between the international community and the Israeli community and it shows, of course, in this project as well. First of all, number wise – we are fewer people, so we decided to give a week for each letter instead of a day. People here are also more bothered and busy with survival so they have just little time for side projects, despite the fact that this kind of project has a self promotion potential (which is one of the reason for its existence), so the willingness was a bit disappointing to me and also the interest of the people who didn’t take part in it. What did surprise me for the best was the high level of creativity and a warm, intimate community which had developed. Another thing I have noticed is that our designers are based on serials, they stuck with the style they chose from the first letter they designed and every work is one of a kind.”

Enon Avital: My Hebrew type journey began as a personal challenge, while searching to improve my creative output. During my search I realized that inspiration for Latin letters could easily be found, and I decided that my next experiment must be one with little reference, where I’d be challenged piece after piece to be as self-referential as possible. One day it hit me: Hebrew letters don’t lend themselves to the hooks and ligatures commonplace in Latin letter designs. Flourishes are more difficult to integrate, and the rigid shapes of Hebrew type would challenge me a heck of a lot more.

Igal Talianski: When it comes to Hebrew letters, many teachers claim that the Hebrew letter is challenging for its design is rectangular and less elastic compared to English letters. I try to circumvent these challenges by seemingly creating surreal images from our every day life. Issues such as power relations, gestures, consumer culture, food, nature and useful objects.