DESCRIPTION:
Oded Ezer is a typographer, type designer, and lecturer. He began Oded Ezer Design Studio, based in Givatayim, Israel, in 2002. His commercial clients include Maariv daily newspaper, Weizmann Institute of Science, Romis International, In-Slide, Casirer.com, Bezalel Academy, FoxMind Games, Tetra Studios, and more. In addition to running his own studio, Ezer also teaches typography and graphic design at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, and at the Wizo College of Design. He is responsible for co-founding Hagilda, the first cooperative of Israeli font designers, and he runs an experimental design project, Non Profit Item, which investigates unconventional solutions in Hebrew type design.

VOICE:
“Questions I often present my students with today are ‘How does typography behave? What does it look like when it’s happy? What does it do when it’s sad? How will it react if we slap it?’”

DISTINCTIVE MARKINGS:
Ezer says that he feels obligated to make an impact on his community by pushing the borders of Hebrew typography and graphic design in order to create a new pluralistic environment. “I give it the utmost priority—this was the main reason I engaged in the profession,” he affirms.

HABITAT:
“I have several work environments. One is my studio, which is located in my Givatayim flat, near Tel Aviv. Here I work intensively most of the day. I usually do commercial graphics on my computer, and experimental stuff by hand. Another environment is the academies I teach in—where I improve my design listening and speaking skills. The third environment is the entire design world; I see myself as an Israeli designer who is talking to audiences in and outside Israel. My basic design elements—Hebrew typography, letter shapes, and aesthetics—are local and very much connected to the place where I was born and live, but I think my design language is universal because it’s human.”

SPOTTED BY:
Leonardo Sonnoli, president of AGI Italy, and principal of Codesign, Rimini, Italy: “I was impressed by Ezer’s extraordinary typophotographic posters in black and white.”

CONTACT:
+97.20.3672.5489 | www.ezerdesign.com

Written by Marcy Slane