Graphic designer, typographer and cultural commentator, Oded Ezer’s typographic experiments take place at the intersection between life and letter. He’s a design educator, 3D Hebrew lettering pioneer and typographic experimentalist that invented the term “biotypography”.
Ezer founded Oded Ezer Typography in Israel in 2000. Here he specialises in brand identity, typographic design, and Hebrew and Latin typeface design. In what may be regarded as an unconventional approach to typography, legibility is not a priority for Ezer. “When it is not legible, it has an extra-emotional message”, Ezer was once quoted.
Creativity is more than an exercise in self-actualisation for Ezer, there is a social need for it. “Creativity is a good solution against cultural fixation, and, in our highly commercial times, this is an ultimate protection for the individual from mass media brainwashing,” he says.
Ezer believes that boredom can lead to irresponsible ideas, but in a good way. He also:
- Believes that legibility is not the most important feature of typography.
- Lectures in the Visual Communication Department of the Holon Institute of Technology.
- Published a monograph in 2009 – Oded Ezer: The Typographer’s Guide to the Galaxy.
- Initiated the foundation of Ha’Gilda, the first cooperative of Israeli font designers in 2002.
- Has work included in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
- Has won local and international accolades, including the Gold Prize at the international design competition of the Nagoya Design Centre in Japan.
- Is a member of the prestigious Alliance Graphique Internationale.
- Finds inspiration in the work of poets, artists and, occasionally, other designers.
Also read our story about his Skype Type project.
Oded Ezer will be speaking at the 2011 Design Indaba Conference from 23 to 25 February.
Watch the Talk with Oded Ezer
