Johannes Gutenberg & Oded Ezer

Typography which is supplemented by the addition of new forms and decoration has been around for centuries.

Johannes Gutenberg used this technique in his 42-line bible. He was a German goldsmith and printer who was credited for being the first European to use movable type. Gutenberg was born in 1398 and died febuary 3rd 1468. He was the inventor of the process for mass producing movable type through the use of oil based ink and a wooden printing press. His major work , the Gutenberg Bible, is a collection of Illuminated Manuscripts which are printed letter forms supplemented by the addition of traditional ornamentation.

Modern typography has discarded classical decorations in favor of a more clinical page; the particular ornaments used by Gutenberg in the 1450’s weren’t as multicultural and certainly not as neutral as modern typography which aims to better cater for a larger and more multicultural audience. A modern typographic experimentalist who combines text and forms is Oded Ezer. Oded is an Israeli logo and type designer who explores non-conventional typographic solutions in Hebrew typography. Ezer has won many local and international prizes, including the Gold Prize at the international design competition of the Nagoya Design Center, Japan (2000); Certificate of Excellence at the 4th annual competition of the New York Type Directors Club and Certificate of Excellence at the "Bukva raz", a type design competition, Moscow (2001), Russia (2001), and the Israeli Education Ministry Prize for Design (2003). In 2000, two years after graduating at the Bezalel Academy of Art & Design, Jerusalem, with a Bachelor degree in Visual Communication Design Ezer founded his own independent studio, "Oded Ezer Typography". He teaches typography and graphic design in several academies in and outside Israel, among them at the Bezalel Academy for Art & Design, Jerusalem, at the Shenkar College of Engineering near Tel Aviv, and at the Wizo College of Design, Haifa.v