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A modern alternative to a Hebrew typeface dominant since 1908

Designed by Adi Stern and released by TypeTogether in 2017, Noam Text is a dual-script Hebrew and Latin serif family conceived as a contemporary alternative to Frank-Rühl, which has dominated the Hebrew book and newspaper market since 1908. The family addresses structural conflicts between the two scripts—opposing reading directions, differing stress axes, and the absence of Hebrew capitals—through deliberate engineering decisions. All punctuation marks carry Hebrew-specific versions, and the family was programmed to handle all mixed Hebrew, Latin, numeral, and punctuation combinations.

Set in Noam Text

Insights

Opposing structural properties between Hebrew and Latin—counter directionality, vertical versus horizontal stress, fewer extenders, and no Hebrew capitals—were each individually addressed in the design.
Latin letterforms were influenced by Hebrew conventions: shallow horizontal curves and strong baseline serifs originated from Hebrew script logic.
The condensed italic generates a lighter texture than the roman, a deliberate strategy for differentiation within long-text settings.
Three weights provide a solution for integrating both scripts across books, newspapers, and magazines; the family avoids proximity to religious motifs or secular extremes to maintain broad applicability.