本书以通俗的文字和精美的图片, 简要介绍了中国博大精深的汉字文化的基础知识。它将带领读者朋友在“汉字王国”中做一次轻松而有趣的漫游。

Cube Collection is a series of titles that explores the serious, demanding and critical aspects of graphic design. The information and pictorial materials for each title are carefully chosen and extensively researched, focusing on the density of creativity and quality in content. This book like the other titles in the series is designed for readers who are looking for specific information or simply inspiration. 本书是一套探讨平面设计的严肃性和高要求性的丛书。每一个主题的信息和图片资料都经过精心选择和广泛调查，突出了内容的创新性与高质量。本书就像这一系列的其它书一样，每一个主题都是为那些寻求专业信息和简洁创意的读者而设计的。

Today, a character serves as one of the most powerful communication tools with which to convey a clear message from a company to its target audience, and differentiate its product from the competitors. This collection presents over 200 recent characters used in posters, catalogs, packages, in-store designs, T-shirts, key holders, and more. The book follows design concept, how a character is created according to the company’s marketing plan, each character’s statistics, such as place of birth, family, characteristics, hobby, etc., and is also described in the text so that readers can see how a character is defined and positioned for a particular promotion of a product or service. In addition, there are three brief case studies where the process of creating a character from scratch is featured, showing "brief idea," "rejected design," and the "adopted design" of a character as well as its application in the end. About 90% of the characters in the book are created in Japan, the most

本书共分十章, 主要讲解了汉字的起源、汉字的发展、象形字、指事字、会意字、形声字、转注字、假借字、汉字的部件构成、汉字的笔画和笔顺规则等内容。

Character designs for designers started out as a hobby but it is now turning into a lucrative business. These figures come in limited numbers and are very popular among collectors. But there is a fine line to be drawn. While character designers want more people to know about their babies, they are careful not to sell out to market forces. In this book, we focus not so much on the mass produced market but on designers with an idea to share, a story to tell and a character to breathe life into. We shall examine how these designers keep their ideas fresh and relevant to the times.