I just retired after 30 years of teaching all aspects of Graphic Design. I developed the digital design associate’s degree curriculum at Owens Community College in Toledo, OH. I have a desire to keep busy and creative. This has led me to design and write this pictorial book, heavy on illustration. It was originally my Master’s Thesis created in an interactive multimedia format. The software program it was authored in has since been discontinued so I revamped it, adding new information and art to fit in an 8” x 8” book format.

The book compares four ancient alphabets (Sumerian, Pre-Dynasty Egyptian, Phoenician (the first true alphabet) and the Early Greek alphabets, which all contributed to the design and evolution of the modern Latin Alphabet.

The uniqueness of the book is its size and illustrations. The book is small and easily carried and serves as a resource that aids the designer in their knowledge of the history which shaped the characters of today’s Western alphabet. Typography is an essential part of the graphic designer’s répertoire.
The subtitle is: “A Pictorial Resource for the Fundamental Elements and Principles of Design and Typography and The Evolution of the Western Alphabet: Aleph-Bet.” And that is the contents of this book, a concise and pictorial explanation of Graphic Design basic rules.

The uniqueness of the book is its size and illustrations. The book is small and easily carried and serves as a resource that aids the designer when they might have a quick question about fundamentals and elements of design and typography. I also included a unique section, taken from my thesis, graphically showing how the letters of our alphabet were shaped from century to century, with the Sumerians in the 6th century B.C.
“The Last Graphic Design Book (You’ll Ever Need)”
mmmmmmmGod is Both Noun and Verb
An alphabetical exploration into the glory of who GOD is and what GOD does
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmFirst in the Series
This little book is the fruit of a prayerful collaboration between me and the Almighty. Having retired from working as a professor of graphic design, I was stagnating by not creating art and projects for my curriculum. In one class, Advanced Design and Typography, the students created a 27 page book based on the Essence of the Alphabet, choosing two pictorial topics, one to fill the letter in the foreground (a,b,c’s) and one to fill the background. I always created a new book each semester along with the students. These projects took quite a bit of thought and time, often over 40 hours of developing the themes, finding the pictures, and choosing the exact form of the letter font to use to characterize it’s essence.

During my morning meditations one day, I was confessing my lack of effort for spiritual pursuit and this idea popped into my head. Why not make a book using beautiful pictures with inspirational messages. I had seen Chris Schmidt’s photographs on Facebook, and I could ask him for permission to use them as the backdrops for my pages. And I formed the concept to use the alphabet theme for the book, but how to choose the prose. I set aside these thoughts and changed the gears of my worship (so to speak). I began to think of YHWH in the dessert with Moses, telling him that His name is I AM THAT I AM. I asked for understanding, what did the Father want me to learn through His answer to Moses? What did He mean? So my thought turned to: I AM ALL [THAT], and then: I AM BEING. During this contemplation I realized that BEING is both noun and verb. God was telling me that He is both noun and verb. A perfect alphabet book theme given to me through prayer.
Series II
Choosing the noun/verb attributes of God was challenging but oh, so worth the discovery. For some words, the beginning letter offered many solid selections, for other letters, it was difficult, but any challenge was encouraged through spiritual guidance. That’s why I am adding more books to the series.