If there are a thousand different ways to learn kanji, there are almost as many ways, and excuses, for giving up on the study.
Here is a book for professionals, inspired amateur designers and the curious who sense the beauty of Japanese ideograms but would like to know what lies behind them. Shogo Oketani and Leza Lowitz's "Designing With Kanji" is not, as the title suggests a textbook, though it might rekindle interest among those who have made a number of false starts in studying kanji, or still worse, those who have slipped off the learning curve on the very first ascent.
Characters are attractively laid out in five different styles, the kanji sections divided respectively into the "Way of Nature," "Spirit," "Warrior," and the "Heart." The criteria for the 130 entries in this book are based on their design value, intrinsic interest and their usage in advertising, tattooing and items such as greeting cards. Ideograms are arranged on a faint background grid like those used in kanji exercise books, a clever touch that provides scale.