WORDS, An Illustrated Book by Christoph Nieman That Visually Defines Common English Words

Words

WORDS, a new book by artist Christoph Niemann, is a playfully educational dictionary that uses Niemann’s uniquely wonderful illustrations to visually define, connect and give context to over “300 of the most common words in the English language”. WORDS is currently available for pre-order with a release on October 4, 2016

For me drawing and writing are very closely related. Both a word and a picture have the power to express extremely complex thoughts and emotions with amazing simplicity. Think of the word “love,” or a drawing of a smiling face. Being able to understand words and images opens the door to knowledge, communication, and connection to people all over the world. One of the biggest differences between a word and an image is that most of us learn to understand images through happenstance or playful discovery, whereas learning to read and write usually requires a conscious effort. My aim for this book was to make the discovery of words equally fun and inspiring. By showing more than three hundred key words in the context of simple scenes, I am inviting kids (and readers of all ages) to intuit and puzzle out meaning, and to see language as a source of ideas and stories.

How Learn

Read Full

Often Once

state pattern

White Down

images via Christoph Niemann

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.