This book is written by Vangelis Doukakis with the aim of transferring the shoe design knowledge he acquired, during approximately forty years of factory production process. It is created entirely by himself, by using design, photo editing and paging software. Looking at the book cover, in addition to the synthesis he has created, the drawing diagrams, the digital photos and the designs, we can see one of his painting, in the lower left part. This artwork was carefully selected to remind us of his artistic origin.

The whole process of book creation was difficult. However, the combination of 4-5 different programs resulted in success and this is what makes the creator proud. This book is addressed to every potential or experienced designer, to every craft industry or shoe factory. The detailed measurements, the illustrated tables, the exact calculations and the useful design tips, result of personal research and accumulated work experience, make this book an invaluable asset for shoe design.

Analyzing the contents of the book we must state that all the work has been done on the 37 women’s size shoe. The multi-year experience of the designer sets rules that must be followed in order to have the appropriate design concerning lines, patterns and fit on the foot. Personal deposition of knowledge and data, not found in other books, make the strong characteristics of both the author and the book.

54 individual designs were created, for different types of shoes. They are classified into categories depending on the way and the particularity of their construction. For all of them, you can find the design patterns in real dimensions, with all the distances and details, and the creation of all the pieces that compose the design, on a smaller scale though, due to space limitations.
We start the designing process from the very simple things so that a beginner can follow. The book provides many secrets that someone can master immediately, without waiting for years to discover; in some cases, this may never happen.

Vangelis Doukakis’s method, is personal and it is based on transparent paper. Transparency is advantageous over cardboard because the inside and outside of all lines of the design is clearly visible. In this way, the pencil mark is easily traced on the cardboard. Then, the designer can cut the design pieces by hand. The next step is either grade them on cardboard to make the cutting knives, or cut the pieces through a special software and machinery, for those who work digitally. For the designers who work entirely digitally, all the details are given, regarding the axes -main and secondary- the rotations, the digital mirroring, etc. so that they make a proper shoe design.

In addition to the sections concerning the construction of patterns, there are two more sections:
A. Analysis and grading with the French, English, American as well as with his own Metric System, which he calls DOUK to be distinguished among the others. This system takes parameters from the existing Metric Systems, while it corrects and refines all of them.
B. Design with the general design software Adobe Illustrator and grade from the same program.

Finally, this book with about 500 pages and hundreds of photos and diagrams fully covers the designers who make children’s or men’s footwear and have to reduce or enlarge their designs accordingly, based on size 37 with the same rules, same axis distances and same margins