Alphabet Soup//Visual Thinking

This brief was set out to produce a series of ten letter forms that interpret a word from the randomizer. The word I was given to stimulate this brief was 'EXTRACT'. To communicate this, we were only allowed to use a black and white colour way and it had to be hand rendered. The idea that we had use traditional ways in communicating our letters was something that I was looking forward to do as I really enjoy hands on tasks. However, at first I found it a struggle with the word I was given. After looking into a few things and exploring the word and the meaning further, I finally began to produce my letter forms. 


Definition of extract: 
1. To draw or pull out, often with great force or effort: extract a wisdom tooth; used tweezers to extract the splinter.
2. To obtain despite resistance: extract a promise.
3. To obtain from a substance by chemical or mechanical action, as by pressure, distillation, or evaporation.
4. To remove for separate consideration or publication; excerpt.
5.

a. To derive or obtain (information, for example) from a source.

b. To deduce (a principle or doctrine); construe (a meaning).

6. Mathematics To determine or calculate (the root of a number).

c. To derive (pleasure or comfort) from an experience.

Something extracted, especially

                  a. A passage from a literary work; an excerpt.

      b. A concentrated preparation of the essential constituents of a food, flavouring, or            

                  other substance; a concentrate: maple extract.

The letter I chose to manipulate was the letter 'O'. I chose this because of the simple shape, therefore when I am experimenting hopefully the letter itself will still be bold and readable. 

After looking into the definition of the word, I wanted to communicate my letter in two different ways. I decided that I could simply 'extract' the letter form itself (or parts of it), or go for a more obvious way by using the describing word.        


EXTRACT is another way of saying...THE ROOT OF. 


EXTRACT is another way of saying...To REMOVE. 


These were two ideas I looked into to try and attack this brief from my perspective. I decided to break the word down. I liked the definitions I came across and found it easier to use these to create my letters, rather than just focusing on the broadness of the word itself. For example, chemistry and mathematical extraction was an area that I wanted to interpret. In contrast to this I also looked into extracts from books and poems. I love English so for me, this idea was an obvious one to communicate visually.