Post Crit Ideas: Alphabet Soup OUGD403

Because the concept that people most reacted to in the crit was the idea that the letter forms should "damage" the eye of the reader I have decided to pursue this more thoroughly. I was not pleased at all with the way the earlier tests came out for this concept but other people seem to respond really positively. This could be because the mechanical and very clean cut aesthetic is something that I have never attempted.

So, in an effort to improve and widen my experiences as a designer I will make a concerted effort not to shy away from this look if it is suitable for the concept.

To explore the concept further I have returned to thinking about the way letters may damage the eye of the reader.

One of the first thoughts I had was about the way not being able to focus on something hurts the eye as it struggles to make sense of what it is looking at. I could play around with out of focus letter forms playing on the eyes constant need to focus on what it is looking at. However, I feel that this would sacrifice legibility too much, and not communicate connotations of damage effectively.
Another thought I had was looking at optical illusions and how they play with the eye. iI could explore this idea by looking at holographic images and pattern optical illusions and how they might fit into a letter form.
Light is also something I want to look into, the way that it can hurt the eye went very bright. To do this I want to look into using photography to capture this glaring light effect and if it really does hurt the eye when only a photograph and not the real thing.

Another idea I really like but have dismissed on the grounds that it is way too unfeasible in the time and on my own is to create letters out of water balloons and use high speed photography to capture the moment when they burst. I like this idea but once again I have to think about whether it conveys damage or simply the concept of and explosion or wetness.