Dear Gretchen

Analyzing the Language of My Childhood

Dear Gretchen

BFA Senior Thesis  |  Made at California Institute of the Arts |  2008

For my Senior Thesis at CalArts, I analyzed the word and phrase frequency of notes and letters that I kept hidden away in a suitcase from my childhood. I took the analyzed words and raked them into categories such as: Swear Words, Nicknames, Holidays, People, etc. From those results I built (using construction paper and glue) a series of graphs to represent those findings. I then scanned each letter and included them in the book for the reader to enjoy. This project was completed from start to finish in 6 weeks. I also had the honor of recieving a 2008 Adobe Design Achievement Awards Print Design Finalist recognition for this book - one of three finalists across the globe!

This is the suitcase full of letters that I collected through my life:

DearGretchen_GretchenNash_Suitcase

I manually sorted them by sender and typed them to analyze the word and phrase frequency for the letters:

DearGretchen_GretchenNash_Process

Here is the outcome of the process. A 500 page book that features highlights and analysis of each written note and author:

DearGretchen_GretchenNash_Cover
01   Front Cover
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideA
02   Swear Words
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideB
03   People Most Mentioned & Cutesy Words
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideC
04   Animals & Days of the Week
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideD
05   Slang & Name Calling
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideE
06   Abbreviations & Holidays
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideG
07   Top Verbs & Time of Day
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideH
08   Colors & Top Adjectives
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideI
09   Emotions + Hello & Goodbye
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideJ
10   Graph Photography & Process Image Spread
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideG
07   Top Verbs & Time of Day

A sample of letter documentation:
(there are 175 letters scans in the book, totaling 37,402 words)

DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideF
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideG
DearGretchen_GretchenNash_InsideK

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