These are the final ideas all of which communicate the meaning of the word through image and type. In all honesty some of these are simpler than others, the first two, above and below here are fairly straight forward.

The above piece relied on me creating a new typeface, well i've only designed the letters i needed for this. Bold, heavy in weight type helps connote strength. I may take the idea of this typeface and make a complete typeface in this design.
The above, 'plasticity' was rather difficult to design. The word means for a permanent change in shape which is why i've shown the evolution of a standard letter becoming a shape. So in illustrator i rasterized the type so i could stretch and play with the anchor points, to eventually convey a growth in weight.