First thing that, errr, shoots into your head?

During my first year of studying visual communication in Gauteng, South Africa a couple of years ago, we got a Communication Design project from one of our stranger lecturers. I can’t remember the brief word for word, but it came down to this:

Design an advertising poster for an archery/bow-shooting competition.

After already being called “Farmgirl” by this guy (which I often got in my first year in the city, even though I never, ever stayed on a farm!) I was already a bit cynical about this class. And I always thought that, as creative, right-brained people, we should think out of the box, right? Right? Wrong. 

New to the world of computer software other than Microsoft Paint, computer graphics and computers overall, I spent an entire week working on my idea. It took me hours to figure out how Photoshop actually works. I started getting the idea the lecturers thought everyone knows how it works when they start their first year. Sure, they showed you around, but hell, not all of the buttons and their options! After working my way around the program, I finally created my concept. An amusing poster for this competition (that, according to me, would have sucked in any way). So I got to class…very excited and stuff…ready to blow his head off with my idea of a design. I proudly presented my image…

You guessed it… My chicken did not fly.

I had to start all over and ended up using some supplied-by-lecturer-for-forced-to-use-or-fail-image of a Native American… I still think the chicken kicks ass though. But, apparently only a farmgirl will shoot chickens around for fun.

Yours out of the box,