The making of the International Left-Handers Day poster

First of all, let’s promise ourselves that, not under any circumstances—in grief, in joy, or under the influence—we will never resort to using that tale of the steel-fucking-flea, which the Kvas-drinking patriots are so fond of mentioning. (The Tale of Cross-Eyed Lefty From Tula and the Steel Flea)
“Guys, your space rocket crashed!”
“Yeah, but our Lefty shod a flea.”

Also, we will take absolutely no notice of that boring right brain/left brain mumbo-jumbo, the left-handers’ creative potential, the famous left-handed painters, left-handed poets and, left-handed actors.

Needless to say, lefties don’t need sympathetic remarks about the old-fashioned re-training attempts.

We don’t feel like trolling them either, we’re not at school after all.

And so, we’re not left with too many options—besides a simple friendly greeting.

Designer: How about a big left-handed “Fuck You” on the poster?

Art director: Not even close.

Digging through the Internet, looking for interesting ideas. Mirrored writing? Perhaps, but not every lefty would get it. Hay and straw? Straw and hay? (Rus. archaic equivalents of left & right in Czar’s peasant army) No, that’s just “tales from the crypt.” How about something to do with hands interaction? Researching gestures from different nationalities, shadow theater, and sign language. It would be easier to go with something like a handshake or a gift. Oh, here we go.

Designer: From right to left—from mine to yours.

Art director: Could do that.

Designer: Or with a lollipop.

Art director: Ok.

Getting started. Taking pictures of hands.

Opening analog Photoshop. We’ll do it with our left heel (Rus. term that signifies something that is done poorly). That was discrimination, yes.

Trying it with a flower and a rooster lolly. The flower looks nicer, and doesn’t carry any hidden meaning—which was pointed out by the art director L.B., who was just passing by. Trying it with a bouquet.

Copy, paste.

Designer: Hmm?

Art director: Uh-huh.

Touching-up, cleaning, erasing pencil lines, restoring pencil lines, placing text and sending it to print.