My first assignment in my Visual Media class was to use square shapes to describe six words that the teacher assigned. We were to make six mockups for each word making a total of thirty-six mockups. We were told to read the rules very carefully and I noticed that they were carefully written. I put my three best designs into Illustrator as instructed.
While it was implied that we could only use squares I carefully read and reread the instructions and realized that all the rules applied only to squares, including being limited to only four squares. I decided that I should push the limits of the design and make the designs more meaningful.
I realize that this is being slightly deviant, the directions were clear, but design is about pushing the requirements. Besides, I think that the designs are so much better with a little bit of line art.
(Postscript: the teacher has since heavily revised the rules to forbid any additional lines. I feel proud to have helped improve the syllabus.)