Make your dreams happen at AOD—Sri Lanka’s leading catalyst for design, innovation and groundbreaking ideas

AOD calls in young creative thinkers to join its 2018 design degrees as the campus prepares to end its immensely successful 2017 year; final enrollments for Northumbria University UK BA (Hons) degrees in Fashion, Interior design, Graphic design, Animation and Fashion marketing, now open on pending A/Ls

Recruiting young designers to drive a powerful design dynamic from Sri Lanka

The celebrated design educator—AOD has announced the closing of its inspiring 2017 year by opening its last remaining positions in the 2018 degree programmes on pending A/Ls results. Parallel to the world-class design education that it offers in partnership with the UK’s award-winning Northumbria University, AOD is also one of Sri Lanka’s most influential forces in design and innovation with the state sector, business and industry. It has pioneered groundbreaking initiatives, international platforms and commercial operations that are fuelled by the outstanding graduate design talent that it creates. Its Principal Karen MacLeod stated that AOD is currently on the lookout for aspiring designers, promising young innovators and those with big imaginations, to join its 2018 cohort and become part of the flourishing creative ecosystem that AOD is building, and connect with an inspiring network of alumni, graduate designers, industry partners, designer brands and businesses who are making a difference with design; “Over the years, AOD has done some remarkable work in creating a powerful design dynamic emerging out of Sri Lanka. The AOD designers and graduates we create, are the creative force powering all this. So, as we’re looking to continue this movement into the future, we’re looking for a special kind of designer to join in our 2018 design degree programmes. The kind of future designers that we are looking for, are born innovators, true creative minds that are bold enough to think outside the box, and those that are brave enough to dream big. It takes that kind of person to be part of the AOD design culture, and drive forward the design movement we have created. So, hoping to broaden our search and scope to find these unusual young creative minds, we have opened out the last few openings to pending AL results and look forward to completing a great cohort of designers for 2018.”

AOD’s trailblazing year in 2017

In 2017, AOD drove forward an impressive series of events and platforms that engaged design with business and created new opportunities for AOD designers. The most recent among these was Reveal Graduate Design Showcase that presented the latest cohort of graduates to the business world and connected them to new careers and rewarding jobs in reputed organisations. Held at Trace Expert City in Colombo 10, the event presented the graduating class and their best works in fashion, interior design, graphic design and animation, attracting business leaders, HR heads, design directors, project managers and professional designers in power industries like apparel, hospitality, advertising, interior architecture and tourism. The much talked about Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Sri Lanka is another example of AOD events that drive local creativity to a powerful stage. Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Sri Lanka was presented by AOD in partnership with the apparel and automotive industries to create an internationally viewed platform with enormous power in terms of reaching new audiences and markets for local fashion. This mega event also featured AOD talent and allowed alumni and graduating fashion designers to have their work streamed live worldwide on the catwalks of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

2017 also saw the launch of AOD’s knowledge sharing platform ‘Design Wire’, that hosted international and local design professionals to share their knowledge and experiences through an interactive talk series. This inspiring series of talks was available to AOD designers, alumni and industry professionals alike, and hosted three sessions throughout the year. Bridging this growing design and innovation based ecosystem in Sri Lanka with international creativity, AOD also spearheaded a Brazil-Sri Lanka fashion collaboration in 2017, and had its emerging fashion superstar Amesh Wijesekara on the world famous London Fashion Week’s Fashion Scout catwalk.

With this successful string of events and platforms driven by AOD and its pool of talented designers from alumni to students, 2017 turned out to be a fantastic year for Sri Lankan design.

Joining AOD’s global design network through the 2018 degree courses

Opening out this powerful network to a new group of young creative minds, AOD announced its enrollment for 2018, a few months back. During the enrollments, AOD has carefully selected candidates who are able to contribute to its growing design movement by searching for school leavers and aspiring designers with big ideas, genuine innovation and creativity. These young designers will now access the powerful employment opportunities, worldwide platforms, industry collaborations and knowledge sharing forums that AOD presents. The last few remaining positions for the 2018 intake is now open to pending A/Ls results, and will close at the end of this year.

The 2018 design degree portfolio by AOD is presented in partnership with its long term academic collaborator—Northumbria University UK, and includes 100% internal degrees in BA (Hons) Fashion, Interior design, Graphic design, Motion graphics & Animation and Fashion marketing design. Through the unique partnership that AOD maintains with Northumbria, these degrees can be completed fully in Sri Lanka, awarding the identical qualifications and degree status offered to Northumbria design graduates in the UK.

These degrees presented by AOD and Northumbria have all been selected based on what Sri Lankan businesses need from ‘design’ and the creative roles they need fulfilled. For example, the fashion and fashion marketing design degrees have been structured to meet the needs of the country’s massive apparel business, while the graphic design degree connects to a wider range of businesses as an essential service for almost all businesses by providing corporate identities, packaging design and promotional design; the interior design degree complements the booming developments in residential, retail, corporate and hospitality spaces while animation corresponds to the television, film and digital media. Going beyond the academic structure, AOD also creates opportunities for students to collaborate with industries through live projects with businesses and brands; this practice allows them to experience working as a professional designer even before graduating, and network with potential employers well ahead of graduation. This heavy focus on making design education relevant for industry is one of the leading reasons as to why AOD maintains the 100% employment status for its graduates with all AOD designers being successfully employed upon completing their education.

For 2018, AOD has already announced several powerful and inspiring initiatives to engage its students and graduate talent. This includes the new online retail venture www.designmarket.lk is scheduled to be launched in 2018, allowing AOD graphic and interior designers to translate their creativity to commercial products that meet the needs of international markets. The new projects and the continuing successes from previous years are to present an even more influential network for AOD alumni and graduates in 2018.

To register for the final openings in the 2018 Northumbria UK BA (Hons) design degree courses at AOD, walk into the campus at 29, Lauries Road, Colombo 4 between 9am to 5pm. For more information, call AOD on 0775 980 141 / 0115 867 772 or email info@aod.lk. You can find out more about AOD on www.aod.lk or www.facebook.com/aodsrilanka