AOD’s 2018 graduating class of designers get premiered at Reveal Graduate Design Showcase held as a part of Sri Lanka Design Festival connecting them to powerful opportunities in employment, crossindustry collaborations and international networks, giving the young designers an advantage of starting a few steps ahead in their professional journey. BA (Hons) interior design, visual communication design, motion graphics and animation design, fashion and fashion marketing graduates present the diversity and breadth of creative talent available in Sri Lanka The newly graduating designers of AOD were the young talent highlighted at Sri Lanka’s national platform for design and creativity—Sri Lanka Design Festival 2018. The ‘REVEAL Graduate Design Showcase 2018’, which is an annual showcase of the freshest design talent that Sri Lanka has to offer, was incorporated into Sri Lanka Design Festival as one of the most important components of the event, where the new generation of designers who will take on the future of the country’s creative economy are showcased to the world.

REVEAL was attended by an influential network of leaders in industries like hospitality, architecture, apparel, advertising, publishing and media. Meanwhile, an impressive delegation of international fashion and design influencers from the Netherlands and the UK also attended the graduate design showcase. This allowed students to establish direct networks with a wide cross section of industries and successful designers, creative consultants and strategists from the frontlines of international design. AOD’s REVEAL Graduate Design Showcase 2018 was held throughout 9, 10 and 11 of November at the Trace Expert City in Colombo and was welcomed by the Lankan business world as an inspiring insight into the future talent that will reshape the local industries’ landscape. REVEAL Graduate Design Showcase was a co-curation between AOD’s international design faculty and the graduating designers. It included close to hundred young designers; some of whom were collaborating with the local industries for live projects and collaborations.

These collaborative projects highlighted the graduates’ industry-readiness and allowed talent recruiters and potential employers to identify how well they can address briefs, identify consumer needs and communicate brands and ideas. Simultaneously, these projects also demonstrated how design working with business brings in powerful results, great products, market-relevant services and effective brand communications. From a global perspective, REVEAL Graduate Design Showcase presented a comprehensive idea of the diversity and the breadth of the design talent that is available in Sri Lanka. To many international delegates who were part of Sri Lanka Design Festival, REVEAL presented an opportunity to understand how the 2018 theme of the event—innovation island— actualises with the talent resources available in the island. For international designers, brands and companies looking to hire or collaborate with unusual talent representing interesting cultures, REVEAL was a hotspot to discover young designers with fresh ideas.

For the graduating designers and their career prospects, REVEAL Graduate Design Showcase held at a powerful platform like Sri Lanka Design Festival proved to be an incredibly rare opportunity. Beyond linking them with prospective career opportunities, the event also helped them find their place in local and global design networks. At a more personal level, most students found the REVEAL experience as an inspiring and challenging one where presenting their work in the public eye, to potential employers and international designers helped the young AOD graduates to push their limits and reach new heights in their confidence. The event was also open to the public presenting an opportunity for parents, students and young people aspiring to become designers to gain close insights into the local design sphere and how graduating designers can discover new opportunities in the business world. The AOD Graduate Design Showcase was a fantastic display of fresh design talent, and an inspiring portrayal of how homegrown talent will play an active role in Sri Lanka’s regional leadership as South Asia’s creative hub.

For more information on the graduating talent from the class of 2018, or to study Fashion, Fashion Marketing, Visual Communication Design, Interior Design or Motion Graphics & Animation Design contact AOD on 011586772/3 or www.aod.lk