It was not too long ago that Academy of Design (AOD) Alumnus Chanuka Wijesinghe and current Graphic Design student, Dihan de Silva represented Sri Lanka at the prestigious Cannes Lions Advertising Festival 2011. Last week, two more AOD Graphic designers were selected yet again, to represent Sri Lanka at another international gathering of advertisers and graphic designers: Spikes Asia 2011.
Pathum Egodawatta, a second year student at AOD and Shanika Perera, a final year student of AOD – two promising students of the AOD Graphic Design degree programme, will be the young Sri Lankan representatives for the Spikes Asia 'Young Spikes Academy' programme. Both students were selected to Spikes Asia 2011 based on their portfolios comprised of academic work for AOD.
AOD Principal, Karen Macloed thanked the IAA, Metal Factor and the MBC Networks for organising the Spikes Asia competition and for giving the opportunity to AOD students to become a part of it. "AOD faculty is delighted by this double victory and we know that our students will do Sri Lanka proud in Singapore," added MacLeod.
AOD's Head of Graphic Design, Alain Parizeau stressed on the importance of organising competitions of this nature in Sri Lanka for the growth of the local advertising industry: "Competitions like this will help Sri Lanka create its own icons in the advertising and graphics industry, by giving opportunities for its future leaders to test the international tides at the early stages of their education."
Pathum and Shanika thanked the organisers of the competition and the MBC Networks for being a continuing supporter of young graphic designers like themselves. "We want to bring back what we learn and experience at Young Spikes in Singapore and share it with everyone at AOD and anybody interested in graphics and advertising," Shanika said. "This is an extraordinary chance for both of us, and we hope to make the best of it," Pathum added.
AOD, the renowned Northumbria University School of Design's International Campus for South Asia, offers Northumbria's globally accepted BA (Hons) Graphic Design degree that can be fully completed in Sri Lanka.
For more information please visit www.aod.lk
