AOD partners TEDxColombo to channel blueprint for change

AOD talent behind the social spaces at TEDx Colombo 2016

AOD social spaces at TEDx aimed to educate and engage participants with new knowledge

Design as a medium for change was explored by AOD at TEDx2016

TEDxColombo was held last weekend with the partnership of AOD – Sri Lanka’s leading design educator. Hosted under the theme ‘Blueprint for Change’, TEDxColombo attracted a large crowd of creative thinkers, innovators, entrepreneurs and interested youth. AOD was the official partner for social spaces at the event and designed a series of interactive and educational spaces at the venue – Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapakse Theatre. 

TEDx is a program of local, self-organised events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. The event is called TEDxColombo, where x = independently organised TED event. At TEDx Colombo, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including the one at hand, are self-organised.

The partnership forged a new mean of interacting and educating with the event participants and allowed them to witness how design and creativity fuel modern innovation for commerce and industry through immersive social spaces. 

AOD’s social spaces at TEDxColombo were connected to the event theme ‘Blueprint for Change’. With change being a constant process that affects us as a society and as individuals, it carried the wide scope to include multiple disciplines that impact human lives. Exploring the current global movements in AOD’s forte- design, the social spaces at TEDxColombo highlighted important discussions in fashion, animation and graphic design and how they affect modern human lives. The spaces were curated in collaboration between AOD’s international faculty and young student talent.

Design’s role in instigating a positive change across society is massive; Design can influence change because it has the potential to collaborate with almost any sector whether it is technology, an export product or even something as serious as a diplomatic relationship. This universal nature of design places designers among the most powerful change agents in society. 

The design talent of AOD put together social spaces reflecting new thinking for fashion; these showed how fashion industry related disasters, such as the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse due to adverse working conditions, exposed the true cost of cheap fashion and how this sparked a global reaction to pay fair wages and implement decent working standards for garment workers. AOD’s fashion students also shed light on where mass fashion manufacturing took place around the world, as well as the initiatives to spark a change in the global fashion industry, such as the international Fashion Revolution movement which AOD is the official Sri Lankan representative for. 

Simultaneously, participants also got the opportunity to understand simple animation techniques to visualise motion plus, experiment on word-play to come up with ideas that had the potential to change their own lives.

AOD Principal Karen MacLeod mentioned that AOD students are encouraged to become part of new collaborations of this nature that help them grow as individuals as well as design professionals; “Our approach to design education is not only theory and hands-on skill practicing. We create opportunities for students to collaborate with people from disciplines outside design which really helps them to progress as individuals and strengthen their role as designers. This kind of experience paired with the British design curriculum from Northumbria that we offer, allows our students to graduate as fully-fledged designers capable of working with businesses, industry and other professionals.”

AOD is currently the only educator to offer 100% internal, complete UK design degrees in Sri Lanka. Offered in partnership with the prestigious Northumbria University UK, these degrees are accepted anywhere in the world, and gives local students access to global design currency. AOD works closely with the major industries of Sri Lanka, and AOD graduates are now preferred design professionals by industry; a trait that has enabled AOD to maintain a consistent 100% employment rate for the past eight years. 

The partnership between AOD and TEDxColombo is part of this AOD vision to bridge design and innovation with business and development infrastructures. 

For more information on design education and careers, contact AOD on the hotline 0775980141 or 011 5867772. Visit them on 29, Lauries Road Colombo 4 between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or log on to www.aod.lk or www.facebook.com/AODSrilanka for online inquiries.