Iain Slater pictured with lecturers and students.jpg

AIT design exhibition continues until Friday

AIT’s Graphic and Digital Design students are “industry-ready,” says illustrious Irish designer, Iain Slater, who launched the 42nd Graduate Design exhibition in Athlone Institute of Technology on Friday. 

Slater, who is an industry leader in the areas of branding and graphic design, has enjoyed huge commercial success working with some of the world’s biggest brands, from world-renowned fashion designers to Michelin starred restaurants. He also counts Budweiser as one of his clients. 

Commenting on the exhibition he said: “The standard of work here today is fantastic. They’re working with media that I haven’t even looked at yet! They’ve taken design and applied it in ways that I wouldn’t even know about, particularly regarding the medium of video. I’d be so proud to have some of this work coming out of my studio”.

Slater, who is currently working with Facebook in London, stressed the need for students to knock on doors, network and not be afraid to pick up the phone if they want to get ahead. “It will be challenging at times but you need to keep going. Just keep experimenting and expressing yourself through your art. As Benjamin Franklin once said, I haven’t failed I’ve just had 10,000 ideas that haven’t worked!”.

With more than 24-years of industry experience under his belt and deep understanding of the brand identity, the graphic design guru is resolute in his belief that your brand is one of your most valuable assets. “Always be yourself. I really cannot stress enough how important that is in this industry. Do not change yourself for anybody”, he said.


Slater, who has previously given talks at the institute, also commented on the state of the design industry at home and abroad stating that AIT’s students don’t need to leave for a foreign soil to develop their skills and their careers.

The exhibition, which features the work of AIT’s final year BA (Hons) Graphic and Digital Design and BA Graphic Design students, showcases a wide variety of themes and media many of which have subversive underpinnings.

One such work is that of Michael Riordan’s, a final year BA (Hons) Graphic and Digital Design student. Riordan’s short film takes inspiration from playwright Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and explores postmodernist themes of alienation, disorientation and the questioning of reality in a modern-day setting.

Another student, Ailish O’Neill, attempts to unpack her fear of growing older. “I was 21 when I found my first grey hair. The realisation that I’m not going to be young forever came as a shock,” she said. Ailish’s project, inspired by the quote ‘age is an opportunity, no less than youth itself, though in another dress’, documents her journey coming to terms with the realities of the ageing process.

BA Graphic Design student, Lauren Payne, is also showcasing at the exhibition with a project entitled ‘The Tiddly Pom Principle’. Lauren’s work derives inspiration from both Winnie the Pooh and Taoism, the Chinese philosophy for life, and is centred around the concept of self-acceptance and not looking outside oneself for validation.

Members of the public are very much encouraged to visit the exhibition, the scope of which has been particularly ambitious this year. The 42nd AIT Graduate Design Show is now open to the public and will run until Friday, May 25.

Athlone Institute of Technology offers a suite of Design courses including a BA in Graphic Design, a BA(Hons) in Animation and illustration, and a one-year add-on BA (Hons) in Graphic and Digital Design. AIT Design students enjoy one-to-one learner/lecturer interactivity and have access to purpose-built studio space and production facilities.

Further details about Design at AIT can be accessed at http://design.ait.ie and via the faculty’s Facebook page.