Explore creative thinking around the world; prepare yourself to take on the future with AOD’s Fast Track Design Foundation

AOD presents Fast Track Design Foundation Programme with a globally rounded exposure to creativity that feeds lateral thinking in young minds.

The competition for the best career opportunities no longer lies only in qualifications. Instead, employers are searching for the kind of professional who thinks beyond the average, and is able to come up with out-of-the-box ideas no matter what the business sector is. This means that modern career opportunities are for those who make use of their imagination and creativity leading to lateral thinking. Where usual prep courses fall short of nurturing the mental space for such thinking, AOD presents its Fast Track Design Foundation Course—an educational experience created around a tried-and-tested curriculum and internationally rounded exposure that allows students to evolve into creative, inspired young people with a well-rounded perspective.

AOD’s Fast Track Design Foundation Programme is not your usual university preparatory course. It’s one of the most futuristic and industry-savvy ones out there that truly incorporate the kind of learning that is needed for the work cultures of tomorrow. It is a course that uses creative thinking and its permeating relevance to all business sectors, industries and professions across the board as its fundamental core. From here, the Fast Track Design Foundation Programme leads students to understand the essentials of ideating, creative collaboration and research as well as basics of communication going from idea visualisation to idea presentation. This prepares them to take on leadership positions confidently, and set on the path to become creative professionals whether in management or design.

In this education model, one of the most important components is the exposure to the business of creativity through study tours guided by international lecturers or local experts. These study tours are presented in a varying, inspiring and challenging mix of experiences that go from celebrated galleries in the city to villages of craft artisan communities. During these, students are linked to creative entrepreneurs, innovators and traditional artisans alike, allowing them to understand how creativity or design thinking becomes a powerful currency. Kat Scott, the Scottish designer who leads the AOD Design Foundation Programme stated that connecting students to people who use creativity as a central part of their work has helped the course to help young people understand why and how design thinking matters. “Thinking creative, thinking design is what it is all about today. It’s really the root of innovation. And businesses want the kind of professionals who can think innovatively whether they’re managers or designers. Our programme is really about instilling this understanding of how innovation works, at a early stage in their development as young adults. Study tours play such a significant role here because they transport young minds from the general classroom setting and allows them to see in reality how creativity weaves itself into every kind of business or entrepreneurial venture out there today. The effect it has on them is remarkable. I’ve seen this kind of education transform students into thinking, innovating young adults who know where their future is heading.”

This means that with AOD’s Fast Track Design Foundation Programme, students see real life examples of how businesses make use of design in their processes, products and services; how brands communicate through creative expression; how traditional skills are reinvented to meet what markets  are searching for with design intervention. This direct exposure plays a major part in preparing students to become well-rounded young people who have an essential understanding of how thinking outside the box can be applied to any kind of business, brand, product or service. With this knowledge as the base, they’re able to take on the future with exactly the kind of thinking that is needed. Presented in a six-month long course format, this unique programme is ideal for students After O/Ls. This programme is a direct pathway to BA (Hons) Design Degrees offered by Northumbria University in Fashion Design, Fashion Design & Marketing, Interior Design, Visual Communication Design and Motion Graphics and Animation Design which can be completed in a 100% internal manner at AOD.