Flying high with design

Twenty-two-year-old Ekkawich Ariyawongsanukul said he had never been to Europe before even though his family runs a tourism business.

"Less is more" was the concept behind his winning work.

Ekkawich explains that, instead of putting his design all over the body of the aircraft, he chose to only paint the tail area. "When people see the aircraft up in the sky, the pattern can be very clear."

The contest was held to challenge all Thai university students to artfully depict Thai identity and the quality of this budget airline.

"All those complicated curves and lines had to be cut out, leaving only a simple filigree. A very complex design would have made it look more local, not international or modern."

Though his pattern may look like it is unfinished, Ekkawich says he intended to make it look that way to convey AirAsia's continuous development.

The colours used in the work are red and white, which as Ekkawich explains, match the airline's official colours.

"I don't want my work to distract people from the company's established brand. Other colours would only confuse them, because they are already familiar with the airline's red-and-white image."

After four sketches, the design was finalised using computer graphic software and the result was something that beat the 136 other graphics submitted by university students nationwide.

"While other works were cramped with detail and colours, the few components in this work made it visible and easy to recognise the airline from a distance," Suchart explained.

"Graphics containing too many elements are suitable for looking at closely, but in this case the design had to be recognisable from a distance."

The other judges were national artist Naowarat Pongpaibool, who wrote a poem to be displayed on the front of the aircraft, and Thammasat University's Thai Khadi Research Institute's Anucha Thirakanont.

As winner, Ekkawich did not just get a trip to France, he also got himself and his family free tickets to any of Thai AirAsia's domestic and international destinations for a whole year.

Thai AirAsia's CEO Tassapon Bijleveld said the A320 Airbus with Ekkawich's design and Naowarat's poem were now being used for the Hat Yai, Shenzhen and Macau routes.

"This Airbus is the third out of the company's order of 40 new A320 Airbus aircraft which will replace our old Boeing 737-300. It is also the first aircraft in the world which bears the painting of a student and a poem by the national artist on its body."

Story and photo by Watchara Saengsrisin

The Nation