Bachelor of Arts in Professional Design student Lai Sheue Teng won Second Runner-up Prize for Stations Design during the Electric Run Marathon that was held at the Selangor Turf Club on 7 May.
The Electric Run was a night marathon that featured dark lighted pathways throughout an open runway course. The run featured nine courses with Limkokwing University as the official University Partner for Livescape Group, a youth centred creative events group of companies.
She designed a section of the runway in the marathon course to represent various aspects of the Malaysian culture themed ‘Wayang Runway’. Her design symbolises the country’s Malay, Chinese and Indian cultural heritage.
“My idea was to incorporate neon-lights as part of my design to highlight our culture,” she said. “I also had to consider various aspects including safety, visibility and experience.”
The first part of her design was shadow puppets representing three different cultures while the second part of her concept featured Malaysian architectural heritage. In her third design, she showed snippets of local culture with the depiction of various style of dances, handicraft and traditional cuisine. The fourth section displayed musical instruments from all three cultures.
“I understood that this is a world-wide competitions so I used everything that I have learned at Limkokwing University,” she said while adding that design would enable runners to learn about Malaysian culture while participating in the event.
For Lai, her biggest challenge was to meet the tight deadline to fulfil the requirements. This experience also taught her the importance of discipline and hard work.
“I was happy that all my effort finally paid off,” she said, “It was a new experience for me to work under such pressure.”
Limkokwing University encourages students to participate in events, exhibitions and competitions. The University’s multicultural and industry exposed learning approach helps to create global awareness to compete internationally.