No child's play, this: Meet the Hyderabad students who are acing their design game

It never ceases to amaze this writer how kids as young as five are so adept at software like Adobe Photoshop that they use it to win competitions like the Design Championship 2020. Take Harini Raghuraman, for example. It was her aunt and her graphic design prowess that inspired the class V student to take up learning Photoshop. "I like art. I have always liked to paint and draw," says the New Jersey-born youngster who is now based out of Hyderabad since last year. The Design Championship 2020 had two rounds — jury and final. While in the jury round they were expected to design postcards, in the final round, they had to design a poster for an ayurvedic beauty brand. "For the jury round, I kept in mind my own experience during the pandemic. I illustrated a girl meditating on the beautiful memories of the past," says the student of Oakridge International School. Winning the regional-level junior category of the Design Championship 2020 surprised and delighted the budding artist.
 

Both of them won the All India Finals as well in the Graphic Design category while Anirudh Yarram was placed second in the All India Finals

Another student of Oakridge, Rohan Gullapalli, became the regional winner in the middle category. For this class VIII student, designing is a hobby that he has been working on with the help of YouTube videos, but more so by himself. "I already love art on paper. From there, I switched to digital art, 3D modelling, graphic designing and so on," he says. He started making postcards for friends and families and even designed a few sample logos for his father's company. Design Championship 2020 is his first competition "Winning it has given me confidence. I was just learning and trying it out, I never expected to actually win," says Rohan, sounding genuinely surprised. But he doesn't see the win as a validation that this is the path he is meant to tread. He wants to keep his options open. He actually has plans of getting together with his enterprising friends and launching an app come this summer holidays. Nothing is solid yet, but the plans are certainly brewing. "I never try to force myself to ideate and at the same time, my ideas aren't spontaneous. They come to me over time," he says and concludes.    

Get to know the Design Championship 2020
- It is for children aged 9 to 16 years
- It is a showcase for creativity and talent  
- They can display skills like app design, game design and more  

For more on them, check out designchampionship.in