Addressing the 25 students graduating from the Whanganui School of Design yesterday, Mayor Annette Main said of her vague understanding of design, she knew it stood the test of time.
"I rely on you and your peers ... it gives me confidence that good design will stand the test of time" she told the graduates in the Atrium at the Matapihi ki Te Ao campus.
She said the students now had to make choices, and one of those choices would be to move away from Wanganui. But she hoped they found their time here to be enjoyable and affordable.
"I hope you will look back on your time with affection because that is how we will think of you. You will always have a place here. You will always be a part of the whanau, of family."
Eighteen students graduated with a Bachelor of Computer Graphic Design, six with honours, and one student with a Graduate Diploma of Animation.
Seven graduands were international students from India, Malaysia, China and Japan.
UCOL council chairman Trevor Goodwin praised the design school for its international reputation and said a delegation from China visited recently to check on their hospitality students.
He said they watched a presentation by the design students and were now exploring the opportunity to send people to study at the design school.
And to the students, Mr McElroy told them they had "done a stunning thing ... investing in your future".
"You are walking in the shoes of those who have succeeded."
Former Whanganui School of Design graduates Kris Sowersby and Johnson Witehira had gone on to excel in their design careers, he said.
Kris Sowersby graduated in 2003 and after brief employment as a graphic designer, started the Klim Type Foundry in 2005 in Wellington. His first retail typeface, Feijoa, was released on to the international market in 2007 and in 2008 he won a Certificate of Excellence from the Type Directors Club in New York.
He has since received two more Certificates of Excellence (Serrano and Hardys) and works alongside international designers.
Johnson Witehira is studying for his PhD in Maori Fine Arts at Massey University.
He was a recent winner of the Chorus digital art competition which included an all-expenses trip to New York where a number of his works were shown on 34 digital billboards in Times Square.