The Challenge
In early 2025, Sri Lankan powerlifting icon Ransilu Jayathilaka tasked us with designing a custom t-shirt for his appearance at the Asia Pacific Powerlifting Championship 2025. The brief was bold: create a design that showcases Sri Lankan national pride, speaks to strength and athleticism, and resonates on an international stage. The kicker? We had less than 5 days to conceptualize and finalize the design — talk about a creative powerlift.
The Approach
We kicked off with rapid ideation sessions and embraced AI-assisted concept generation to draft early visual ideas. Our goal: create a muscular lion lifting weights — symbolizing both powerlifting strength and the iconic lion of the Sri Lankan flag.
Once the concept was set, our illustrators began refining the vector artwork by hand. We designed two color variants:
- Navy Blue + Cyan: to convey energy, intensity, and performance.
- Navy Blue + Saffron Yellow: to reflect heritage, courage, and Sri Lankan spirit.
We paired the visuals with sharp, athletic typography and meaningful taglines like:
“Believe | Stand | Respect”
“Powerlifting – Sri Lanka”
These elements helped the design become more than a jersey — it became a statement of national identity and personal strength.
The Outcome
Although the project was halted due to client-side changes, we completed the entire t-shirt design — front and back — in under 48 hours. We’re proud to showcase this as an example of high-performance sportswear design, crafted with urgency, precision, and national symbolism.
This powerlifting t-shirt project reflects:
- Fast, professional turnaround for custom athlete apparel
- The use of AI tools + manual illustration in sports design workflows
- Visual storytelling that reflects Sri Lanka’s powerlifting culture
Whether you need team t-shirt design, custom sportswear for athletes, or branding for international sports events, Das Design Studio brings the muscle.
