Hey!
I'm a new member of this forum. I need help with a letter of purpose I'm writing for a graduate program. I'm not such a great writer. It's something I hope to improve in the near future. All comments and critique's are welcomed.
Statement of Purpose: The Design Management Program
The understanding of business is invaluable to any creative individual. Throughout my career in design, I constantly find myself lost in books about branding and business management, along with all the classic readings by great designers. I am a long time devoted reader of H.O.W magazine's, business section. I have chewed through & digested many articles over the years-because of their insightful look at the commerce of a creative career. I feel good design is good business, however to increase its effectiveness, a person must have a thorough understanding of both matters and the connection between them. This awareness has led me to work with a diverse range of start up companies-enabling me to experiment with ideas and grasp business models on a fundamental level to produce more applicable design solutions. I've also worked across multiple mediums, from print to web for over 5 years; this has been a blessing and I continue to remain a humble pupil of design. As a graduate student, I intend to build upon these principles and continue to expand my understanding of the business of design.
My career as a designer has led me though many industries. My earliest working experience was at-McRoberts Mitchell, a downtown New York design shop. Working in a small studio, taking on multiple roles, and often staying late to complete deadlines for multiple projects, was a very educational endeavor for me. Due to the company's relatively small size, I was able to participated in client, budgets and sales meetings to learn the inner mechanics of running a studio.
After a few months, I was offered a position as senior designer for FHM, a UK based publication with offices in New York. My design studio work ethics were quickly put to use, allowing me to advance to Art Editor within a year's time span. This position gave me the ability to be the head of a creative department, where I learned strong project management and leadership skills. I was also more involved in the business side of the publication, from generating ad revenue through subscriptions to structuring content for advertorials. Currently, I'm working as Art director at WGSN, a fashion forecasting company; building upon the same experiences, yet expanding on the concept of forecasted design research and how b2b and b2c can use it to drive sales.
Along with the experience I have gained through my design education and professional career, I have continued to pursue my design education by enrolling in continuing education courses-and attending design trade shows to further develop my personal creative self-expression. I continue to pursue insight on emerging business ideas and trends in order to integrate them into my creative workflow, which is an area that I feel could be greater explored.
In the graduate Design Management program, I look forward to learning the business of design and further develop my expertise in the field. In addition, I look forward to be exposed to other areas of design that I have not had a chance to explore in my career. I am confident that I will emerge with an abundant wealth of knowledge and showcase my potential as a designer.
Thank You in advance!
Hi
I am new here too, and I don't have any expertise in writing, but these are some points which come to my mind about your writing:
The understanding of business is invaluable to any creative creative is an adjective and should be followed by a noun . Throughout my career in design, I constantly find myself lost in books about branding and business management, along with all the classic readings by great designers. Over the year's I think you ment years here I have been an avid avid has a negative meaning, exchange it with enthusiastic, or other better words reader of H.O.W magazine, business section;.(dot) here i think is better than ; I have chewed through & digested many articles over the years, because of their insightful look at the commerce of a creative career. I feel believe is better for here good design is good business; but but is not common in formal writings, use however or although , and change the sentence to increase its effectiveness, a person must have a thorough understanding of both matters and how they are connected "of both matters and the connection between them" . This awareness has made me work with an assortment of start up companies, enablingenabled me to experiment ideasafter to, you should use a verb and graspgrasped business models on a fundamental level to produce more applicable design solutions. I've also worked across multiple sectors, from print to web for over 5 years; this has been a blessing and I continue to remain a humble pupil of design. As a graduate student I intend to build upon these principals and continue to expand my understanding of the business of design.
at the end of your writing, write one or 2 sentences and appreciate the committee for taking time and reading your essay
Hi Jahanzeb, welcome to our forum!
Whenever you write something important, you can use this trick during revision: Check to see what the essay would look like if you got rid of the first sentence. (Often, the second sentence is the one with all the personality and power.) In this case, I think you should kill that first sentence (a truism... interesting, but still a truism) and start with the second sentence. You can even keep the message of that first sentence as the theme of your essay, but I think you should not actually include that statement at the beginning of the essay.
Another trick: take out "I believe", "I feel", etc.
insightful look at the commerce of a creative career. I feel Good design is good business. However, to increase its effectiveness a person must have...
Your experiences and confidence are impressive! I have one more idea for you: Establish an interesting theme at the beginning of the essay, and then with each of these body paragraphs you can say something that refers back to that theme. For example, design and business are intertwined. So, you have a paragraph about the business of design taking you accross various industries, a paragraph about your first experiences that made you realize that they were intertwined, etc. You can have a key word, like "intertwined," that you use in most of the paragraphs. That's how to keep all the paragraphs threaded together with the theme.
Welcome to EssayForum! I hope you have time to help some other essayists; you're a great writer!
