Admissions Essay

Statement of Purpose

The Graduate School of Media and Design represents the next level for me in terms of my career development. I have had the opportunity to work in design, and enjoyed some modest success, but wish to pursue formal studies that will allow me to learn my field at a higher level. While I have a good eye, I want to understand at a deeper level the theories that drive design of major consumer products in particular.

Design is all around us, in every product we see, from the buildings we live it to the tools we use in our daily lives. The combination of form and function fascinates me. In my experience working in marketing I have mostly created visuals for promotional purposes, but my heart lies in product design. To be able to understand some of the more complex aspects of design the engineering components, how to make something both beautiful and functional at the same time, is what drives me to enter this program.

I know that I will not learn it all here. I also know that even a lifelong learner has to get a foundational knowledge in the field in order to build up one's body of knowledge. This is my noble pursuit. I want to understand the process of innovation. I feel that the comprehensive nature of the program offers a tremendous foundation on which I can build my dreams.

In particular, the attention to the different aspects of design appeals to me. I intend to pursue the design track, but also to gain some grounding on the technology and management aspects of design in particular. Great products are those that fill a need, and a great project needs to be something that can be sold to the market. Technology plays such a critical role in design today while I have a soft spot for old school methods, I understand that all design work in done on computers, and understanding the deeper integration of technology in design will help my design work tremendously. I firmly believe in the value of a multidisciplinary approach to learning, and that is one of the big appeals to the Graduate School of Media and Design for me.

Upon graduation, I will pursue a career in product design. The last year or so in particular I have found myself focusing on product design,...

The idea that something can look like a simple design but is actually highly complex, balancing different needs, elevates design to art, or beyond.

Innovation is what drives society, and design plays a big role in innovation. The products that we use most in our lives, they are all the result of innovation that introduced the idea, somebody who put together a successful marketing campaign with packaging, and the evolution of product design. Nothing looks like it did when it was first launched, and that is the result of successful iterations of the product design process, where feedback in applied to an initial innovation to make it better.

It is with this profound sense of purpose that I am applying to enter the Graduate School of Media and Design. After graduation, I will pursue my passion for product design, and become a leader in the field, representing the School well in the subsequent years. My admiration for great design has become my inspiration for my life's path, and I look forward to starting the next step by augmenting my knowledge with the intensive education and training that...

…for a major auto manufacturer on conceptualizing designs for these vehicles, especially the internal design concepts. What features would you build into it? What would that space look like? When you give people a particular space for a set amount of time, what will they want to do with that time and space?

So I want to innovate the self-driving car to be at the fore of shaping how society views transportation. This transformation has the potential to be incredible, and I want to be part of that, so my desire to improve human society. I want to innovate the self-driving car because this is an area where I can have an impact (so ego impact, I want to be great). The third reason I want to innovate the self-driving car from the design perspective is that it is a blank canvas. It will be multidisciplinary, with a variety of engineers, product specialists, marketers, and other interests working. This fills my desire to be part of a great team, and also my desire to work on something that is truly ground-breaking, where I can be at my most creative.

I have a vision for what I can accomplish when I leverage design for innovation. I know that there are many steps that I need to take in order to get there. And I feel that this course of study is one of the steps that I can take in order put myself in a position to offer that value to a company, to the world, and to myself. If not the self-driving car, then something else that offers the same sort of transformative potential. We are in a period of rapid change, constant evolution, and that is what makes this world so exciting, and knowing that design plays an often untold, but utterly…