MDes Graphic Design SOP- Please evaluate.

[broda]

Hey,

 

I'd really appreciate if you could spare a little time and evaluate my SOP.

 

This letter is for York University's graduate program in graphic design.

 

• Should I add more content?
• Should I make it even more personal?
• Is the content good enough to show my inclination towards the course?

 

Please let me know what all alterations should I do to make it worth a read.

 

Thanks a ton! 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Throughout my life, I've been always reminded recurrently how creative and inventive I am. Since childhood, my perception of the world has been more or less inclined towards the aesthetic essence of the things around me.I still remember when I was small, watching different advertisements, posters, logos and other means of visual communication always captivated my attention at a prime level. The discrete color schemes and patterns used in the designs used to fascinate me a lot. Working my way up from scribbling doodles in primary school to practicing advance painting and drawing techniques in high school, the artistic world has always inspired me. Fabricating a career in a creative field was all that I craved for. My family, however had something else planned for me. Regardless of my passion towards art and design, I was compelled to opt engineering at the post-secondary level.

 

Aware of the fact that I had no way out, I chose Computer Engineering as my majors with the idea that there might be some digital designing element included in the course. I used to design and manipulate images on different Adobe tools in my leisure time. Since I didn't had access to these software before post-secondary education, working on them made me even more anxious to learn about their boundless designing techniques used to divulge messages. As I became confident in operating them, I began searching for prospective opportunities in order to acquire insight into graphic designing. My experience in this field embarked when I got the chance to work with International  Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences (AIESEC) as a team member in the brand management and marketing department during my undergrad pre-final year. As I was initially relatively unaware about the science behind graphic designing, I found the content quite challenging, but as I progressed, I found myself building the required skill set.

 

After graduation, over the last few months, I had the opportunity to pursue internships and jobs at different start-ups as well as mid-sized companies where I have played important roles and contributed in adding value to the company. My work incorporated blending myriad of typography, visual designing and page layout techniques which assisted me in developing component time management skills, creative thought process, acute problem-solving ability and most of all creating meaning out of the end product.

 

Working in the professional world and interacting with actual clients on daily basis impelled me to misapprehend that I had become accustomed with all the regulations and practices of the design industry. Despite having good designing skills, I have noticed that my work faces some hindrance. Designing the graphics beautifully alone aren't sufficient for achieving the coveted result. As a designer, my objective is not only to focus on the aesthetic nature, but also use variety of methods to efficiently solve the problem and trigger the viewer's psyche to take an action. It is also important to have management and leadership potentials, as well as an understanding of the cultures and markets to sell their work. Perhaps most importantly, designers must be able to comprehend the client's needs and be able to imagine the desired end state beforehand and then work towards reaching it. 

 

Through the Master of Design program offered by the York University, I look forward to inculcate myself with brand new ideas and study all other facets of design that I have not been able to explore in my professional competence. It will allow me to acquire and further the necessary skills, along with enabling me to research the vast extent of designing. I am positive that I will fulfill my responsibilities as a designer towards the society and the environment while eventually devolving the knowledge and experiences to better shape our future. 

 

[eragon]

Few suggestions

1. I wouldn't suggest you to write , you were compelled by your family to pursue engineering. That will look bad.
2. You can try to include works/projects in Computer science where you introduced your creativity in design
3. It would be better if you expand more on your internships/jobs as that is where you show your interest/skill  related to design
4. The last but one paragraph is not clear to me - Especially the first two lines and its relation to next few sentences.

[broda]

Thanks for the reply. I'll start working on it.

[broda]

Here, I've made a few changes. Will this work?

 

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Throughout my life, I've been always reminded recurrently how creative and inventive I am. Since childhood, my perception of the world has been more or less inclined towards the aesthetic essence of the things around me. I still remember when I was small, watching different advertisements, posters, logos and other means of visual communication always captivated my attention at a prime level. The discrete color schemes and patterns used in the designs used to fascinate me a lot. Working my way up from scribbling doodles in primary school to practicing advance painting and drawing techniques in high school,  I have maintained a strong interest in fine arts as well. Fabricating a career in a creative field was all that I craved for. Circumstantially, I ended up choosing engineering at the post-secondary level.

 

I chose Computer Science as my majors to stay associated with graphic design and development. The 'Computer Graphics' and 'Multimedia Technology' courses in my curriculum initially helped me in becoming acquaintance with digital designing. I was so riveted by the newly introduced designing tools that I kept working on them even in my leisure time. Anxiety lead me to learn more about their functionality as well as their boundless designing techniques used to divulge messages. As I became confident in operating them, I began searching for prospective opportunities to gain insight into graphic designing. My experience in this field embarked when I got the chance to work with International  Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences (AIESEC) as a team member in the brand management and marketing department. My work incorporated blending myriad of typography, visual designing and page layout techniques. Further, I developed a 'Leave Management System' for Comptel Communications as my pre-final year project and also got a chance to design the user interface for Dreamland Publications's quiz application for mobile. As I was initially relatively unaware about the science behind designing, I found the content quite challenging, but as I progressed, I found myself building the required skill set.

 

Over the last few months, I had the opportunity to pursue internships at different start-ups as well as mid-sized companies where I had played important roles and contributed in adding value to the company. Thath.in offered me to make promotional posters for marketing and at You Only Read Once, I designed graphics to be published along with the articles to support them. CrazyHeads, my current employer, has given me the grounds to explore graphic designing by giving me the occasion to make posters and design logos for different clients. My experiences has assisted me in developing component time management skills, creative thought process, acute problem-solving ability and most of all creating meaning out of the end product.

 

Despite having the ability to design, I have noticed that work of a designer faces some hindrance. Good designing skills alone are not sufficient for achieving the coveted result. A designer's objective is not only to focus on the aesthetic nature, but also use variety of methods to efficiently solve the problem and trigger the viewer's psyche to take an action. It is very important that the designer is able to comprehend the client's needs appropriately and work towards accomplishing it. With good designs and extensive planning, it is possible to produce high quality work while meeting and even exceeding client's requirements.

 

Through the graduate program offered by the York University, I look forward to inculcate myself with brand new ideas and study all other facets of design that I have not been able to explore in my professional competence. It will allow me to acquire and further the necessary skills, along with providing me the platform to research the vast extent of designing. I am positive that I will fulfill my responsibilities towards the society and the environment as a designer while eventually devolving my experiences and knowledge to better shape the future.

[biisis]

1. Your first sentence is both cliche and a bit egotistical. It would be better to frame it from your perspective- what you feel and have felt, rather than you basking in the continual praise of others.

2. What do you mean by "aesthetic essence"? Plain "aesthetics" would do fine, and wouldn't fret your reader with unsubstantiated metaphysics. 

3. Do you mean primeval or primal rather than "prime" in your third sentence.

4. "in becoming acquaintance with digital designing" should read "in becoming better acquainted with"

5. "newly introduced designing tools" -> "newly introduced design tools"

6. Anxiety lead me to learn more about their functionality as well as their boundless designing techniques used to divulge messages" -> what were you anxious about? Why? This makes little sense and inspires even less confidence.

7. " I found the content quite challenging, but as I progressed, I found myself building the required skill set." -> not a very inspiring statement. The required skill set (and just building? not achieving?) sounds like you did the bare minimum to get by.

7. "Thath.in offered me to make promotional posters for marketing and at You Only Read Once, I designed graphics to be published along with the articles to support them. CrazyHeads, my current employer, has given me the grounds to explore graphic designing by giving me the occasion to make posters and design logos for different clients. My experiences has assisted me in developing component time management skills, creative thought process, acute problem-solving ability and most of all creating meaning out of the end product." -> okay so firstly, surely you can spot the grammatical errors in the first sentence? Secondly, this reads like a job application. Grad applications are a little different. Thirdly, what do you mean by "creating meaning out of the end product"? That implies that the end product happened, then you created meaning out of it (what meaning? to what end?). It might be better to simply say "creating a meaningful/impactful end product"

8. "Despite having the ability to design, I have noticed that work of a designer faces some hindrance." -> hindrances should be plural. The two components of these sentences do not meaningfully relate to one another. You don't develop what these hindrances might be in the paragraph that follows, and it that even something you should focus on in a statement like this?

9. "Good designing skills alone" -> it should always be "design skills", never "designing skills"

10. "high quality work while meeting and even exceeding client's requirements" -> "high quality work that meets or even exceeds the client's requirements."

11. That whole paragraph is a little weird. It's a bland summary of the basic requirements of design. It doesn't show that you know anything in particular, or have had any productive experiences.

12.  "look forward to inculcate myself with brand new ideas and study all other facets of design that I have not been able to explore in my professional competence." ->  look forward to surrounding myself with brand new ideas and studying all other facets of design that I have not been able to explore so far in my professional experiences.

13. "I am positive that I will fulfill my responsibilities towards the society and the environment as a designer while eventually devolving my experiences and knowledge to better shape the future." -> Just what are these responsibilities? Are you trying to do something more than helping a capitalist company sell their junk? If so, you should write a paragraph explaining your ethical commitments and hopes for the discipline. Also, you should not say that you are "devolving" your experiences. That implies regression. Do you mean evolving? 

 

All in all, your statement is a bit generic. We get the sense that you like to do visually creative stuff, that you have a computer background, and that you want to be admitted. We don't know why you think graphic design is an important profession (or professional calling), how your computer experience will support your program of study, or why oh why you're applying for a master's program. Why not a BDes? What are you going to specialize in? Which faculty do you want to work with? Why York over other hypothetical schools? 

 

Additionally, it seems like you've got some recurring difficulties with English grammar and phrasing. As you rewrite, see if you can find an English native friend to check over your work.

[Neeladri]

hey,
how did it work out in the end? I'm also in a similar situation where I've almost completed my BTech in Electronics but i want to switch to a graphic design masters. Also if you could post your final draft of the SOP it'd be really helpful