MA in Brand Development

Deadline : 31st March

Before completing your application, please make sure you have:

• Your educational history, including the dates of all exams/assessments
• A soft copy of your academic reference
• Contact details of a second referee
• Your pre-prepared personal statement (not essential – you're also able to complete this during the application process)
• A soft copy of your educational transcript (not essential – please include it if you have it)

DRAFT

MA Brand development

I am currently in the last term of completing my degree in graphic design and the main focus of my design practice is branding. The reason why I am applying to do an MA in Brand Development at Goldsmiths is because I would like to acquire a much more in depth understanding of what branding really is. Although my work is conceptually driven, it is still design based and practical rather than theoretical. I feel that by gaining knowledge in the history of branding, current brand strategies and the future development of branding. This course, I hope would offer me new perspectives to effective branding.  Instead of purely coming from a designer’s point of view, I would also have the ability to provide a more academic approach to the development of brands. Learning about different factors effecting brands such as geographies, culture and consumers will greatly improve how I embark upon producing effective brands.

Even though my discipline focuses mainly on the printed media within branding, I also have an interest in creating complete brands.  I also take into considerations, the effective use of media for effective brand development. This involves digital media such as web and moving image, and environmental design such as way finding and signage. Although it is not the focal point of my design practice, sustainability is something that is very important to me. It has become more and more significant to me as I become better informed through my current design practice and the completion of my dissertation which investigated the possibility of a designer becoming sustainable whilst still working with in the consumer culture which helped me gain a much more in depth understanding into the consumer culture as well as the issue of sustainability.

I believe that good design and good branding is something that is good for the people. In all my projects I consider the environmental and social impact each of them will have and his includes my design methods, choice of materials and my choice of clients.

 I have completed two paid work placements during my bachelor’s degree. The first one was at Siam Toppan Packaging Co. LTD, a packaging company and printers based near Bangkok, Thailand. I also completed a two-week placement at Brass Agency, a strategic and creative marketing agency in Leeds.  At both placements I worked closely with the designers in many collaborative projects. I worked especially close to the creative director at Brass on a branding project, which helped me to get a better grasp of what it is like to work on real life branding briefs.