First step in the Right direction

After working for a decade in software industry, when I realize that it is not the MBA or Project Management route I want to take, my options looked quite limited, but some soul searching, and I realized what I really want to do, to learn fundamentals of drawing, design, typography, and illustrations.

Not long after, I came across the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and their online course in Design which also give a Diploma in Digital Design.



The Diploma in Digital Design course was almost mesmerizing. It was like waiting there to be discovered by me.

* Fundamentals of Design
* Concept Development
* Typography
* Digital Image Manipulation
* Electronic Design
* Design Principles
* Digital Illustration
* Design and Technology
* Portfolio G313
* Foundations of Electronic Production
* Interactive Portfolio Design
* Advanced Computer Graphics

Small enough to be finished in 5 quarters and big enough to give me a diploma, now that's a lucky find.

So I filled the online application and came to the part where you have to write an essay why you want to join. That stopped me, but not for long, today afternoon my admission counselor called me and said she will hold the call till I finish the essay. now thats some persuasion ! Phew, no way out, she is waiting in the call. So here is the 185 words I came up in 10 minutes !

--------------------- ESSAY ---------------------
I remember the first time when I came across the book "Universal Principles of Design" by William Lidwell, I was immensely fascinated by the possibilities to which design principles can be implemented in the real life. Another revolutionary book which affected me a lot was "The Design of every day things" by Donald Norman. These two books opened my eyes to a good design and a better user experience, since then I started blogging about design at http://abcofdesign.com and got interested to learn the fundamentals.

After working for many years in designing and developing user interfaces for desktop, distributed and mobile applications, I have realized that a good design makes a lot of difference, and having an aptitude for User Interface and User Experience, I think learning about digital design can help me get to know the basics.

Being a Senior Engineer with an interest in Software and Product design, I see myself as a future design engineer changing/shaping the world, and for that a diploma in Digital Design is the first step in the right direction.
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Needless to say when I re-read the essay I liked it and so did my admission counselor, she said "it was phenomenal" and "I passed it". I wonder if she says that to every other essay, but I felt really happy and so that's my first step in the direction of design.