Dear Madam or Sir,
I grew up in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on a street reclaimed from the desert sands, which stretched all around my neighbourhood as far as the eye could see. A lonely highway stretched into these sands and connected the checkerboard of homes that made up my neighbourhood to greater Riyadh. My father walked to a nearby mosque everyday to pray. The only other walking that occurred in my neighbourhood was to the local minimart. The searing heat would make sure that we drove instead. At night, the street lights were so dimmed that it was too dark to walk. The all-encompassing heat conspired to keep Saudis separated. Even in my neighbourhood, people remained strangers. In fact, it was normal for Saudis to ignore even those with whom they shared common spaces on a regular basis.
I also grew up as the eldest and only daughter with five younger boisterous brothers. Father is a pilot, and mother, as was expected in Saudi culture, was a housewife. In my mother, I saw what happens to many women in Saudi — a low, barely audible but chronic static of restlessness. In my dad, I saw a jet-setter, who had trained in the United States as a pilot and had a job that took him to all parts of the world. Leaving Saudi Arabia to learn about the world was a goal that I never questioned. By contrast, I never stopped asking “why couldn’t Saudi women do more?”
Constantly asking myself this question, I came to a conclusion that I should be able to do more – for myself as a person, for my community and for my country. My father thus agreed to send me overseas for education right after high school. I went to Canada where I attended the University of Toronto to learn English and study business. I also took an elective course called “Art Explores Psychology.” This course changed my life. It helped me to discover my artistic side. My interest in visual art deepened to the point that I spent my weekends between museums and galleries and my nights at bookstores, where it lead me to the discipline of visual communication.
This was all extremely new to me. Visual art had not ben offered in the secondary curriculum I was taught back in Saudi Arabia. I had never even heard of visual communications. As I grew every day more interested in visual art, I decided to switch majors to graphic design. I had not built a portfolio by that time, so all the universities I contacted requested that I take continuing education courses in visual art to thus develop one and qualify for admission to study the applications of visual art to design, image-making, and critical thinking. With this in mind I took a number of courses in photography, painting and digital art to accumulate a decent portfolio. I then successfully applied to the Graphic Design program of OCAD University where I studied for one year. However, my family then suffered a crisis back in Saudi Arabia. I returned home so that I could be as much help and comfort to them as I could. By 2012, I was luckily able to successfully register in the Department of Architectural Engineering and Digital Design at Dar Al Uloom University in Riyadh, where I was able to major in Graphic Design.
While studying in Riyadh, I was exposed to the differences between the university systems of Canada and Saudi Arabia, especially in software instruction for graphic design. For instance, in 2012, the Department of Architectural Engineering and Digital Design of Dar Al Uloom University did not have as heavy an emphasis on small-group tutorial instruction as OCAD had in 2011. Having done my freshman year at OCAD had thus given me a better background in the use of design software than that of many of my fellow undergraduates. My friends often asked me to explain to them how to best design, alter and create visual art using the Adobe suite of products. I slowly began to realize that I could make a difference in the discipline of graphic design by helping Saudi students to achieve mastery of the discipline of graphic design by leveraging my bicultural experience in reputable schools in two different countries. I became attracted to the notion that I personally could especially help Saudi design departments continue to better pursue excellence in their instruction, study and practice of the discipline of graphic design.
While enrolled at Dar Al Uloom, I also worked part-time as a graphic designer at Bin Salman Plastic and Toys Factory. The contacts I made working with the great team at Bin Salman allowed me to solicit freelance design jobs in branding and illustration. My senior project at Dar Al Uloom was a t-shirt product. I combined found art Arabic typography and calligraphy with retro-style illustrations to create an appealing series of designs. There are so far not many formally trained Saudi graphic designers working on genuinely Saudi fashion brands for domestic consumption. I was therefore also able to evolve this project into my own fashion brand, contract for the production of garments printed with my designs in China, and market them in Saudi Arabia. The name of my fashion brand, Uslooby (أسلوبي ) translates to “my style” in English. Uslooby integrates retro- and old-school-influenced designs together within a funky, fun and feminine aesthetic. Captions on Uslooby tees, for instance, imitate the friendship inscriptions I and my classmates would write in each other’s diaries as schoolgirls in Riyadh in the 90s. Uslooby has been successfully marketed both on social media, including Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook, as well as through displays so far at four bazaars and counting. Sales have been healthy, and Uslooby’s customers have expressed strong demand for more variety in design.
It is therefore for these reasons that I would like to continue my study of graphic design on the postgraduate level at a respectful UK University. Despite the long heritage of some Saudi universities, there is a shortage of qualified graphic design instructors in the KSA. This has lead to a shortage of seats in Saudi graphic design programs. While the opportunity for travel and study abroad has been invaluable for students such as myself, it will remain critical for the KSA to continue to develop and sustain its own academy’s capacity to provide domestic opportunities for future students, including those of graphic design. I developed a passion for graphic design at OCAD University which I have felt evolving into a passion for helping others realize and cultivate their own abilities within this discipline through my education at Dar Al Uloom University. I am intensely drawn toward the experience of watching the light go on in the eyes of people as they realize how to better turn the ideas and images in their heads into fully realized designs in digital and multi-media formats. I therefore intend to become part of the KSA’s future capacity for the production of domestic human capital in graphic design.
The Master of Arts in Graphic Design I believe is particularly suited to my goals and aptitudes. I feel your respective University in particular would be a strong school for the continued development of my own skill set in graphic design and graphic design pedagogy. I know your respective University will provide me with a unique and invaluable opportunity to continue to develop my demonstrated understanding and capacity for the interdisciplinary applications of graphic design, shown by my integration of graphic design with entrepreneurship, marketing and fashion in Uslooby. The increasing demand for instructors in higher education in KSA as it continues to develop its educational infrastructure to increase its human capital will give me a strong further opportunity to carry UK University’s sterling brand of reputable pedagogy and praxis as well as representing UK University’s brand in growing Departments of Graphic Design in KSA, new and old alike, as a new generation of Saudi graphic designers gain increasing access to domestically available education in this field.
I can personally guarantee that I will be a passionate, personable, curious and driven addition to your program. I would love to make your respective University the place where the next step of my personal and professional journeys continue; in the artistic, pedagogic and intellectual senses. I strongly appreciate your consideration of my application and eagerly anticipate your affirmative response.
Yours Truly,
Arwa Almozini
arwamozi 