App Tips — Essays

August 12, 2010 //

Advice on Essays:
**I can only speak from personal experience and what worked for me.
Gestalt:
The Essays are a huge part of the App process and a chance to really show the prospective schools a piece of your personality. I think that in a world of 700 GMAT scores, the essays and the recommendations are a key way to differentiate designers as solid applicants. One of the key things that everyone will tell you to do is tell a story about yourself with the application process. One essay could lead into or relate slightly with another, one recommendation could help support the numbers or facts in your essays; the key is to let them play off of each other in a gestalt way to build a complete picture of you. Imagine them as pieces of a lego kit that, once put together, create a consistent and cohesive toy.

Writing Techniques:
There are many ways to write the essays, here are some quick tips that would have helped me from the beginning:

Start large.
Write the essay longer than intended. The reason for this is to tell your story without letting the size limitations impede you. You’ll be consistently surprised at your ability to condense the essay after it’s written. I had to take some 1200 word essays and reduce them to 500.
Slim it down.
In editing your essays, find the key points that you’re attempting to convey, making sure that you answer the essay questions first and foremost, and then decide what pieces of your story you need to get across — humor, charisma, leadership, etc.. Whittle the essay down, eliminating excesses and dramatic language. I had a problem with this because I tend to write with flourish and drama, which was perfectly okay in one essay as a conveyor of my personality, but after that, the essays needed to be more to the point.
Avoid the passive tense.
Passive tense will make your essays unnecessarily longer.
Ex: ”Having been protected all of my life… ” vs. ”Protected all of my life…”
The Hook
Most of my essays, I began with a tease or a taste or a hook and then built a story around that hook. It’s a bit like a Tarantino movie.
Step one: Give a quick glimpse of a more current event that interests the reader.
Step two: Go back to the origins and tell the events leading up to the hook.
Step three: You resolve the hook.
Ex:
Step one: CRASH!!!
Step two: I began driving when I was 16…
Step Three: The injury and the time in the hospital served to make me stronger physically and mentally.
End Strong!
I’ve always thought that the end of your essay should release the breath of your reader. It should punctuate the story, resolving it, and offering a final point that is, without doubt, the proper ending. It’s your last chance to summarize your thoughts and complete the composition that you’ve developed.
Save multiple copies.
It’s okay to write multiple essays that have different feels to them. Save multiple documents or you can do what I did, and build a “palette” inside the essay where you have paragraphs that you may or may not use at the bottom of the document, saved there just in case. This more open perspective will allow you to write freely and explore your thoughts and emotions thoroughly.
Reread.
read again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again.
Get a proofreader.
It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve read your essay. Handing it to someone else, they will instantly find a misspelling or a poor tense choice or poor grammar. Make sure you have enough time to let them read your essays and then edit them. Involve friends and family rather than online boards, forums don’t really have your best interest in mind, and they can judge whether or not the essay conveys your personality.
Spell Check
I seriously believe that I didn’t get an interview at Haas because of a last minute change in an essay that resulted in a misspelling in the first sentence of my most important essay. By that time, I had written 19 different essays for other schools without an error, but Haas didn’t know that. They most likely saw it as an indifferent attitude. They read hundreds of essays, and to pick one up that has a misspelling in the first sentence makes it easy to toss out. Please spell check.

*NOTE: I’ll do my best to put together all of the essay questions in this section, but until they are released, this section is more of a placeholder, and the information below is from last year

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Product Innovation Lab — NC State

August 12, 2010 //

Article on Forbes about the 10 Most Innovative Business School Classes. This one pairs designers, engineers, and MBA students, challenging them to create marketable solutions at NC State. My buddy Ty is taking the class this year. It will be interesting to hear his feedback.

Product Innovation Lab
College of Management, North Carolina State University
The course brings together business, engineering and industrial design professors who challenge MBA students to work on sponsored projects from companies. The sponsor identifies a loosely defined market need and students craft a marketable solution. Previous teams have come up with a video conferencing system for patients in rural areas needing physical therapy, and diet/nutrition tracking on iPhones. “We expect teams to do primary, voice-of-the-customer research,” says business professor John McCreery. “We push them toward prototyping.”

Meaningful Design

August 5, 2010 //

Interesting video if a bit long-winded — Nathan needs to work on his public speaking skills — about the definition of design and how design relates to brand.

MBA + Design workshop in London

August 5, 2010 //

MBA-designer collaboration: Introduction (1 of 4) from Lucy Kimbell on Vimeo.

Lucy Kimbell from Saïd Business School and Cordula Friedlander from London College of Communication introduce a day-long prototyping workshop. They describe the aims of the day, during which MBA students from Oxford collaborate with MDes students who have been working on the design of a new remote sensor for post-operative patients, focussing on the user experience and interactions with the monitor

More vids after the jump:
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Apple design question:

August 5, 2010 //

Can Apple’s “Genius Design” Model Be Duplicated?

A small piece of the discussion with Nathan Shedroff — Chair of the MBA in Design Strategy at the California College of the Arts. He discusses the ability to copy Apple’s design strategy, and mentions that it’s not exactly possible without a Jobs. I’ve heard this before in a different context:

Client: “Give us the next iPhone”
Design Firm: “We’ll give you the next iPhone when you give us the next Steve Jobs”

App Tips — The GMAT (part 1)

August 5, 2010 //

For a designer, the GMAT can be one of the most intimidating parts of the MBA application process for a few reasons, but beyond the material, it’s the format that was the most foreign for me.

“Why?”
The GMAT is a CAT test

“What’s that mean?”
You’re screwed.

“Ha ha. What? How come?”
Well, it’s a timed test.

“I’ve done that before, no worries”
But this one’s different. You can’t go back to previous questions and then there’s the scoring system. The GMAT starts off with a “medium” question worth medium points. If you get it right you get a harder question worth more points, BUT if you get it wrong, you get an easier question worth fewer points.

“I don’t get it.”
Well, in a typical test, all your questions are worth the same amount, but the GMAT weight questions with different amounts of points, so this means….are you ready for this?… That missing one question at the beginning can be like missing 5 at the end.

“Example please”

Okay, use the chart above for reference (it is only an analogous example, not actual scoring methodology), and let’s say the test is more like a football field where you’re trying to move 25 yards. I start off giving you 3 yards per right answer, and if you get the questions correct, I give you 4, and then 5, then 6, and then 7. So, if you get them all correct you move 25 yards. 3+4+5+6+7=25.

“Okay”
Now for every incorrect answer, I demote you from 3, to 2, to 1, to 0 yards. So, if you get even one question wrong you would receive no yards for the first question because you got it incorrect, and then 2, and 3 and 4 and 5 (0+2+3+4+5 = 14 yards). So just by missing one question at the beginning, you don’t get a 24…you get a 14! On a regular exam, missing one out of 5 would get you an 80%, but this gives you a 56%!!

“Oh no!”
Oh no is right! So you can see, that not only is it timed, but the test taking methodology is different from most tests. You have to take your time on the first few questions and get them right so that you can have access to those juicy, point-rich questions later.

“So I have to take my time on the first few questions, but still finish the test?”
Yes. It’s okay to miss some at the end of the test, but typically the ones at the end will cost you more because they would be the highest value. In the chart example, the person who got all the questions right, but took too long would miss out on their last question worth 7 points and get an 18 instead of a 25.

“Ouch”
Yeah. But look at it this way. The person that misses one question at the end because of time receives an 18, but the person that misses one question at the beginning because of careless error gets a 14. So not only do you need to learn the material, but you also have to learn how to take the test; pace yourself, start slow and get the first ones right.

Take Away:

The GMAT is a timed test
You cannot go back to previous answers and change them or reassess
Each question has a value associated with it
Getting questions right will lead to harder questions worth more points
Getting questions incorrect will lead to easier questions worth fewer points
Take you time at the beginning to get as many early questions correct as possible so that you can achieve a higher score at the end of the test
Attempt to finish the test

2010 App Deadlines for MBA Programs

August 3, 2010 //

Direct link to Calendar can be found HERE
iCal link to Calendar can be found HERE

*NOTE
This page will have the deadlines for the schools as best I can keep up with them and as soon as they are released.

See below for the Deadlines for a select set of schools:
The Current List:
BYU — Marriott
Carnegie Mellon — Tepper
Chicago — Booth
Columbia
Cornell — Johnson
Dartmouth — Tuck
Duke — Fuqua
Georgia Tech
Harvard
Indiana — Kellley
Kellogg
MIT — Sloan
Notre Dame — Mendoza
NYU — Stern
Stanford
UC Berkeley — Haas
UCLA — Anderson
UNC — Kenan-Flagler
University of Michigan — Ross
University of Virginia –Darden
UT Austin — McCombs
Vanderbilt — Owen
Wharton
Yale University

Design for the other 90%

August 3, 2010 //

Design for the other 90% is an exhibition at the Cooper-Hewett museum in New York until Sept 6th 2010. They describe their process better than I ever could, but it’s essentially an example of the innovative solutions being brought to the underserved populations of developed and developing countries. It’s inspiring to see design so tightly tied with something besides “new and shiny”, going back to it’s core roots of problem solving. It’s a great site and a great book with interesting pieces, including the Lifestraw (seen above) which is a $3, reusable, personal, mobile water purification device that turns any surface water into potable drinking water – brilliant! Here is their own description for the exhibit:

Of the world’s total population of 6.5 billion, 5.8 billion people, or 90%, have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted; in fact, nearly half do not have regular access to food, clean water, or shelter. Design for the Other 90% explores a growing movement among designers to design low-cost solutions for this “other 90%.” Through partnerships both local and global, individuals and organizations are finding unique ways to address the basic challenges of survival and progress faced by the world’s poor and marginalized.

Designers, engineers, students and professors, architects, and social entrepreneurs from all over the globe are devising cost-effective ways to increase access to food and water, energy, education, healthcare, revenue-generating activities, and affordable transportation for those who most need them. And an increasing number of initiatives are providing solutions for underserved populations in developed countries such as the United States.”

Working with Designers — Anchors

August 3, 2010 //

When working with designers it’s important to provide them anchors before beginning.

What’s an Anchor?
An anchor is what will allow the designer to start designing the most effectively. The role of the designer is to express you, your company, your product, or your brand — they communicate a visual story to the consumer or the audience. But the story needs to have a purpose, and that purpose is the anchor.

So what are some examples?
A bad example of an anchor is this:

Client — “Hey, I’d like for you to design a new logo for my company”
Designer — “Great, what is your company about, what does is stand for?”
Client — “I don’t know. We make medical websites. Run with that, but make is sexy and futuristic”

** This process will take too long because the client hasn’t decided yet who they are or what they want. This will most likely develop into a bad relationship due to not bad communication, but zero communication. The client just wants “some design” and the designer has nowhere to begin. Read the rest of this entry »

Quote of the Day

August 3, 2010 //

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.

They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels? While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

— TBWA Chiat/Day

Interviews: Cavan Canavan — Designer MBA?

August 3, 2010 //

I’ll be starting my MBA at the Ross school of management at University of Michigan in about 6 weeks, and I’m really excited…and nervous. Nerves aside, I feel like I should explain why I’m going to get my MBA, so here’s the first interview for the site…and it’s me!

Why are you getting your MBA?
I could give you the MBA essay answer or the real answer. They’re both relatively the same, but the real answer is less technical: I want to change an empower companies. I’ve been lucky enough in my short career to create some relatively substantial change at billion dollar corporations, however, I had to use “grass roots” methods and I had to overcome some organizations that were severely myopic in their view of design and designers(New Balance and Lexmark). Many companies want to be “like Apple” without understanding what that means. Apple has a strong design organization that reaches the VP level. Most companies seeking to be “like Apple” don’t understand that they have to build the same structure for true design success.

Why would a company want to be successful at design?
I truly believe that as markets become more and more commoditized, it’s not what you provide, but how you provide it. It’s the experience that can essentially define the brand. It’s not a single product, but the way you get to the product, the way you learn about it, the way you use it, and even how you dispose of it. And while a marketing department might do an excellent job of researching what the brand needs to be, it’s the designers that realize the expression of that brand and present it to the customer. Read the rest of this entry »

Quote of the Day

August 2, 2010 //

“Executing great design is everybody’s job, not just the designer’s”

— Robert Brunner and Stewart Emery

Compiled Top 30 Rankings from Business Week, Forbes, U.S. News, and Financial Times

August 2, 2010 //

Compiled Top 30 Rankings
#	Forbes	Financial Times	US News	Business Week
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30	Dartmouth Wharton Chicago Columbia Yale Stanford Harvard University of Virginia Cornell Northwestern UT–Austin Iowa NYU UNC– Chapel Hill UC Berkeley Carnegie Mellon BYU MIT UCLA Emory Duke Indiana University Penn State Texas A&M Vanderbilt University University of Michigan Washington University USC Maryland Purdue	London Business School Wharton Harvard Stanford Insead Columbia IE Business School MIT Chicago: Hong Kong UST Iese Indian School of Business NYU Dartmouth IMD Yale University of Oxford HEC Paris Esade Duke Cambridge: Ceibs Northwestern Lancaster Rotterdam Cranfield Nanyang Hong Kong University of Michigan UC Berkeley	Harvard Stanford MIT Northwestern Chicago Wharton Dartmouth UC Berkeley Columbia NYU Yale University of Michigan University of Virginia Duke UCLA Carnegie Mellon UT–Austin Cornell Washington University USC Ohio State UNC– Chapel Hill Indiana Georgetown University of Minnesota Georgia Tech Arizona State Emory University University of Rochester University of Wisconsin	Chicago Harvard Northwestern Wharton University of Michigan Stanford Columbia Duke MIT UC Berkeley Cornell University Dartmouth NYU UCLA Indiana University University of Virginia UNC– Chapel Hill Southern Methodist Carnegie Mellon Notre Dame UT–Austin BYU Emory Yale USC University of Maryland University of Washington Washington University Georgia Tech Vanderbilt University

Quotes

August 2, 2010 //

“Design is more than pixels.”

— Adam Kuhn

Forbes MBA Rankings

August 2, 2010 //

Financial Times MBA Rankings 2010

August 2, 2010 //

London Business School
University of Pennsylvania: Wharton — US
Harvard Business School — US
Stanford University GSB — US
Insead
Columbia Business School — US
IE Business School
MIT Sloan School of Management — US
University of Chicago: Booth — US
Hong Kong UST Business School
Iese Business School
Indian School of Business
New York University: Stern — US
Dartmouth College: Tuck — US
IMD
Yale School of Management — US
University of Oxford: Saïd
HEC Paris
Esade Business School
Duke University: Fuqua — US
University of Cambridge: Judge
Ceibs
Northwestern University: Kellogg — US
Lancaster University Management School
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University
Cranfield School of Management
Nanyang Business School
Chinese University of Hong Kong
University of Michigan: Ross — US
University of California at Berkeley: Haas — US

U.S. News MBA Rankings 2011

August 2, 2010 //

US News MBA Rankings:

Bloomberg Business Week MBA Rankings:

August 2, 2010 //

Bloomberg Business Week MBA Rankings:

Book Report: Do you matter? How great design will make people love your company.

July 31, 2010 //

Website: doyoumatter.com

I was going to begin this post by saying that “Do You Matter” is a must read for any designer, but I changed my mind. ”Do You Matter” is a must read for anyone in design or anyone that works with designers or anyone that hopes to utilize design strategically. The book essentially outlines in very plain english ways to address every problem that every designer has with corporate culture, presenting what many designers are never taught; the reasons that design should exist and how to nurture it properly.

The book is true to its title, challenging the reader to ask the question, “Do I matter?” or “Does my company matter.” It then explains how a company provides more than a singular product or a website, a company provides experiences for its customers. I know that this sounds dramatic, but everything about a product is an experience. The advertising, the POP, the website, the logo, the help line, and the product itself. And it’s through these experiences that the user/customer becomes emotionally attached to the product. Brunner and Emery cite multiple examples to support their point that great companies create great experiences and then create great relationships with their consumers. They cite products like the iPod and iPhone (low hanging fruit), BMW, Swiffer, Starbucks, and more.
Read the rest of this entry »

Quotes:

July 31, 2010 //

“Design is a dirty job.”

— Edgar Morales

Pages

For Designers

For non-Designers

Quotes

Top Schools

App Tips — Essays

Product Innovation Lab — NC State

Meaningful Design

MBA + Design workshop in London

Apple design question:

App Tips — The GMAT (part 1)

2010 App Deadlines for MBA Programs

Design for the other 90%

Working with Designers — Anchors

Quote of the Day

Interviews: Cavan Canavan — Designer MBA?

Quote of the Day

Compiled Top 30 Rankings from Business Week, Forbes, U.S. News, and Financial Times

Quotes

Forbes MBA Rankings

Financial Times MBA Rankings 2010

U.S. News MBA Rankings 2011

Bloomberg Business Week MBA Rankings:

Book Report: Do you matter? How great design will make people love your company.

Quotes:

Pages

For Designers

For non-Designers

Quotes

Top Schools

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