In this blog post, we will introduce strategies for highlighting your experience and strengths in your self-introduction letter, as well as your design sense.

 

Growth

“A child who loved books and pictures”
My parents ran a copy shop in front of a university for many years. My house was nearby, so when I was young, I would stop by my parents’ shop after school before going home. I grew up admiring the freedom of the college students I saw there. When my parents were busy, especially during exam periods, I would help them at the shop on weekends. Looking at the various copies of books and notes made by college students, I imagined what college life would be like, and looking at the difficult books and copies filled with small print, I prepared myself for the challenges of college.
My parents wanted me to study hard and go to a better university than the one near our house, but I spent more time drawing and reading books than studying. I always preferred books with neat covers and beautiful illustrations to the dense textbooks that college students read. Even if a book had pictures, I would decide whether I wanted to buy it based on how the pictures were arranged.
Strictly speaking, I became more interested in the images and layout of books than their content, so I liked to borrow old magazines from cafes and hair salons near my parents’ shop. Looking at the beautifully photographed magazines, I decorated my family album at home, and I even made unique photo albums with pictures I took with my cell phone and gave them to my friends as gifts.
My parents recognized my talent and hobby, and I was able to dream of becoming a designer since high school. I studied painting in high school and was already skilled at photo editing and drawing using Photoshop before entering college.

 

School Life

“Studying the combination of books and art.”
I majored in visual design at university. I studied various fields, from product design to editorial design, and took the opportunity to focus more on editorial design, which I had loved since I was young.
I am very good with my hands, so I took up leather craft as a hobby in college. My major was very demanding, so I couldn’t join any clubs, but I formed a leather craft group with like-minded friends from my department and we met regularly. We promoted our work on the blog of a friend who was good at blogging, and during festivals, we sold our handmade leather accessories to earn some pocket money.
I also participated in contests that are a must for design majors. Rather than the works themselves, I enjoyed the process of submitting ideas and proposals to contests in various fields. I won some contests, but I didn’t always get good results, so I enjoyed preparing for each contest with the mindset of enjoying the process rather than the outcome.

 

Strengths and weaknesses

“Creativity and responsibility”
I am responsible and meticulous. When working on a project, I often found myself so absorbed that I would skip meals and even forget to use the restroom. No matter what I was creating, I was determined to make the best work possible, knowing that it would be judged by others under my name. I felt that my name carried a lot of responsibility, so I worked even more meticulously.
I am very creative and have many witty ideas, sometimes to the point of being called strange. When I am working, it drives me to create good work, and when I am with people, it comes out as a sense of humor that makes people laugh and enjoy themselves. People who work in the arts tend to have a calm or strange personality, and I definitely fall into the latter category.

 

Career

“From children’s publications to learning materials for junior high and high school students”
After graduating from college, I started working as an editorial designer at a publishing company called XX Academy. My main job was to edit and design learning materials for high school students. Through this work, I gained a sense of editing and designing educational materials. Once I became familiar with the basic framework, I tried to come up with designs that would differentiate our materials from those of other companies. I worked hard to achieve both efficiency and design perfection, as I believed that comfortable, refreshing colors and easy-to-read layouts were effective in conveying information.
As the company expanded its business from learning materials for middle and high school students to educational materials for young children, I had the opportunity to work on editing materials for young children. While working on this project, I spent almost all my free time at the children’s library, struggling to identify the most important design points for children’s materials. I developed designs through a planning process that involved analyzing various books and extracting concepts.

 

Reason for joining the company and aspirations

“An editorial designer who will further enhance the history of Kyowon”
Good concepts and creative ideas enable consumers to have a well-crafted visual experience. I believe that design elements are particularly important because good design plays a role in conveying good content in a more interesting way.
I developed my expertise as an editorial designer through four years of practical experience at XX Co. I demonstrated outstanding abilities in editing children’s textbooks and learning materials for middle and high school students. In particular, the series of entrance exam preparation materials for high school students, which underwent a design renewal, achieved a 16% increase in sales after the renewal.
With a clear sense of purpose and passionate, enterprising thinking, I would like to share Kyōin’s vision and make my vision one with Kyōin’s. I believe in Kyokun’s strength in creating and steadily growing brands that are familiar even to those who have not experienced them firsthand, such as the red pen, Kumon learning, and the Kyokun Complete Works, and I will put all my passion into adding freshness to Kyokun’s publications. With my experience, artistic sense, and ability to design with the customer in mind, I will become an editorial designer who contributes to increasing your company’s sales.