Michael Lowry – “The MA has been everything I wanted it to be and more”

At the time, I started working for a local nightclub as a junior designer, running their social media, designing posters for upcoming acts and creating motion graphics for the screens inside the venue. It was there that I remembered what I'd always loved.

As a kid, I was obsessed with advertising. The Guinness ads. The Maynards' Wine Gums campaigns. They didn't feel like ads; they were exciting. I'd come rushing into our living room when I heard them to watch (according to my mum).

I've worked in advertising for around 15 years now. For a long time, I suffered from imposter syndrome. Always second-guessing, never quite sure I was doing it right. Until I had a big break in 2021 with a series of national advertising campaigns with Mango Bikes.

What started as an organic social campaign grew into a national run of billboard advertising across the UK. I remember seeing it in the flesh for the first time. Live on-screen is one thing, but up close and personal on billboard format is another level.

It really helped me grow my confidence. I felt like I'd tapped into something. It just felt right, and the performance from the campaign was incredible.

In 2022 I moved to England from Derry to join Specsavers on a graduate scheme. I'm now Design Manager for Employer Brand, running the creative team behind recruitment and employer brand campaigns, and I look after the UX design for the global careers website.

Leading a team brings a different set of challenges. The management side I'm figuring out every day. But I've always believed better creative instincts make better creative leaders. That's what the online MA in Graphic Design is doing for me.

The course has already changed how I work. Before, I'd jump straight into designing. I had good instincts, but I wasn't as methodical as I should have been. I wasn't thinking deeply enough about who I was designing for. Frameworks like the Double Diamond and exercises like Crazy 8s gave me the structure to slow down and do that properly.

The project that stands out most for changing my approach is the "Inclusivity in Design" brief. I was asked to design a mural for a school. I researched learning difficulties and language barriers, and I interviewed teachers to properly understand the needs of the children who would be looking at it every day. Things like the height of the text and choosing typefaces accessible for children with dyslexia or those who don't speak English as a first language. Considerations I wouldn't have thought about before.

Inclusivity was at the heart of everything. When I was illustrating the children for the mural, I wanted every child to be able to see themselves in it. I had the idea to give some characters near the bottom mirrors for faces so no child would be left out.

Balancing a full-time job, a part-time masters and everything else life throws at you is no small thing. The flexibility of the course has been a lifesaver. It's all online, so I can fit it around work and Specsavers have been incredibly supportive throughout, which has meant a lot.

Outside of work and the MA, I've finally got my portfolio website finished, something I'd been meaning to do for years. When I graduate, the plan is to use it to start building freelance work and keep the creative variety I've experienced on this course alive.

The MA has been everything I wanted it to be and more. Getting on our calls and talking about design with the lecturers and my fellow students is the highlight of my week. It's a lot of work, but it's genuinely one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.

If you're thinking about applying, my advice is simple. Do it. You'll work hard, but you'll come out the other side a better and more confident designer.

Check out his online portfolio and LinkedIn page.