Choosing a university and department creates a great responsibility for every student. Although I had ideas in mind before taking the university exam, I took the time to get to know the universities and departments. I was able to get into many of the public universities and programs that I had in mind, and I never planned to study at a private / foundation university. However, as I researched further, I decided that I should examine universities not only by name, department, city but also in terms of the opportunities they offer, and that my choice would only be correct in this way. And thanks to this mind frame, I met Izmir University of Economics. During the open house, the student mentors were giving a tour around campus for prospective students who came to see and learn about Izmir University of Economics. Luckily, when I went to get information, thanks to the student who was taking me around campus, I learned that the opportunity to study at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, which was always on my mind but I did not know how to realize it, was not that impossible. That day I met with Prof. Hakan Ertep, the head and one of the founders of the department. He told me and my family about the department and the advantages of the school. As I was leaving, I surely knew what choice to make. In September 2009, I started the Department of Visual Communication Design, Faculty of Fine Arts and Design of Izmir University of Economics with a full scholarship. During the 5 years I spent at school, I was trained not only about my own department, but on many other things from multi-cultural teachers with a wide knowledge of everything and opportunities not found in many schools. Design education is both compelling and demanding. It was a very valuable experience to take this training from the trainers who dedicated themselves to this job and to use the many opportunities provided by the University. After 5 years with all the difficulties and beauties, I graduated as the top student of the Department of Visual Communication Design in 2014. The first plan I had in mind during my undergraduate education was to do master’s abroad, especially in Italy after graduation. I was able to achieve this goal with the Italian language education I chose as a second foreign language and studied for 4 years and by graduating from the department with a degree. In September 2014, I started my master’s degree, to which I applied for in the last year of my undergraduate study, at the Politecnico di Milano University, Department of Communication Design where the medium of instruction is completely Italian. The 3 years I spent in Milan have trained me on my profession, my view of life, and my understanding of myself. Since I returned to Turkey in 2018, I started to work as Senior UX/UI Design Specialist with UX / UI Design Group (User Experience and Interface Design Group) at Vestel Electronics Company R & D department. I take part in Turkey's leading innovative projects (Automotive and EV Charger devices, such as designing the user screen interface and experience), and I greatly enjoy seeing my designs exhibited at leading trade fairs worldwide, and the projects I'm part of. I would like to thank Izmir University of Economics and its valuable teachers, who are among the biggest factors that have helped me experience all these unique processes. I will be closely following and supporting all the beauties they will add to future generations.
