Zeynep Aydogmus Masunu (Art Direction, 2022)
Let me tell you the story of my never-ending journey, and I hope you can relate to it.
My journey was never linear, and it had a beginning; the middle is unwritten; and definitely no ending in sight. Like branches of a tree, the stem may grow and take you to new places. I always loved to branch out into new avenues. These new branches always brought me new excitement and new perspectives towards life and career.
My journey started out in Turkey. The area resonates with a kind of lore and tales asking to be told. I knew from a young age I wanted to tell stories, kind of like the ones I grew up with. But being born to parents pursuing medicine and engineering, I felt inclined to fit into the example they had set. When I realized my mistake, I stopped studying analytics and took the quickest exit. Who knew numbers could be so soulless? I realized I’ve read and told stories since I was a little girl, producing plays in my childhood home. My mother encouraged me to take drawing classes, an interest that carried me to studying graphic design in Turkey. From there, I went on to pursue a master’s in motion media design and found myself in Hotlanta (sorry, I meant Atlanta).
After Atlanta, I worked as a motion designer bringing beautiful stories to life through animation. But it came to a point I wanted to be the storyteller rather than animating them. Stories that impact culture and emotionally moved people.
This is when my path crossed with Brandcenter. Whichever ad campaign I’ve come to love, and sometimes I cried at—yup, that’s a thing, don’t judge me—Brandcenter alumni always created it. You do a little research, and you see all these amazing people’s backgrounds and a single focal point: Brandcenter. It was a lightbulb moment for me; I applied immediately after.
Branching out on a new path again and getting another chance to be playful was the best decision I made. This path becomes more meaningful when you are working alongside professors who are leaders in their industry. And the friends who you work together with are as hungry as you are and crazy creative. You have fun creating together.
It is impossible not to feel excited about the future after.
Zeynep Aydogmus Masunu (Art Direction, 2022)