Reflecting On My Time at Oxford Brookes University | The Class of COVID-19

Three years ago, I moved into my first year accommodation at Oxford Brookes where I was to study for my undergraduate degree. I had the most incredible time and Oxford will forever have a special place in my heart. I won't say it was easy by any means but my goodness was it the most incredible three years. I wanted to take a chance to reflect on my academic time at Oxford Brookes and just keep on record what I loved about it! 

FIRST YEAR: 2017 - 2018

My first year saw many health complications and far too many visits to the John Radcliffe Hospital, despite this, I feel I came out of that year stronger and more motivated than ever. I was first introduced to InDesign in Introduction to Magazine Publishing. Where I learnt from playing around on the software to produce the media-kit for our proposed magazine coursework. From that moment on I was hooked to the art of digital design. 

Originally, I was studying for a combined degree in Publishing Median and History of Art. After much thought, I decided that the best way for me to utilise my time at university was to change to single honours Publishing Media. I decided this due to how much I enjoyed making the media kit for our magazine, and I was enthusiastic to complete all the digital design modules that were offered on the Publishing course; however, this wasn’t possible to do unless I dropped History of Art. I was sad to drop it but as made obvious by this blog I’ve not let my love for the arts be hindered and I’m still incredibly invested in the art world. 

I think in the future I'll definitely try and do a short course in Art History as I did really enjoy it but just wanted to focus on different things.

SECOND YEAR: 2018 - 2019

Choosing to change to single honours allowed for full focus to be on the design modules as well as the core modules on the Publishing Media course. Throughout the second year of university, I was able to grow my confidence using the Adobe Creative Suite software and successfully finished projects to a high standard. Something I really loved about Brookes was the immense amount of recourses that my course in particular were given. I feel incredibly fortunate to have access to a dedicated Publishing Media suite with iMacs kited out with up-to-date software. It allowed me to go to this room to play around with the software and to be surrounded by Publishing students. I think that this really helped me grow my confidence and my skillset. 

THIRD YEAR: 2019 - 2020

Well well well, if only I could go back to September and tell my old self about what was about to happen come second semester! Final year allowed me to apply the knowledge I have learnt over the last three years. One of my modules was called Publishing List Development and was a year-long group project. Within this project, I decided to put my self forward as design lead which I loved being! I enjoyed being able to use the skills to create three book covers and a marketing campaign for each title. I spent a large amount of time in the Publishing Suite making these designs and I’m really happy with how they turned out. Alongside this huge project, I also wrote my dissertation which explored how the media treatment of the British Royal Family has evolved since Princess Diana’s death. If you know me you know I struggle a lot with spelling and grammar, so finishing 10,000 words is and will always be something I’m so proud of! 

Obviously the year didn't end quite as expected but looking back I don’t want to let that dampen my memories of this amazing university experience. Yes, it ended weirdly but hey I sure as hell had a great time whilst I was there!