The story begins with me as a clueless child. I was first discovering art (specifically drawing) and made do with anything I could. I only had cheap colouring pencils and paper. As I grew up and continued pursuing this, I desired more resources and opportunities.
I’m sure a good few of you will relate – growing up in a poorer country and moving here opened my world to so many forms of art. I ended up pretty much enjoying everything. I entered school competitions, gained work experience and attended online courses. This said, when I was applying to university I couldn’t really pinpoint what I wanted to do. I was interested in illustration, graphic design, architecture and fashion so I couldn’t choose! When I stumbled across BA (Hons) Creative Direction, I realised I could incorporate all of that.
Creative Direction is a really great mix of both practical and theoretical work. We touch on areas such as virtual reality, digital magazines (with someone from Vogue), ethical fashion campaigns (we got to set it up on campus, how cool!) and navigating a business.
One really positive outcome I had is greatly improving my teamwork skills. It’s so enjoyable to have discussions of ideas in a group and reaching a flow of discoveries. Right now, we are in a process of designing a museum exhibition with Dorset Museum. I cannot begin to describe how exciting this opportunity is – the fact that people will walk in every day and see our work really motivates me. I’m forever grateful that we get such chances.
Life at AUB is also really nice. I feel like I’m in a good community where we all have similar mindsets and it’s so easy to blend into a good day-to-day life. The town centre is full of student accommodation so it genuinely just feels like a student town; there’s something going on almost every night so it will never be boring. The accommodation sites are close to the uni and very close to the shops, so you will have everything you need. I also really love our lecturers – they’re amazing people who most times feel like friends more than teachers. It makes it so much more enjoyable to learn.
One way I stay creative outside of studies is creating small projects of my own. I love character design and spend my free time drawing. I also like to help out friends with photoshoots, from styling the model to suggesting poses. It’s always great to collaborate with other students – I’d advise to jump at any chance you get. We spent a lot of time with BA (Hons) Events Management which opened the door to so much more than what I’ve done before. I’ve helped friends set up carnivals, bar events, etc. I enjoyed setting up something with actual people visiting; it was so exciting.
One advice I would give to my past self is to attend more university events. I wish I got to know more people and learn more skills; we’re already paying a ridiculous amount so we might as well make it worth it!
Also, I would advise to take risks. University is where I came out of my shell and became more extroverted. There was a time where I thought this was impossible, and yet, here we are.
