Journaling is the act of writing down your thoughts and feelings to help you understand them better. It can help you process things going on in your daily life and for many people, it is a practice that contributes positively to their wellbeing.
The new LU Arts journal includes a daily thoughts template to encourage regular use as well as one-off prompts, self-care suggestions, ideas for ways to get creative, and space for more general reflections. There are also pieces of creative writing by current students and recent graduates which were specially commissioned for this project. These are accompanied by illustrations and graphics by other students and graduates, including the front cover designed by student Jessica Cox.
Seven alumni contributed their artwork and poetry to the journal. Three out of ten of the illustrators involved in the journal's artwork are alumni.
Chuhan Zhou (MA Graphic Design and Visualisation 2022) is one of the alumni illustrators. She has contributed illustrations for the poem ‘Cloud Watching’ on page three of the journal.
Page three of the LU Arts Journal, illustrations by Chuhan Zhou.
Fiona Knowles is a recent Product Design Engineering graduate, and her design is featured on the inside back cover of the journal. More of Fiona’s illustrations are featured on page nine to accompany the poem ‘this is a tale of redemption’.
Back cover of the LU Arts Journal, illustrations by Fiona Knowles.
The last alumni illustrator involved in the LU Arts Journal is Lauren Parker who was awarded a master's degree in Graphic Design and Visualisation in 2022 and her illustration appears on page 17 of the journal.
Page 17 of the LU Arts Journal (right), illustrated by Lauren Parker.
In addition to three graduate illustrators, four alumni were featured as writers in the journal. Yasmin Nwofor is a 2022 Natural Sciences graduate and the first alumni writer, and her work is featured on page four.
Page four of the LU Arts Journal (left), written by Yasmin Nwofor.
Yasmin’s poem was closely followed by Itseme Akede who gained her master's in Business Psychology in 2022. Itseme contributed prose to page six.
She shared some thoughts on her own experience with journaling:
“It is important to me to always be in the right head space, and one way I do that is to write down how I feel in a journal like this one.”
Page six of the LU Arts Journal (left), written by Itseme Akede.
Alumna Angelina Lee, who graduated from Product Design Engineering last year, wrote the poem titled ‘this is a tale of redemption’ that features alongside alumna Fiona’s illustrations on page nine.
Page nine of the LU Arts Journal, written by Angelina Lee and illustrations by Fiona Knowles.
Dennis Teny Thomas is the final graduate writer to appear in the journal. Dennis graduated with a master's degree in Finance and Management in 2022, and he contributed his poem ‘Little Things’.
Page 11 of the LU Arts Journal, written by Dennis Teny Thomas.
The journals are available for free from various places on campus subject to availability.
For those interested in trying out journaling but do not have access to the Loughborough campuses, you can download and print a Daily Thoughts template.
Find out more about locations and the journal on the LU ARTS website.