Five months of writing, designing, and editing have finally paid off. Braw Issue 4 is here, a physical copy to hold, to keep. A literal product of all our hard work.
It was quite the journey to get here, that’s for sure. We started planning all the way back in April, the idea blooming from an offhand comment – “What if we printed the next edition?” How hard can it be, really?
A fair amount of hours spent at The Book Nook can attest that, actually, it’s pretty difficult. Nevertheless, we powered through. Countless coffees, iced teas, and pastries fueled our brainstorming sessions. Pinterest boards were born, articles were put together, ideas workshopped until we had the basic blueprint for our creation.
From there, it was writing our own articles, designing the layout, picking fonts and colours. All to make it look cohesive, to feel vibrant.
After a long, hard day of gruelling work, we deserved a fair few cocktails. A quick walk over to City Walls or to Spoons is the perfect way to destress. Spending time with your co-editor and friend over a few drinks was imperative to getting this thing done. We couldn’t have done this without you, Spoons. Looking back, those days when I hopped on a bus from Dundee to Stirling to work on the magazine were the highlights of an otherwise uneventful, boring summer. Instead of spending months only going to work, I had a magazine to work on. It kept me busy, and I know for a fact I can say the same for Alice.
This magazine took up permanent residency in my head. I would be at work, and all I would be thinking about was deadlines, and where to source photographs from, and what if we mess up printing? What if, what if, what if. Thankfully, my wonderful co-editor, Alice, was always there to answer my late-night, last-minute texts. She would calm my frantic questioning, handling everything with the grace of a woman well-versed in magazine creation. With it being my first time as a BRAW Magazine editor, I would have crashed and burned without her. So, thank you for being here, for taking the helm and guiding this process. How cool is this, that we’ve created an entire magazine from scratch?
I hope all my sentimental rambling has intrigued you enough to pick up a copy. The theme, Close Encounters, is wide-ranging, and we hope each and every person who gives it a read can find something in there to relate to. Copies of Braw Issue 4 can be found around campus (atrium, Students’ Union, Pathfoot building, library). We hope you enjoy it, as we had a blast putting it together.
You can read the articles featured in BRAW issue 4 here.
Featured Image Credit: Alice Pollard
Braw Magazine co-editor for Stirling University’s Brig and a third year English and Journalism student.
