Dark Academia Junk Journal Prompts

August has come, and with it the end of the summer. Depending on where you live, you may or may not be thinking about the start of the academic year for students at schools and colleges. Whether or not the academic calendar touches your life anymore, the end of the summer can be a fun time to think about Dark Academia, if you are so inclined. 

What's Dark Academia?

Dark academia is an aesthetic (or style) as well as a genre. As an aesthetic, it is a clothing style and a decor style. Generally, it means darker tones and preppy clothing, often with a slightly gothic twist.  Think wool skirts and blouses or trousers and knitted vests but in dark colors. Dark academia decor aims to recreate a romanticized version of a dorm room or office at an elite school. If you've ever read Harry Potter, that's a good example of the kind of feel dark academia aims to evoke. In literature, dark academia features stories that take place in academic settings but that involve various dark happenings, such as crimes, mysteries (supernatural or otherwise), etc. 

So, why apply this to junk journaling

Surprisingly, the dark academia style lends itself to junk journaling. Think of a notebook full of class notes, diagrams, scraps from ancient documents, drawings, etc. Think of mysterious books in a library, books written by hand and with pages coming out; books with notes tucked in between the pages. Think of letters written in fountain or quill pen and sealed with sealing wax. Think of rare, magical plants pressed between the pages of a book of ancient lore. Or go read "Canon Alberic's Scrapbook," a  ghost story by M. R. James.