My name is Madeline Heimburg (although I go by M for short) and I am a Longwood University student graduating in May 2021. I am majoring in graphic & animation design (concentrating in graphic design) and minoring in psychology. I am also a part of the Cormier Honors College here at Longwood.

I’ve loved art as long as I can remember. My grandmother is an artist, and she had a big influence on my love of art growing up. She exposed me to all different types of media, from colored pencil to watercolors to clay, and taught me some basic color theory, all before I even started school. But I didn’t always consider myself an artist. It wasn’t until high school, when I began to think about what I wanted to do in life, that I really considered art as an important part of myself. I considered several different artistic pursuits, including illustration and interior design, before discovering my passion for graphic design.

To me, graphic design is the perfect marriage of creativity and utility. It’s art with a purpose. Graphic design has taught me — and still is teaching me — how to think about my designs in the same way a mathematician might approach a math problem. Logically, but from every different angle possible, taking chances to figure out what works. And that’s what I love about it.

I knew that Longwood was the perfect place for me when I discovered that this is how the graphic design program here think as well. I fell in love even more when I was invited to join the Cormier Honors College, which perfectly represents my goals for my education. To work better, not by doing more work, but by doing different work. It is my goal in life to always be doing “different” work — better work, creative work, innovative work — and the Cormier Honors College has helped me to achieve this goal.