Working at the Intersection of Language and Design

At Sessions, she has honed her skills, working on a variety of projects, including book covers and socially conscious collages. By balancing her literary pursuits with graphic and web design, Margaret has successfully merged language with visuals, enhancing both her career as an author and her evolving identity as a designer.

Q: You’ve already authored several books, including Flowers for Papa, a 2024 American Writing Awards Finalist. How did publishing a novel at a young age shape your perspective as a design student?

My very first publication, a short poetry collection titled Inkwells, encompassed a media element: photography. It wasn’t until recently that I shifted that component from photography to illustration with my more recent collection, Seasons: August’s Collection, a companion to Flowers for Papa.

Having already incorporated these media elements prior to even realizing I truly enjoyed these small side endeavors, I was exercising those preexisting strengths of photography and illustration, blending those with my primary writing skills, and that mixture of literary and design-based creativity ultimately shaped my perspective as a graphic design student.

I also build websites and partake in personal and professional graphic design projects, which allow me to express my creativity while providing the flexibility to author more books. Graphic design is simply a secondary creative outlet that I utilize as a tool to further and blend with my skills as a professional novelist and poet.

Q: Why pursue a Graphic Design degree after establishing yourself as a writer?

As I’ve quickly learned over my years as an author in the literary industry, it takes a lot, and a long time to publish books and potentially reap a profit. Because writing isn’t a given and royalty checks are a notoriously unstable source of income, the decision to obtain a degree was a simple one: It would allow me to pursue my other interest of graphic design while exacerbating the probability of securing design-based job opportunities should the prospect of writing professionally not come to fruition.

While I may be an established writer, there is a wide margin between someone who is established and someone who can make a living solely off of their writing and publishing ventures—and until your career reaches that point, it is essential that you have a fallback, and especially in an area you truly enjoy.

Q3: How do your writing and design skills intersect in your creative process?

My writing and design skills intersect in my creative process through my web and graphic design pursuits. First, via web design, I am able to cultivate creative, individualistic methods with which to formulate messages and state marketing copy with my preestablished writing skills while simultaneously endeavoring to manually design a website for a custom client. Allowing me to capture corporate and individual personalities through my use of strong language and literary skills, I can indulge in both writing- and design-based skills when combining various sorts of text and copy with a vast variety of design techniques.

Q4: Has studying at Sessions helped you refine your creative voice or given you new tools?

Sessions College has definitely refined my creative voice and supplied me with numerous tools, particularly in regard to introducing me to Adobe Creative Cloud and the uses of Photoshop and Illustrator, which have allowed me to expand my graphic design skills by crafting movie posters, vectoring logos, and my favorite, designing book covers. One of the most significant influences Sessions College has currently had on my work is in relation to my increasing knowledge of design hierarchy, which affords me the opportunity to better distinguish, implement, and refine differing facets of graphic and web design projects.

Q: You’re balancing a degree program with writing and illustrating. How do you make it all work?

My most important rule is to always stay a week ahead in my schoolwork, allowing me time to dedicate to writing, editing, and submitting manuscripts to agents, editors, or publishing companies, which are all incredibly time-consuming endeavors. This way, I’m able to anticipate and accommodate for any weeks or days that may be heavy with either schoolwork or the tasks of my own personal projects.

Should I ever feel the need to take a break or participate in activities outside of work, I have the flexibility of knowing I will not fall behind in schoolwork since I’m perpetually ahead. As education and writing are equally important to me, I find it’s essential to care for all aspects of my career—literary, design, and academic—simultaneously.

Q: Your writing often tackles mental health and equality. Do those themes find their way into your design projects?

Yes! I’ve been lucky enough to have a few design projects cross over into my other interests. I have been tasked with creating collages surrounding social issues such as women’s rights and sexism, satirical pamphlets regarding LGBTQIA+ injustice, and my favorite is being able to reface preexisting organizations or cultivate fictitious companies representing these values and others.

Q: Most valuable or surprising lesson you’ve learned so far?

The most surprising lesson I’ve learned from my program so far is how much the design industry resembles the literary industry; it is also incredibly strict and seemingly requires a non-negotiable skill set to be considered for the workforce. Without these skills, such as proficiency in Adobe software or knowledge of advanced graphic design principles, the prospect of securing a job in the design arena is nearly impossible. It is simultaneously intimidating and motivating to have such a high, vested goal to aspire to.

Q: Looking ahead, do you see yourself blending your talents as an author and designer in your career?

Regarding my blend of talents, I would like to say that I already provide a refined combination of skills as an author and designer, especially in the context of web design. Considering how my work as a web designer already intersects with the specific skillset of copywriting and graphic design fundamentals, I look forward to seeing how my degree program will continue to bolster creative opportunities.

Q: Any advice for current students or creatives juggling school with their own projects?

Take that first week of the new semester and work ahead to the second, enabling a buffer for life’s many circumstances. Additionally, I would strongly suggest allocating certain days of the week to completing schoolwork and other days to completing personal or professional projects. Stick to that schedule, but also remain flexible and open-minded in how it is pursued. There’s always a way to balance what you care about; you just have to care enough to balance it.

To find out more about Margaret’s work you can view her work at at margaretbeaverbooks.com. To find out more about our graphic design courses and programs, visit our graphic design hub. Check out our Student Gallery, and schedule a meeting with our Admissions team to find out about our tuition, financial aid, scholarships, and more.