Heather Wilmore Hornbeak
Associate Professor of Web Design
Department(s)
College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bachelor of Arts (BA), Graphic DesignCredentials
M.F.A. in Graphic Design & Photography, Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California: 2016
B.A. in Graphic Design, Union University in Jackson, Tennessee: 2004
About Heather Wilmore Hornbeak
Heather Hornbeak began her career in 2004 as a Graphic Designer for Ridgecrest Conference Center and Glorietta Conference Center. She later served as Lead Designer and Assistant Marketing Director for Nashville-based Griffin Technology, where she led visual strategy for international advertising, multilingual packaging, trade show environments (including CES and MacWorld), and retail displays featured globally in Apple Stores, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy.
Following her work in corporate design and co-founding two successful small businesses, she transitioned to higher education while completing her graduate studies at Azusa Pacific University, while teaching Photography for Union University. In 2016, she joined Asbury University as Professor of Interactive Media before transitioning to her current faculty role at Charleston Southern University in 2024, specializing in Web Design, UX/UI, and Photography.
Outside of academia, Heather enjoys spending time with her husband, Jesse, and their two sons, Emery and Oliver. A passionate advocate for spatial design, she and her family spent 2019 traveling in a self-converted van and later built a custom tiny home to demonstrate how design principles transform residential living spaces. To highlight these benefits, they created @HornbeakJourneys on Instagram, an educational, social media campaign focused on small living and travel.
"My mission is to align my passion for design and faith with my students' interests. My role is to help them discover their God-given gifts and equip them with the creative, professional skills needed to impact the world. I bring real clients into the classroom for live design projects, build campus gallery spaces for student work, and mentor advisees through internships, ensuring they graduate with experience and professional confidence. I choose CSU because of its commitment to integrating faith and learning."
Awards
Grant Award Winner & Artist Retreat Attendee: Funding recipient for Blueprint Landscapes and selected attendee for CREO Artist Retreat in Wilmore, KY (September 2026)
Sponsorship Grant Recipient: Blick Art Materials Gallery Sponsorship Grant (May 2026)
Signature Experiences
For the past three years of my academic and creative career, I have led key projects that integrate faith, learning, and professional design across digital humanities, fine art, and web media. I redesigned, uploaded hundreds of images to, and managed the John DeCuir Production Design Studies Center, a Christian organization, archiving fine art and sketches from award-winning films to preserve artistic heritage. My creative scholarship includes "Blueprint Landscapes", a fine art photographic series funded by CREO Arts, a Christian creative initiative. I currently attend and support Creative Arts Collective events, a nationwide initiative that provides grants, education, and networking opportunities that explore and nurture the integral relationship between Christianity & the Arts. I served as lead art director for several Christian organizations and platforms, including See-The-Sea (see-the-sea.org), which bridges marine conservation with environmental stewardship; Faith-Centered Media (faithcenteredmedia.org), a resource hub for engaging contemporary culture through a biblical worldview; and Red Bird Mission, Clinic, and School (RedBirdKY.org), a comprehensive Appalachian ministry established in 1922. Beyond my digital publishing, I serve as Faculty Advisor for Olive and Ash, the annual student literary magazine, direct the WCCL Hallway Gallery infrastructure project, present on ethical AI in media arts, evaluate regional talent as a juror for the University Scholarship Competitions, and maintain active participation with Adobe MAX, and Charleston's Public Theology seminar series.
Recent Scholarly Work & Publications
My recent scholarly work and digital publications focus on the integration of faith, visual history, and web architecture, demonstrating service-driven design across higher education, digital humanities, and community outreach. A central project is "Faith Made Visible: Religious Graphic Design in the American South (1737–2027)", a digital humanities initiative and open-access archive that categorizes and analyzes three centuries of Southern religious print culture and visual identity. Complementing this is my creative research series, "Blueprint Landscapes", supported by a competitive CREO Arts grant, which examines American ecosystems through large-format alternative prints on blueprint paper. In digital publishing, I serve as lead designer for platforms supporting Christian organizations, including See-The-Sea (see-the-sea.org), Faith-Centered Media (faithcenteredmedia.org), and Red Bird Mission, Clinic, and School (RedBirdKY.org). Additionally, my ongoing scholarship explores regional visual history through my monograph project, Shaped by the Americana South: A Graphic Designer’s Story of Faith & Art, alongside strategic digital design collaborations that amplify public art history scholarship.