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The Visual Discovery Conference isn’t a typical academic workshop. It’s a five-day cultural exchange where design students and faculty from universities around the world collaborate to tell visual stories rooted in the identity of a host city.

In 2018 the conference began as a partnership between ������Ƶ’s School of Visual Communication and . It has grown into a global program connecting campuses across Europe, Asia and the United States. The event rotates among participating universities, each selecting place-based themes that challenge students to explore culture through design.

“This is not an academic program,” said Tim Goheen, director of the School of Visual Communication and program lead for the conference. “It’s more of a cultural exchange. Professors and universities bring students to the host city, which develops topics unique to that place. Students then get to investigate what interests them most — and often gain access to spaces the public rarely sees.”

For example, at ������Ƶ, the 2019 conference centered on local themes such as beer-making, The Ridges and coal mining. Later years have explored topics like tourism in Lucerne, the Everglades in Miami and historic water systems in Augsburg, Germany.

Each school brings as many students as it can support, with Augsburg and ������Ƶ acting as the core partners since the beginning. The two institutions maintain a memorandum of understanding and an ongoing student exchange program.

Once the topics are introduced, students are grouped with peers from other universities — often with a mix of skill sets, disciplines and languages. “They have less than a week to define their story and figure out how to tell it visually,” Goheen said. “By Friday, they’re presenting it to everyone. You never know what you’ll see — it could be a poster, an infographic, even an interactive project.”

The 2025 conference in Augsburg featured 83 students and 14 educators, culminating in 10 final presentations. The event also includes a competition component, where students submit individual projects that are reviewed and voted on by participating universities. Each school selects one standout piece to represent its program.

“One of our students, Emily Roesti, created an infographic explaining narcolepsy,” Goheen said. “It was deeply personal, and it was the first time a non-photographer from VisCom won. It showed the power of design to humanize complex experiences.”

For many participants, the experience is transformative. “It was my first time out of the country,” said senior visual communication student Maris Cordial. “The travel was longer than I expected, but it was incredible to be in a place with so much history. We visited historic buildings and ultimately focused our project on the city’s cathedral. Working with the guide there made me realize how much the building meant to him and the community, and it made me want to do the story justice.”

Senior information graphics and publication design major Meredith Viox said she had followed the conference since her first year at ������Ƶ. “When I saw they had gone to Switzerland, I knew I wanted to be part of it,” she said. “What makes this different from other conferences is that it’s really student focused. The professors were there, but they were hands-off, they gave us space to connect and collaborate on our own.”

Both students said the experience shifted how they view design and teamwork.
“There were moments when our group didn’t agree on how to move forward,” Cordial said. “But in the end, we created something everyone felt ownership of. It’s different than a classroom project because you’re living it together.”

Viox said the collaboration gave her a broader sense of perspective. “I learned to focus less on myself and more on the bigger picture,” she said. “Seeing how others work and communicate has changed how I approach design and it made me want to keep traveling and working internationally.”

Bradley Cunningham, a master’s candidate in visual communication said, "I had never traveled before — never even been on a plane. I was scared to go because of a mix of personal fears and anxieties. But I remember telling myself, ‘This is why you went back to school.’ And with that, I pushed through. In Augsburg, I was surrounded by creatives who inspired me, in a city I couldn’t help but explore. It was everything I needed to reignite my passion for why I do what I do."

Goheen said the conference also strengthens ties among faculty. During the pandemic, organizers attempted a virtual format but quickly realized the importance of meeting in person. “The time difference made it hard,” he said. “When we returned in 2022, we picked up right where we left off. It reminded us how important that in-person energy really is.”

He credited the continued support of the Scripps College of Communication and its leadership for keeping the program strong. “Having the dean’s support means a lot,” he said. “It’s one thing to talk about experiential learning, but this is it in action.”

Cordial said that investment matters. “It’s amazing that the university supports programs like this,” she said. “It gives students a chance to understand culture and collaboration on a deeper level and to see how art and communication connect us, even across an ocean.”

The next Visual Discovery Conference will convene at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Goheen said the goal remains simple: to help students discover not just the world, but themselves — through visual storytelling.