Farm Tours, Neon Lights, and Fresh Wayfinding: SEGD’s Summer Chapter Events

September 16, 2026

Rachel Moran

Ask any Chapter Chair what summer looked like this year and you’ll get a different answer every time, and that’s exactly the point. SEGD Chapters spent the season proving that experiential graphic design conversations don’t have to happen in a conference room. They happened on a farm, in a fabrication shop, on the water, and on a roller coaster.

Escaping the City

Take San Francisco, where members traded the usual meetup spot for a Saturday afternoon at Studio Nord, the 79-acre Petaluma property that graphic designer Madeleine Corson and photographer Thomas Heinser call home. Over a catered lunch and a wine tasting, brand strategist Lisa Boquiren drew out the origin stories behind their work, and the day wound down with a piano performance and time to wander the land that shapes it all. It’s the kind of event that reminds you why this community gathers in the first place.

The Process Behind the Polish

A few other chapters went behind the curtain this summer. In Detroit, members got a rare look at how The Henry Ford Museum’s Experience Design Team built Fabric of America, straight from lead designer Wing Fong. In Atlanta, the chapter toured Assembly Atlanta, 135 acres of former GM plant turned world-class film studio and public gathering space, and walked away with a new appreciation for what it takes to plan at that scale.

And in Richmond, a record-breaking crowd packed into Wellcraft MFG to watch founder Jesse Isenberg’s team turn raw materials into signage, including a sneak peek at The Hues, a multifamily project designed by fellow member from Hickok Cole. Columbus brought that same hands-on energy to Roto’s Prototype space, where an SEGD+IDSA crowd of all ages turned out for an interactive technology program that, by every account, went off without a hitch. 

Community—Better Together

Other chapters leaned into pure community. Orange County hosted a Town Hall largely filled with CSULB and LCAD students thinking hard about life after graduation. The mood lifted fast once everyone was randomly grouped into teams for “Design and Experience,” a game built around dreaming up an experience for a coastal overlook. Vancouver spent a sunny afternoon at a joint picnic with local design and marketing organizations, trading notes across disciplines. 

Seattle packed in a full slate. There was a Design Showcase Series across three area schools; a RailSpur visit that paired a conversation on historic preservation with a private tour of the Port of Seattle Artists’ Commission showcase, plus a casual round of drinks next door for those who stuck around; and a behind-the-scenes look at the MiiR + ERL pop-up, where owner MiiR, designer ERL, and artist Shogo Ota walked members through how they built a one-of-a-kind experience to launch MiiR’s newest products. A panel dug into the design of the space, and the evening wrapped with mingling and a round of custom-engraved MiiR products for anyone who stuck around. 

Design on Display, IRL and Virtual

Then there were the events that dug into a city’s own design story. Philadelphia chapter members went deep on the refreshed SEPTA transit signage, following up on research they’d first seen back in 2022 with a closer look at the new map design and a tour of the signs in place. In Washington, D.C., members previewed five newly renovated galleries at the National Air and Space Museum, then later wandered through Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens for an augmented-reality audio experience layering history and art over the landscape. Toronto‘s chapter turned toward the future with a panel on how artificial intelligence is reshaping design and society.

Summer Should Be Fun

And if any event captured the spirit of the season, it was Denver‘s Neon & Nostalgia summer social at Lakeside Amusement Park. Members toured the grounds, original 1908 structures standing alongside 1930s Art Deco architecture and neon signage, then did what you’re supposed to do at an amusement park: rode a few rides together as summer wound down. The feedback was so good that “let’s make this annual” came up more than once. 

Every one of these events happened because a Chapter Chair saw an opportunity, made some calls, and put in the work to bring their community together. Thank you and congratulations to all of them; the variety and quality of programming this summer speak for themselves.

Upcoming Events

The momentum isn’t slowing down. More than 15 Chapter events are coming up in the next two months alone. Browse the full lineup on the SEGD events page. A few have deadlines worth marking now:

• Chicago — The Science of Wayfinding with Jonathan Mugmon (Sept. 22) welcomes the author fresh off his new book. Then, Design Graveyard opens Oct. 27, giving new life to unrealized work. Submissions close Oct. 1, so don’t wait.
• London — Positive Places symposium (Sept. 17). In-person tickets are soldout, but virtual tickets are still available if you can’t make it in person.

Call for Chapter Chairs

Reading all this and wishing you could help plan more amazing events? SEGD is looking for Chapter Chairs in Austin, Dallas, and Charlotte. Email Rachel Moran at rachel@segd.org to learn more about what it takes.