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Every thriving field depends on its ability to bring new voices in, and to treat that work not as a nice-to-have, but as a strategic imperative. At SEGD, that commitment shows up in the programs we build, the barriers we remove, and the communities we sustain. Two of our most important vehicles for that work are approaching key moments, and we want to make sure you’re paying attention.
Emerging Designers at the 2025 SEGD Conference Experience San Francisco
How the Academic Summit Grew by Opening Its Doors
When the pandemic forced us to rethink the 2020 SEGD Academic Summit, we faced a choice: cancel, delay, or adapt. We adapted, and what happened next surprised even us.
By converting the summit from an in-person event at the national conference to a free virtual platform, open to both members and non-members, we removed the financial and logistical barriers that had long limited who could participate. The result was immediate and striking. Attendance grew from approximately 80 people to over 300, with participants joining from countries across the globe. Educators, students, and practitioners who had never been able to attend joined conversations they’d been excluded from simply by geography or cost.
We haven’t looked back. The virtual Academic Summit has become a cornerstone of how SEGD connects with academic communities worldwide, and as the audience has grown, so has the quality and volume of what that audience produces. The SEGD Academic Task Force, which rigorously reviews all paper submissions, reported that the 2026 cycle was the most competitive in the program’s history. The breadth and depth of scholarship being submitted reflects a field actively interrogating itself: questioning inherited histories, reimagining the classroom, designing for communities that have long been overlooked.
All papers presented at the Academic Summit are published in Communication + Place, SEGD’s digital publication dedicated to scholarship in experiential and environmental graphic design, available free to readers everywhere. It is one more way we work to ensure that the ideas generated at the summit don’t stay in the room, but reach educators, practitioners, and students wherever they are.
This year’s SEGD Academic Summit takes place June 24–25, 2026, from 12:00–5:00 PM EDT each day, and it is free and open to all. Sixteen speakers across four sessions will examine everything from contested historical narratives and participatory placemaking to generative AI in the design studio. This is not a peripheral conversation. This is where the field is defining what it wants to become.
SEGD Conference Panel Discussion between educators, practicing designers, and students exploring changing landscapes
Building Community for Those Navigating Critical Transitions
The Academic Summit matters because it cultivates the scholars and educators who shape designers before they enter practice. But SEGD’s commitment to the next generation doesn’t stop at the academy.
The Emerging Experiential Professionals (EXP) program exists for exactly the moment when design education becomes design practice, and for every professional navigating a significant transition within the field. EXP is a space to connect with peers, build mentorship relationships that endure across careers, and find community among others who are figuring it out alongside you.
That program is entering an exciting new chapter. We are thrilled to welcome Jaclyn Marlo of GV | Wayfinding & Signage as the new EXP Committee Chair. Jaclyn brings fresh energy and vision to a role built on a strong foundation, one laid by leaders like George Lim, Hannah Anderson, Jonathan Posnett, and the many volunteers and supporters who have shaped EXP into the program it is today. We are deeply grateful for everything they have contributed.
Now, Jaclyn is building her team. EXP is actively seeking a Co-Chair and additional committee members to join and grow the program. Whether you are a seasoned practitioner looking to give back, a mentor ready to formalize that commitment, or someone who simply remembers what it felt like to be early in your career and wants to ease that path for others, we want to hear from you. The committee works across mentorship development, conference programming, speaker cultivation, social media, and collaboration with SEGD’s chapters, Academic Task Force, Membership Committee, and Racial Justice Commission. The commitment is a three-year term with approximately one meeting per month. To learn more or express your interest, reach out directly to the EXP committee at exp@segd.org.
EXP Summit at the 2025 SEGD Conference Experience San Francisco
Helping the Next Generation Know What They’re Worth
One of the most concrete ways SEGD supports emerging professionals is through data. The SEGD Salary and Employment Survey is open now through June 15th, and we need your participation. The survey gives the next generation of designers, and those advocating on their behalf, real field-specific numbers to anchor conversations about compensation, career trajectory, and workplace expectations. The more voices in the survey, the more useful it becomes for exactly the people who need it most. If you haven’t yet filled it out, there is still time, but not much.
The field grows when we invest in it deliberately. Lowering barriers to the Academic Summit, sustaining and expanding EXP, publishing scholarship where anyone can access it, and putting reliable compensation data in the hands of emerging designers: these aren’t separate initiatives. They are expressions of the same conviction, that SEGD’s future depends on who we bring in, and how well we support them when they arrive.
