SEGD

SEGD We are the global, multidisciplinary community of professionals who plan, design, and build experiences that connect people to place.

In pursuit of our mission, we aspire to:
• promote public awareness of our community and its role in shaping experience
• nurture demand for design excellence within the built environment
• serve as a source of education and inspiration for our community
• continue to define and refine our standards of practice
• foster relevant, well-informed research to enhance our knowledge base
• sponsor peer

recognition programs that inspire excellence
• promote collaboration across multiple design disciplines
• strengthen ties with educational programs that provide the academic underpinnings of our field

06/11/2026

What if one of the most important design questions isn’t what we should create next, but what is enough?

In his 2024 SEGD Fellows presentation, Marquise Stillwell, FSEGD () challenges designers to think beyond growth, production, and expansion. Instead, he asks us to consider our responsibility as stewards of the built environment and the systems that shape everyday life.

“We are the experts of understanding the spatial relationship of our needs,” Marquise reflects. “And there are times where we don’t always have the strength to tell our clients enough.”

It’s a provocative idea in a profession often focused on creating more. But as communities grapple with climate change, resource constraints, and competing priorities, the question of what is enough may be one of the most important conversations designers can have.

Watch this excerpt from Marquise’s Fellows presentation, then explore our new feature article on the philosophy behind his work across Openbox, Deem Journal, Urban Ocean Lab, filmmaking, and civic innovation. You can also watch the newly released full Fellows presentation and conversation with fellow 2024 SEGD Fellow Shirin Frangoul-Brückner, FSEGD.

🔗 link in bio and stories for more

06/09/2026

What if we stopped relating to design as just a profession and started relating to it as an orientation?

A way of approaching the world with possibility, imagination, discovery, and the persistent question: How do we improve this?

In this moment from our International Design Day 2026 conversation, Susan Walsh and reflect on design as a mindset for engaging with complexity, challenges, and opportunities for change.

It’s a perspective that feels especially relevant as Susan and Ashley come together again to open SEGD Xlab New York on July 23. Together, they’ll explore where design thinking is headed, what it should hold onto, and how designers can continue to create meaning in a rapidly changing world.

🎥 Watch the full conversation now on SEGD’s YouTube channel.

On Tap: The Columbia Tap Trail was created by student groups at the University of Houston's Kathrine G. McGovern College...
06/08/2026

On Tap: The Columbia Tap Trail was created by student groups at the University of Houston's Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts () and Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design (). This project received a 2025 Merit Award and Sustainability Impact Recognition from the SEGD Global Design Awards for its community-rooted, site-specific installations along Houston's historic Columbia Tap Trail.

The Columbia Tap Trail follows a former railway built in 1856 and converted to a public trail in 2009, running four miles through Houston's Third Ward. On Tap was designed to surface that layered history, celebrate neighborhood resilience, and build public momentum for continued trail investment. 

Repurposed bicycle wheels marked intersections and spotlighted local landmarks, while wayfinding beacons tied the installations together through a shared system of color and iconography. A pedestrianized bridge anchored the trailhead, its fencing repurposed as a surface for historical interpretation. At the "Home of Wishes" installation, visitors wrote their hopes for the trail on house-shaped acrylic tags, contributing to a collective vision for what the corridor could become.

This is what it looks like when design connects people to place, and to each other.

Click the link in bio to learn more about this project!

What can experiential design teach us about play, curiosity, and discovery? As we approach summer, our days stretch long...
06/05/2026

What can experiential design teach us about play, curiosity, and discovery? 

As we approach summer, our days stretch longer, and our routines start to get looser. Summer often creates more space for exploration and wonder, whether that's visiting somewhere new, taking a different route home, or simply noticing things we might otherwise overlook. That openness can lead to unexpected moments of connection, inspiration, and wonder.

This idea is at the heart of three 2025 SEGD Global Design Award-winning projects. From a climbable sculpture inspired by local folklore, to a community-powered carousel that encourages strangers to connect, to an immersive exhibition designed to reveal new layers of meaning with every visit, each experience invites participation rather than observation. The featured projects include:

🐊Blinky Climber│2025 Merit Award Winner │ Gyroscope Inc. ()
🎪Carousel for Companionship│2025 Honor Award Winner │ Could Be Design ()
📖Building Stories│2025 Merit Award Winner │ Plus And Greater Than ()

Together, these projects offer a timely reminder that curiosity, surprise, and whimsy are some of design's most powerful tools. As designers, we spend our careers creating experiences for others, but we don't always give ourselves the same permission to explore.

This summer, consider seeking out places that invite discovery, whether that’s a new museum, public installation, playground, or somewhere entirely unexpected. You may leave with a new outlook on design, the space, or simply inspired by the world around you. 

Read the full article and explore the featured projects at the link in bio.

06/04/2026

We often look for the one thing that will create connection. But what if connection is built through layers?

In this moment from our International Design Day 2026 conversation, David Schwarz () reflects on the environments that bring people together—not because of a single feature, technology, or intervention, but because they offer many ways to connect, gather, reflect, and belong.

Connection happens in the layers.

It’s a perspective that feels especially relevant as we prepare for SEGD Xlab New York, where David will join Jason Bruges () for a conversation about technology, attention, and the design of human experience.

Both approach technology in ways that are remarkably human. David explores how designed experiences can slow us down and deepen our awareness. Jason creates responsive environments that feel less like technology and more like spaces that are paying attention.

Together, they’ll explore a question at the heart of Xlab: What happens when technology serves connection instead of competing for it?

🎥 Watch the full conversation now on SEGD’s YouTube channel.

And join us July 23 at Xlab New York to hear David and Jason continue the conversation.

Taiwan Public Pictogram System (TPPS), designed by Path & Landforms () for the Industrial Development Administration and...
06/01/2026

Taiwan Public Pictogram System (TPPS), designed by Path & Landforms () for the Industrial Development Administration and Taiwan Design Research Institute, received a 2025 Honor Award from the SEGD Global Design Awards for its ambitious, human-centered effort to unify public communication across an entire nation.

The project began with a fragmentation problem. Taiwan had long lacked a unified pictogram system—four major government agencies that each manage their own symbols under different legal frameworks and visual standards, leaving everyday users, especially the elderly, people with disabilities, and foreign residents, caught in the confusion. Path & Landforms was brought in to fix that.

Over a year and a half, the team aligned four government sectors, consulted international experts, and developed over 300 pictograms across 8 categories, validated through rigorous testing with 245 participants from diverse ages, genders, abilities, and backgrounds. The system introduced a gender-neutral base human figure, addressed accessibility and public health communication, and was verified against ISO and JIS international standards. Open-source icons, a design manual, and an online course were built for nationwide adoption, and the system already appears in transit stations and Taoyuan Airport.

At its core, TPPS is a reminder that even the smallest design decisions, like a figure on a sign or a symbol on a wall, have the power to include or exclude entire communities.

Yesterday, SEGD CEO Cybelle Jones spent the day at the Eames Archive () in Richmond, CA alongside Llisa Demetrios () and...
05/30/2026

Yesterday, SEGD CEO Cybelle Jones spent the day at the Eames Archive () in Richmond, CA alongside Llisa Demetrios () and her fellow Curious 100 honorees. The Curious 100 is an annual recognition of 100 designers, makers, advocates, and creative problem-solvers across the US who are reshaping what's possible through the power of curiosity. Today, she's touring the site of the future Eames Museum.

Staying curious isn't something that happens on its own. It's a practice, and the people you surround yourself with are a big part of how you sustain it. When you intentionally build a community of creative thinkers who challenge your perspective and push your thinking, curiosity becomes something you grow together rather than something you protect alone. Being named to the Curious 100 is a reflection of that belief in action.

That's exactly what SEGD membership is built on. Every May, we celebrate the designers and thinkers who show up, stay connected, and make this field better together. If you’ve been thinking about joining the SEGD community, now is your chance! New members get 26% percent off membership, plus the chance to win a full year of access to all SEGD events and programming with our 2027 Event Bundle.

This offer ends May 31, don’t wait on this one. Join now at the link in our bio or at segd.org/join

CuriousCommunity

Some of the best things that have happened in our members' careers started with a conversation at an SEGD event, a conne...
05/26/2026

Some of the best things that have happened in our members' careers started with a conversation at an SEGD event, a connection made through a local chapter, or a peer who just got it.

That's what this community is built on. Real relationships, shared challenges, and the kind of support that has the power to move your work and our field forward. Together, we're building a more impactful future for experiential design. Who are you bringing along with you?

This is the last week of Membership May. Join or renew now and you'll be entered to win:
🎟️ A 2026 SEGD Conference Experience Registration in Kansas City (October 22–24) 🏆 All May members are also entered for the grand prize: a 2027 SEGD Event Bundle

New members save even more:
💸 26% off your annual membership with code WELCOME26

Tap the link in our bio to join or renew. Don't wait, Membership May ends May 31!

05/21/2026

Design is not just optics. It’s how a space makes people feel.

In this moment from our International Design Day 2026 conversation, Cheryl S. Durst () reflects on the growing responsibility designers carry to create spaces that do no harm physically, emotionally, or environmentally.

From material transparency and environmental stewardship to designing for neurodiversity and inclusion, she reminds us that every specification is also a human decision.

The spaces we create shape how people feel, function, and belong.

🎥 Watch the full conversation now on SEGD’s YouTube channel.

SustainableDesign

Happy International Museum Day 🏛️Museums are where memory lives. They are gathering places and spaces that bridge past t...
05/18/2026

Happy International Museum Day 🏛️

Museums are where memory lives. They are gathering places and spaces that bridge past to present, give voice to the unheard, and remind us that our histories, cultures, and natural world are worth protecting. At their best, they don't just display objects; they make you feel something.

The most powerful museum experiences spark curiosity across generations. They center community voices. They make centuries of history feel immediate and personal. They turn a seaside town's irreverent spirit into something you don't just see but feel. They connect a bird outside your window to a global conservation crisis. And sometimes, they ask you to question what you thought you already knew. To look critically at a hundred-year-old display and reckon with both its artistry and its blind spots.

That's the magic of great design in service of a great institution.

Today, we're celebrating six museum projects recognized by the SEGD Global Design Awards that remind us exactly why museums matter: 

🏺 Ethiopia at the Crossroads | Isometric Studio () | 2025 SEGD GDA Finalist

🔭 Reframing Dioramas: The Art of Preserving Wilderness | Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County () | 2025 SEGD GDA Finalist

🌎 World Heritage Center | G&A (.ampersand.a) | 2025 SEGD GDA Honor Award

📚 Building Stories | Plus And Greater Than () | 2025 SEGD GDA Merit Award

🎪 Showtown, Blackpool | Casson Mann () | 2025 SEGD GDA Merit Award

🐦 Cornell Lab of Ornithology | C&G Partners () | 2025 SEGD GDA Merit Award + Sustainability Impact Recognition

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