2019 Visual Discovery Conference: A student’s experience

VisCom grad student Christina Brosovish describes her experience at the second-annual Visual Discovery Conference. After the conference’s inaugural year in Venice, Italy, we hosted it in October 2019 right here in the Schoonover Center for Communication and around Athens. Visual storytelling students and faculty from around the world attended, and the students created projects which you can see at this link.  

Christina Brosovich is a second-year graduate student studying graphics and interactive design in the School of Visual Communication. 

This November I participated in the Visual Discovery Conference. I’ve been looking forward to this event since last fall when John Grimwade shared the stunning projects done at the Venice conference.  

My experience at this workshop was beyond what I originally imagined. I decided to spend my weekend learning more about the Ridges and telling the story of the fascinating doctors and patients that inhabited the institution. As someone who went to Ohio University for my undergraduate studies and my graduate program, I knew all the lore. However, I knew very little about what actually happened in that beautiful Victorian building perched over Ohio University’s campus.  

We kicked off our research as a large group with a tour of the Ridges. We saw spaces the public rarely gets to see and hear from the experts about the positive strides the architect and many doctors help make in mental health treatment. Then, we had the opportunity to pour over countless documents, which chronicled everything from court mandated patient intake to physician payroll to medicine logs. At this point a smaller group began to form and we started volley ideas and themes back until we came up with a solid project. We decided to create a video timeline that covered the Ridges history from the institution’s opening in 1874 to today’s renovations.  

My group of five consisted of students from a variety of experience levels, skills and interests. Each of us was able to bring our personal skillset to the group, which made our idea become a reality. I loved having the opportunity to work intensely with a people I might never have had a reason to collaborate with. The people I met and things I learned during this event have altered my perception of networking, collaboration and creativity in a way I never expected outside the classroom. This was easily one of the greatest opportunities I’ve had during my six years at Ohio University and cannot wait to see the projects produced next year.