The paper discusses a globally networked learning project with graphic design students from Mexico, the United States of America, and South Africa. Globally networked learning (GNL) aims for cost-effective internationalization strategies where digital platforms replace physical student exchanges. The project was designed according to Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) principles, which included ice-breaker activities at the beginning of the project and reflection activities at the end. The participating students, who were all of a similar age and nearing the end of their undergraduate curriculum, were asked to identify one well-known designer from the geographic region in which their home university is located, as well as an already completed visual communication design produced by this designer. The participants were also required to discuss how the visual features of the chosen design link with the visual culture of the geographic region.

Methodologically, the paper is an ex-post reflection that focuses on selected features of the COIL project guided by theoretical concepts from visual hermeneutics, or the processes of interpretation and validation as applied to visual statements. The emphasis is on the notion of fusing horizons, which stems from Gadamer's version of the hermeneutic circle, where a first interpretation merges with a second interpretation after the interpretant was faced with a new situation. In the case of the COIL project discussed in this paper, the student's first interpretation of how the visual features of the chosen design link with the visual culture of the geographic region at the beginning of the project fuse with a second interpretation at the end of the project after having encountered the new situation of interacting digitally with graphic design students from another country. In this way, the main learning outcome of acquiring a deeper understanding of diversity in the context of design practice through a process of international collaboration was achieved.