Hosted and curated by School of Art, College of Fine Arts, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), the Cross Connections 2018 International Exhibition of Design & Illustration, a global collaborative project, consisted of a juried competition and exhibition. The project promoted creativity, innovation, and the trends of international visual communication design and aimed to foster our design education through active global engagement. Initiated in 2008, the project was held in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013. The Cross Connections 2018 project included ten universities from around the world. A selection of 96 artworks of total 251 entries from ten participating higher education institutions in a wide range of visual art forms were selected by a professional jury committee for the Cross Connections 2018 competition and exhibition. The selected works, including 80 print-based works and 16 screen-based works, showcased a fusion of cross country, cross culture, cross discipline, and cross conceptual contemporary design. All selected artwork was on display in ten institutions of higher education and museums in the Fall of 2018. As the exhibition curator, I designed all communication materials for the purpose of communication and promotion. For more information, please visit the following link: https://www.utrgv.edu/crossconnections