Fan conventions are a thriving industry, full of eye-popping cosplay, celebrity encounters, and enthusiastic meetings-of-minds. But look past the party atmosphere, and you’ll see a robust design-thinking environment, said Georgia Tech College of Design faculty.

From city planning and geospatial analysis, to the cultural implications of costume architecture, to emerging connections between the maker community and industries like industrial design, there’s a lot more happening at a fan convention than anyone attending might realize.