This educational research studies the benefits and effects of structured, inter-disciplinary group learning. It identifies and examines the significant contributory factors in facilitating the development of shared thought in a postgraduate art and design environment. The research reflects on the emancipatory power of the collective vision, and looks at student–led teaching situations where authority rests not on power or status, but on commonality of experience. The paper considers how dialogue feeds into practice, the parallel roles of drawing and talking, and how knowledge and perception develop in a similar way through each. It challenges the frequently held opinion that voice is only used to articulate the ‘real work’, the work that happens by intuitively doing. It concludes that student-led groups range wider in their discussion and produce more complex outcomes, and identifies conditions needed to foster a teaching climate where the role of authority, the expertise and the creation of knowledge are lodged in conversation.