In 2026, after nearly 90 years, the Institute of Design was folded into Illinois Tech's School of Design & Society.
This website is an archive of the impactful and inspirational work produced by the ID community before that transition.

László Moholy-Nagy opened the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937, treating design as a discipline that was teachable, testable, and consequential. Nine decades on, its scope had widened from the things people use to the systems they depend on: hospitals, government agencies, classrooms, supply chains, digital platforms. Along the way, ID community members developed the published research, methods, and frameworks that designers rely on every day.

Chief among them is human-centered design: close attention to how people actually live, and advocacy for what that research reveals. It shaped designers who are comfortable with complexity and ambiguity: curious, rigorous, inclusive, and stubbornly optimistic about design's ability to change the systems that shape our lives.

To every one of them, who taught, studied, built, critiqued, and stayed late in the studio: thank you, and keep designing.

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Chromoflux

By Lila Conley | Luce James

May 11, 2023

Chromoflux
Exploring the Concept of Perceived Gender in Relation to Time and Social Definitions

Mapping Gender

This research explores the concept of perceived gender in relation to time and social definition, specifically within Western communities and individuals. It investigates how these communities perceive, express, and explore their gender and sexuality as a separate but intersectional form of identity, within a state of euphoria or dysphoria. The study aims to examine various methods of ethical data collection, both qualitative and quantitative, to gain a deeper understanding of the experience of gender. Through this investigation, the research intends to inform the design field of gender-fluid and genderqueer approaches. The study focuses on gender as a personal experience and acknowledges its universality across the spectrum of human existence while recognizing the eurocentricity of the research.

Project Details

  • Class: Generative Design
  • Instructor: Zach Pino
Chromoflux
LIla Conlee

Lila Conlee

MDes + MPA 2023