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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Consequence Scanning

By Alison Chiu | Lila Conlee

May 11, 2023

Consequence Scanning
Consequence Scanning

Facilitating team discussion on positive and negative impacts

This project introduces the concept of consequence scanning, a framework that encourages teams to thoughtfully consider the potential consequences of their work. It outlines the basics of the process, suggests modifications to the format, and provides a deck of prompts to guide participants in analyzing consequences using a specific lens.

Project Details

  • Class: Bias and Sensemaking
  • Instructor: Ruth Schmidt
  • Project Partner: Alison Chiu

LIla Conlee

Lila Conlee

MDes + MPA 2023