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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Presenters

Design as Activism Symposium

Session Presenters

Chicago leaders explored how design can challenge social inequities and drive meaningful change.

Below is a list of facilitators, panelists, and speakers presenting at the symposium.

Speakers

Nick Adam

Associate Partner & Design Director | Span

Ruth Aguilar

Senior Ligas Family Advocate

Weslynne Ashton

Weslynne Ashton

Professor of Environmental Management & Sustainability and Food Systems Action Lab Co-Director

Sharon Bautista

Qualitative Research Manager | Code for America

Anne H. Berry

Anne H. Berry

Anne H. Berry

Director, School of Design | University of Illinois Chicago

Elizabeth Blasius

Architectural Historian and Partner | Preservation Futures

Sara Cantor

Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director | Greater Good Studio

Chandra Christmas-Rouse

Director | Metropolitan Planning Council

Summer Coleman

Design Director | Severe Side Productions & Summer Coleman Design

Cecilia Cuff

Founder | The Nascent Group

Cheryl Dahle

Cheryl Dahle

Climate Initiative Manager

Katherine Darnstadt

Founding Principal | Latent

Lucía Garcés Dávila, MA

Participatory Design Facilitator and Educator

Shannon Downey aka Badass Cross Stitch

Art Activist

William Estrada

Multidisciplinary Artist and Educator

Amira Hegazy

Adjunct Associate Professor | University of Illinois Chicago

Luce James

Design Strategist | Ascendant

Emma Jasinski

Senior Community Designer | Design Trust Chicago

Ahmad Jitan

Director of Organizing and Advocacy | IMAN

Andrés Lemus-Spont & Marya Spont-Lemus

Co-Creators | ¡Anímate! Studio

Clio Lyons

Operations Manager | Design Trust Chicago

Nermin Moufti & Kristin Lueke

Co-Founders | Field of Practice

Jessica Meharry, sits on colorful cube shaped seating at ID

Jessica Meharry

Visiting Assistant Professor

Dimitri Nesbitt

Knowledge Mobilization Specialist | Center for Racial and Disability Justice at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law

Dave Pabellon

Associate Professor of Graphic Design | Columbia College Chicago

Heather Snyder Quinn

Associate Professor of Design & Design Futurist | DePaul University & The Parallel Futures Design Lab

Nicole Robinson

Chief Executive Officer | YWCA Metropolitan Chicago

Rafa Robles

Co-Founder and Director | Duo

Alex Stark

Artist, Curator, and Queer Disability Advocate