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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Duo

By Terah Delancey | Michael Ho | Isaac Jang | Zechariah Low

May 10, 2024

Rendering of the Duo concept in a luxury home kitchen.
Integrating Advanced Kitchen Sanitization Into Modern Design

A high-end, counter-integrated sanitizing appliance for kitchen pros and enthusiasts

For the workshop, our client Aquamox tasked us to uncover use cases and develop designs for their proprietary sanitizing technology, which generates aqueous ozone (ozone dissolved in water) for sanitizing food.

Secondary research covered existing solutions and processes for cleaning and sanitizing in the kitchen, while primary research revealed that cooking enthusiasts and professionals were more likely to appreciate sanitary practices, and a need for sanitizing products when preparing food. Our concept, Duo, integrates into existing lineups for high-end luxury kitchen design brands, blending into the countertop while leveraging greater name recognition.

Project Details

  • Class: Product Design Workshop
  • Instructor: Martin Thaler
  • Project Partner: Aquamox, Inc.