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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Past Event

End of Year Celebration 2024: Graduation Remarks and EOYS Opening

May 10, 2024
6:00-9:00pm CST
Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
3137 South Federal Street
Chicago, IL 60616
Recognizing 2023–24 Graduates and Opening Our annual End of Year Show (EOYS)

ID’s End of Year Celebration highlights the work from the 2023–24 academic year and recognizes this year’s graduates. Beginning with remarks from ID alum Melody Roberts (MDes 1998) and student speaker Jorge Martínez Arana (MDes + MBA 2023), the event also launches our annual End of Year Show (EOYS), an exhibition of recent student work.

Tickets are available for either or both segments of the program (details below).

Commencement is a separate ceremony on Saturday, May 11.

EOYS 2024‘s theme of Boundless: Design Beyond Limits reveals a design landscape of interconnected actions, systems, and tensions that can yield infinite possibilities. In charting new courses at an accelerated rate, we can transform today into an imaginative and truly boundless tomorrow.

Join us to honor ID students’ creativity, collaboration, and achievements!

ID’s 2024 End of Year Celebration is part reflection, part exhibition, and part reception:

6pm: Graduation Remarks (Streaming Available)

  • Shari Jones, Director of Student Success, ID
  • Anijo Mathew, Dean, ID
  • Distinguished Student Speaker Jorge Martínez Arana (MDes + MBA 2023)
  • Alum Speaker Melody Roberts (MDes 1998)

7:30pm: End of Year Show (EOYS) Opening Remarks: Boundless - Introduction from ID faculty Tomoko Ichikawa and Marty Thaler, Self-Led Tours

8pm: Reception - Join us as we toast our recent graduates and celebrate the work that all ID students have achieved over the 2023–24 academic year.

Melody Roberts (MDes 1998) is Cofounder and CEO of Liv Labs, a venture-backed consumer healthtech startup developing everyday ways to treat urinary incontinence. Melody has more than 25 years’ experience in innovating the everyday—from feeding families to keeping memories. She originated the design research and strategy function at Smart Design in New York City, led innovation programs for Silicon Valley’s IDEO clients, including Hewlett-Packard, the NSA, and McDonald’s. Melody holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale and a master’s degree from the Institute of Design.

Tickets
Portions of this event will be available both in-person and online as listed below. Note our different ticket types:

  • In Person: Graduation Remarks + EOYS + Reception (6p CST)
  • Virtual: Graduation Remarks (6p CST)
  • In Person: EOYS + Reception (7:30p CST)
Register