EOYS 2025 | Institute of Design

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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In Tension Intention

Designers today are continually challenged to manage and harness tension, turning conflict into clarity and uncertainty into opportunity. In Tension Intention explores the transformative power of design in a world charged with both internal and external pressures. This exhibition draws on a broader thematic inquiry, one that resonates through varied approaches by Institute of Design students — what possibilities emerge when we embrace tension as a generative force?

By confronting the friction that exists within and around us, we invite you to reflect on how design can reveal meaningful, impactful spaces for innovation, growth, and reinvention. The works on display grapple with these underlying forces to reimagine the role of the designer as a catalyst for change — using tension not as a barrier, but as a powerful force for action, identity, and connection.

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More than observers or connectors, we, as designers, are active conductors of transformation. Fueled by curiosity, we embrace the internal and external pressures and inherent tensions of our world—not as barriers but as the very opportunities from which we can create growth. With intention, we build bridges of clarity across these frictions, filling the voids with possibilities to propel humanity. The 2025 End of Year Show explores how we, as designers, navigate the tensions with intention in the sandbox of ID.

—Daniela Vélez, MDes + MPA 2025, Institute of Design

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Currently on View

Student work from “In Tension Intention” is currently on view through Spring 2026.

Visit us at ID to see our students’ creativity, collaboration, and achievements from the 2024-25 academic year at the Kaplan Institute, 2nd Floor.

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FORM | Changing Direction

Redirecting our understanding to reimagine possibilities and create new pathways forward.

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FORCE | Shaping Ideas

Harnessing energy to expand design’s impact and reach—crafting work that resonates to leave a lasting impression.

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EDGE | Point of Friction

Navigating the brink of intentionality to bring design’s purpose into sharper focus.

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