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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Upcoming Event

ZX26: Designing Warmth

September 30, 2026
to October 3, 2026
Tourists (Motor Lodge & Event Homebase), Berkshire Mountains, Western Massachusetts
915 State Street
An Inaugural Retreat for Worldbuilders

ZX26 is an intimate, inaugural gathering of world-builders—people who design human experience in digital or physical spaces—responding to a new era of responsibility in design. Over four days in the Berkshires, attendees will learn, explore, and experience the principles of Transcendent Experience (ZX) Design: a new perspective on UX that looks beyond the individual and prioritizes warmth through connection with other people, the natural world, and the cosmos.

Learn more about ZX 26 and Designing for Warmth.

Register to:

  • Learn from inspiring, unexpected examples of designing warmth across digital and physical worlds.
  • Differentiate yourself and articulate the value of ZX to clients, teams, and organizations.
  • Join a crucial course-correction in the design of human experience and define new priorities.
  • Recharge creative energy through a thoughtfully curated program of warm places, spaces, and ideas.

Agenda

  • Day 1 (Sept 30)
    Arrival · Chef's Cookout · Fireside Keynote
  • Day 2 (Oct 1)
    Yoga/river time · ZX Introduction · Shaker Village immersion · "A Braver Collective" lecture · Shaker-inspired dinner
  • Day 3 (Oct 2)
    Yoga/forest time · ZX Principles · MASS MoCA "Technologies of Relation" tour · Fred Rogers Institute lecture · James Turrell Skyspace at dusk · Dinner with Chef Tu at STATE
  • Day 4 (Oct 3)
    "After Glow" closing with special guest

Featured Speakers

  • Daniel Gloyd, Founder, Designing Warmth · Human Experience Designer
  • Scott Dille, Founder & Executive Director, Braver Collective
  • Emma Swift Lee, Director, Fred Rogers Institute
  • Tu Lee, Chef & Owner, STATE Food & Drink, North Adams

Organizing Committee

  • Daniel Gloyd
  • Sarah Margolis-Pineo
  • Killeen Hanson
  • Stephanie Smith

Tickets

Early bird: $1,750 (through August 15) · Standard: $2,000
Includes all meals, event admissions, workshops, shuttles, daily receptions, and flex activities.
Fully refundable up to September 2, 2026.

Register