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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Recognition

FitForm Bras Is a World Changing Idea

Fast Company Honors Students' Generative AI Project

May 15, 2024

FitForm Bra repeated breast illustrations.

Fast Company has announced the honorees of its eighth annual World Changing Ideas Awards. This year’s awards showcase 50 winners, 127 finalists, and 172 honorable mentions.

FitForm Bras, created by Institute of Design students Joanna Veleris (MDes 2022) and Anahita Dasgupta (MDes 2023), is a finalist in the Students category. The project uses generative design to transform physical breast measurements and user preferences into highly accurate, supportive, digitally fabricated, and tailored bras.

“
I was struck this year by the global sweep of the honorees. It’s endlessly inspiring to see how the world is coming together to devise inventive solutions.
—Brendan Vaughan, Editor-in-Chief, Fast Company

FitForm Bras

Bra fit sketch

Bra fit sketch

Veleris and Dasgupta’s project aspires to bring inclusive bras to individuals underserved by current market conditions. By prioritizing personalization and precision, FitForm Bras uses generative design, precise individual data, and personal preferences to create individually tailored bras that can be manufactured to order without material waste. What sets FitForm Bras apart from other bra and fit-tech companies is its emphasis on the wearer’s preference and presentation goals. These bras not only match the anatomy of the wearer, but can allow the wearer to present themselves as symmetrical, to augment their own size, or even to preserve and highlight their asymmetry if they wish.

“
We approach today, and the future, with the belief that AI and other emerging technologies can be a force for good—and it's design's responsibility to ensure that. What Joanna and Anahita have created with FitForm Bras, and its potential impact, is one excellent example of what can be accomplished.
—Anijo Mathew, Dean, Institute of Design

FitForm Bras was created by ID students with ID assistant professor Zach Pino in his Spring 2022 Generative Design Workshop.

The work has generated great enthusiasm and sparked conversations on the importance of customization through generative AI in design.

“
Design, at its best, works to include and support a true diversity of bodies, life contexts, and self-perceptions. Today's new technologies desperately need the guidance of inclusive design technologists like Anahita and Joanna.
—Zach Pino, Assistant Professor

A panel of Fast Company editors and reporters selected FitForm Bras from a pool of more than 1,300 entries from across the globe. It can be viewed alongside other honorees at Fast Company‘s website.

Learn more about FitForm Bras.

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