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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Certificates

Certificates

Master of Design (MDes) students interested in public policy and civic design can develop deeper expertise in social innovation by pursuing one of our certificates. In partnership with the Stuart School of Business, we offer this focused graduate-level coursework to help you gain detailed and valuable cross-disciplinary knowledge about the structure, finance, and success measures of public policy and philanthropy.

Certificate Options

Nonprofit and Mission-Driven Management

For professionals who want to become leaders and managers of nonprofit and other mission-driven enterprises.

Economic Development and Social Entrepreneurship

For professionals who want to become economic development leaders or social entrepreneurs in the nonprofit, private, or public sectors.

Public Management

For professionals who want to become leaders in the public sector.

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Timing

Students pursuing these certificates typically complete them in the final year of their program. A separate application and admission to the Stuart School of Business is required to enroll, which students will submit during their first year of study at ID.

Certificate courses can be counted as electives in the MDes program of study.

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Request More Information

Please complete the form to request more information or if you have additional questions regarding our application process or requirements.