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.

Show archive notice

We use technologies, such as cookies, to customize content and advertising, to provide social media features, and to analyze traffic to the site. By using or registering on any portion of this site, you agree to our privacy and cookie statement.

Privacy Statement

institute
of desiGn

HealthBuddy

By Bhavani Shivaram Prasad | Hardik Lachhman Makhija | Woo-Mi Jeong

May 10, 2024

Your trusted companion for well-being away from home

HealthBuddy is an AI-powered app designed for international students in the U.S., addressing the challenges of navigating a foreign healthcare system while far from home.

Accessing healthcare in the U.S. can be vastly different from countries like India and China, with a structured yet often opaque system. HealthBuddy empowers students by educating and guiding them through the U.S. healthcare landscape, enabling them to feel prepared. It leverages AI capabilities, evaluating users’ personal information and global data to provide tailored assistance, optimally meeting their healthcare needs while studying abroad.

View full presentation here.

Project Details

Class: Interaction Design Workshop
Instructor: JoEllen Kames | Jennifer Shin

Bhavani Shivaram Prasad

Bhavani Shivaram Prasad

MDes 2025

Hardik Lachhman Makhija

MDes + MBA 2024

Woo-Mi Jeong

MDes 2024