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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Hedwig

By Palak Shah | Gayoung Nam | Masaya Tezuka

May 11, 2023

Interface design to help incarcerated mothers bond with their little ones by creating opportunities for quality time together

Mothers behind bars face a devastating dual burden- besides enduring the incarceration by the government, they also have to suffer through the crippling emotional distress of separation from their kids. This results in the loss of essential parental support for the child, depriving them of crucial care and damaging the opportunity to establish a strong and meaningful bond with their parent.
The prime objective of this initiative is to utilize technology to aid incarcerated women in nurturing their young children and cater to their emotional needs. Hedwig, a tablet-based application, is uniquely crafted to enhance the bond between incarcerated mothers and their little ones by facilitating quality time together. By providing an intuitive interface design, it fosters emotional connectivity between mothers and children.

Project Details

  • Class: Interaction Design Workshop
  • Instructor: JoEllen, Jennifer
  • Project Partner: Rebel Health