In 2026, after nearly 90 years, the Institute of Design came under new management. 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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How Design Delivers for Healthcare

In February 2025, 42 healthcare designers and physician leaders from across the US and Canada convened at the Institute of Design for Level Up. 

Post-event, participants formed writing groups and developed their ideas with support from the Equitable Healthcare Lab.

The following pre-publication is one output of a Level Up writing group, released for community discussion and review.

Pre-Publication

How Design Delivers for Healthcare

How Design Delivers for Healthcare:
A Survey of Implementation Tactics from Designers in US Health Systems

By Jeremy Beaudry, Erica Parker, Aimee Feuser, and Kim Erwin

A new survey reveals that designers are adept at building coalitions, co-designing with end users, and iterative testing.

While they excel at collaboration, designers often struggle with handoffs to operational teams, navigating organizational gatekeepers, and proving long-term impact. This research maps 46 implementation tactics across six domains—from preparing organizations to providing ongoing support—creating a practical framework that healthcare design teams can use to move from concept to delivery.

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