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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Past Event

ID and WIND Celebrate Five Years of Partnership, WIND’s New Book

August 19, 2026
5:30-8:00pm CST
Tellabs at Kaplan
3137 S. Federal Street
A Community Gathering Featuring WIND's Authors & Contributors

Join the Institute of Design and WIND — Women Initiating New Directions for an evening celebrating five years of partnership and the launch of a new book, Her Voice Matters: Memories and Reflections from Justice-Impacted Women, that brings WIND's community of voices into print.

WIND supports current and recently incarcerated women through educational programs at Cook County Department of Corrections, Grace House, Deborah’s Place, and several other residential transitional homes. What began as a collaboration between WIND co-founder Kelly Costello and ID faculty Tomoko Ichikawa has grown into something larger: ID graduates have built WIND's training website, facilitated workshops, and shaped the program from the inside. One of those graduates, Victoria Marie Williamson (MDes 2022), started as a volunteer and is now WIND's Program Manager.

The evening will include an overview of the ID–WIND partnership, prototypes from Tomoko's class, and an introduction to the new WIND book with readings from authors and contributors. There will also be time for open conversation and connection.

This event is open to the broader WIND and ID communities—volunteers, students, faculty, donors, facilitators, nonprofit partners, and anyone interested in the intersection of design and justice.

Agenda

  • Welcome and overview of the ID–WIND partnership
  • Student work on display: prototypes from Tomoko Ichikawa's class
  • Introduction to Victoria Williamson, Program Manager, WIND (MDes 2022)
  • New book introduction and readings
  • Q&A and open discussion
  • Reception

Learn more about the ID–WIND project.